Amore sotto al vischio

The movie was alright. It was sweet and charming in places and I liked it.

The movie gets off to a horrible start. The acting of almost everyone involved seems like the actors are trying too hard to deliver their lines. The dialogue is a combination of bland and stupid. The whole thing feels like hearing fingernails on a chalk board.

Either the acting got better or I got immune to it, because I stuck with it and I stopped noticing these problems.

The story is mostly predictable. The leads, Harper and Luke are thrown together for almost all of the screen time by a quest to find "magic mistletoe" from Harper's family's legend. Harper is pretty much a grinch, and not at all likeable for the early part of the movie. Being a "scientist" she doesn't believe in magic. It was unconvincing to me why she would spend so much effort for the mistletoe when she hates Christmas. Meanwhile Luke loves it. So you'll never guess what happens with Harper and Luke. OK, yes you will. The story has no great highs or lows, or surprises. Other than the lost mistletoe, and Harper's current absentee boyfriend, there is no tension. The conflict before the climax is even weak.

Jessica Sipos and Stephen Huszar, who as leads, dominate the story despite this website's cast listing showing them way down the list and it lists minor players as the stars. These two leads begin to generate some chemistry fairly late in the movie. Sipos' Harper isn't just uninterested at first, but she is rude and arrogant with Luke. Of course this changes, but I thought it was put off too late into the movie.

There are efforts at humor through exaggeration and silliness which fell flat for me. I did like a musical montage with Sipos trying on different outfits, including some Christmas theme costumes, mostly because she was dancing to the background music in a flirty way.

Boy, was this one cute! Great comedic acting, funny original script, and excellent chemistry between the two leads. Cute and appealing as Harper, the cynical Christmas hating meteorologist whose quest to find her family's magic mistletoe eventually melts her cynicism and Christmas hatred, Jessica Sisbo should be a hallmark regular. Her partner in crime is the owner of a Christmas Thrift store who used to be a chubby nerdy schoolmate of Harper, one of the popular kids. Huszar is excellent in this one, as is not always the case. He has never been one of my favorites, but his comedy and chemistry with Jessica is really special. The only two downsides are the actors who play Harper's bad boyfriend and her super annoying best friend. The director really needed to take her in hand. She was awful. Really over the top. As for the actor who played Brad, this is the second time I have seen him play the bad boyfriend of an appealing attractive lead. Maybe it's just me but I find him very icky. Even though that's kind of the point, He is miscast as a credible heartbreaker.

Anyway this one was a pleasant surprise and a real treat. And I especially loved the surprising little twist at the end. Well Done!

Unlike some of the reviews on here, I enjoyed this Christmas movie. I thought it was quite cute. The story centers around the conversation/dialogue between the two leads as opposed to the events in the story (or any sub-plots), which I found to be a bit refreshing, though I suspect this is not for everyone. However, I was not a fan of the Santa element in the movie, as it seemed a bit too much, I thought. That said, I thought the script - the dialogue between the two leads - was pretty good, well written. It was cute and, on occasions, it made me laugh a little. For example, the scene at the Aunt's house, early on in the movie, where the Aunt says: 'Besides, my nephew is better looking than that man, isn't he?' Then there is this long awkward pause before she (Harper) says: 'Your nephew is plenty good looking'. I had a bit of a laugh here. The changing scene was also fun and cute. The leads, Stephen Huszar as Luke and Jessica Sipos as Harper, I thought, had strong performances. The chemistry between the two worked well on screen, at least, that is how I experienced it. And again, the script allowed them to develop this thru-out. The supporting cast had a fairly good performance as well. Overall, it is a nice addition to UPtv's original Christmas movie lineup this year.

7.4 stars.

I really like the two leading actors, but if not for the casting of them and some of the other members, this would be a flop. I've seen other Christmas films similar to this, seemingly a big production, intended to be special and original. This is different in some ways to impact the audience so we feel the film is an instant classic, so we will return to it every year. This one falls short of that classification due to several problems. The editing is not great, the cuts and segues from different shots and angles and scenes is clumsy, and at times doesn't flow. The music is good, but lacking in quantity. I don't mind the quiet scenes without music, but the timing was a bit off for me. I reiterate that I really like the lead actors, she is absolutely one of the most beautiful women in all of Hollywood, I'm not talking about Hallmark and Great American Family movies, I'm talking about ALL of Hollywood. She has the perfect everything, facial symmetry, smile, eyes, hair, curves, everything is just right, and she can act to boot. Alas, even her performance and great charisma cannot elevate 'Mistletoe Magic' beyond a 7.4. I couldn't rightfully give it a 7.5, for that would mean it must be rounded up to 8, and this is not an 8. I can't in good conscious award it something based upon my obvious crush on the lead actress, it wouldn't be pertinent or consistent with my rating system. The entertainment is lacking, although I enjoyed it enough to say it's above average, almost good, but not great. "Good" rating for me is 7.5-7.9, Great is 8.0-8.4, Fantastic is 8.5-8.9, and Heavenly, or out of this world is anything 9.0 or higher. This is just above average/almost good 7.0-7.4.