Christmas films can go either way, which has been my experience watching overtime the festive output of primarily Lifetime, UPTV and Hallmark as well as other companies. They can either be well-meaning, charming, warm-hearted and don't feel too heavy. Or they can be too over-sentimental, cheesy, contrived and bland. There have been many films of theirs that have fallen in both camps and in the camp where there is a bit of both. Despite sounding very predictable, 'Chandler Christmas Getaway' also sounded relatable and have seen lower budget family drama films done well.
Unfortunately, 'Chandler Christmas Getaway' is not a good example of this being done well. Really liked the idea, but the idea was wasted by mediocre at best and too often downright bad execution. Is 'Chandler Christmas Getaway' unwatchable? No it isn't, it does have a few good things but even those good things have been done infinitely better elsewhere. Could it have been much better? Absolutely yes and it was a shame that it didn't turn out well at all.
Beginning with the good things, the scenery is quite nice. It does lack authenticity, it is clear that this wasn't done in Winter but it is at least nice to look at. The actors to me did do a more than serviceable job with what they were given, regardless of the character writing the performances were surprisingly above average.
Some of the music is pleasant enough.
The film however does suffer from a lot of drawbacks. The editing is very choppy and lacks fluidity and the photography could have been less drab and more focused. While the music is pleasant on its own, it could have been used less and with more subtlety. While the actors do well and their characters didn't irritate me, the characters also didn't feel fleshed out enough and personalities could have been stronger and behaviours less confused.
When it comes to the script, pacing and story, 'Chandler Christmas Getaway' is very messy. The script is very stilted and has too much awkwardness, humour is too far and between and what little there is is cheesy and not funny. The sentimentality also gets too much, as does the overdone bickering. The pace often feels very dragged out in a story that is very thin and filled with overlong padding, what little story there is is very predictable and bland. Structurally, the film is as jumpy as the editing, which did make events incomplete and muddled and affected the coherence.
Overall, had potential but rather weak. 3/10.
