And just what DID she say? "If you don't have anything good to say,...come sit by me". That pretty much describes my sentiments about this cinematic reduction.
A self-respecting Swiss village would never be found with dreadful and gauche displays--of everything. The general store? On the street where you shop? The village Christmas tree? In the inn? Pointy, plastic, scantily dressed garland? Another commercial for the 12-days of Christmas starting in early October? And filming, in part, on a Warner Brothers backlot and green screens? A chef that couldn't microwave a seal-a-meal? And then...not knowing wines appropriate to a frozen dinner? Tell me not.
And just how could an attempt be made for some degree of authenticity--a nod to the real stuff? If on-site visits are not possible due to budget or pandemic constraints, watch some famous tour group leaders' DVDs on the REAL Christmases in Switzerland (and many other places in Europe as well). Find the richness of the many European traditions noting the lack of materialism as the primary reason for the season. (I'm not against capitalism--just how it is used, displayed and perceived.)
Seeing that this movie was a 2022 production it was a surety that I hadn't seen it before. Although sounding like a Scrooge, I actually love Christmas movies. A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving my quest begins for a variety of holiday flat-screen events. And it provides me some degree of pain to have to admit that I was taken in by the year of release and movie title. I have a hope that the new Christmas movies will blow our socks off given the pent-up well of creativity so badly stifled by Covid--and I'm going to keep hoping.
As for the final analysis? Come sit by me...I still have nothing good to say.
