Despite featuring new era Hallmark royalty, this Amazing Race style ripoff fails to capture any semblance of Christmas magic and manages to force a relationship upon us-and the lead characters-that no one wants.
Much like a half marathon that seemed like a good idea when I signed up, I had no interest in finishing the race or this movie. Alas, I trudged through every beautiful, but unremarkable scene.
You know from the beginning that this movie has a bigger budget than a normal Hallmark movie based on the graphics, superior lighting and multiple locations (all though they all look a little like basic Canada). So my hopes were high, but it did not last more than five minutes into the movie.
Our lead, Ashley Williams, is an elementary school teacher whose only personality trait is that she likes to teach kids how to read. Andrew Walker is a shell of a former athlete who doesn't know what to do after retiring from hockey. They both end up participating in a holiday themed game show where they race across the US (not Canada) to answer one question and complete one simple task at each place before magically moving onto the next city for another paint by numbers game show scene. They usually have time to sit by a fire too, and help you nod off.
The driving force behind this movie is the contest they are participating in, but as you would expect, the "will they or won't they" theme is needlessly thrust upon us. These two don't need partners to have fulfilling lives. Honestly, they seem pretty good single. Why mess up a good thing?
From the promotions, I expected this movie to be funny, like the Santa Summit, or Haul out the Holly, but it fails at every turn. Pass on this one.
Questions I still have:
Why is the movie called Jingle Bell Run, when the show is The Great Holiday Dash? And they never once say "Jingle Bell Run." Trademark issue? Major issue here.
Why are there never any cameras filming them doing anything? There is a hot hockey guy painting a picture from scratch? Nope. No camera guy caught that for the show! It's small, but the Amazing Race producers must have been choking on their eggnog.
Measuring Christmas Magic: none, despite being focused on a game show that features only holiday traditions.
Cast kudos: none. Don't watch this movie.
Alternative movie titles: The Great Holiday Dash (duh); Forced to Be on a Game Show; finally-Help my friend signed me up for this and I never met the producers until day 1 of filming (ok, that one may be too long, yet no less accurate.)
