Natale a Washington

Have said many times about my love of Christmas and getting a lot of pleasure out of in particular watching films, cartoons and specials during this period, something that most years has been much needed. Wanted to see some more festive films that were more recent, lower in budget and were not childhood favourites, so in a way to broaden my horizons and have been doing so since November 2019. The idea for 'Christmas in Washington' did sound predictable and not particularly interesting, but still watched for completest sake and Damon Runyan.

'Christmas in Washington' didn't really do very much for me. Some things are good, but there is also too much bad in too many crucial areas for me to recommend it. As far as Christmas films go, there are certainly far worse out there that fare even worse in the acting and storytelling stakes. There are also a lot better, that have a lot more charm and spark. There have actually been some good Christmas films out there seen in the past four years, so me disliking 'Christmas in Washington' is not being said with bias.

Some of the acting is better than average. The best performance comes from easy going and charming in an understated way Runyan, and Natalie Lisinska brings a lot of charm and honesty to her role. They do have a nice subtle chemistry together, though the romance itself could have had more development. Of the supporting cast, who actually didn't impress me really, Tessa Kozma comes off best by far (the only one that did much for me), cute while also being mature.

Production values are quite nice to look at, particularly the scenery. The ending is quite sweet.

The supporting cast however didn't work for me other than Kozma. A vast majority of them are very flat and lacking in personality, but there is also John Cleland whose tough guy act never convinces and comes over as affected and outrageous overacting from Steffi DiDominicantonio (managing to make an already irritating character intolerable). Only Runyan's, Lisinska's and Kozma's characters are likeable or interesting.

Furthermore, the writing is too often stilted and forced especially in the very slow going beginning. The story is predictable throughout, has too many subplots that are never delved into enough and drags in the first act, which starts with a very amateurishly directed and written scene that is worse than any scene from local amateur drama productions. The film is very bland, taking itself too seriously to be light hearted and the lack of interesting characters and underwritten storytelling stops it from having any charm or heart. The music is forgettable at best and could have been toned down and the direction is never above routine level.

Overall, a few good performances aside rather lacklustre. 4/10.

I do agree with much of the Dull Washington review, but I did really enjoy Natalie Lisinska in this.

Unfortunately, most of the shortcoming here falls on the writers for under developed characters, outside of the core few, and some unfortunate script decisions that detracted from what could have been developed into a nice, if not somewhat formulaic, production.

All-in-all, decent characters and performances from Natalie Lisinska and Damon Runyon, as well as Tessa Kozma and Kathleen Laskey, but characters and performance drop off sharply from there, making the overall product, while not terrible, difficult to recommend.

Why are the 2 leads listed at the bottom of the cast ? It seems that since Ms Lisinska and Mr Damyon are the best of the cast they shoukd be at the top.

This is one of the most ridiculous films I've seen. It is even less realistic than Christmas films with actual ghosts and angels in them. I understand we're meant to suspend a lot of disbelief in schmaltzy Christmas films but seriously, the lead female character would never be hired by anyone ever, and particularly not in any sort of political/diplomatic job. People are not able to just wander around everywhere in an ambassadorial residence, and in no way would a hired contractor who's doing maybe two weeks' work would be given the run of even a single room without supervision. And the ambassador apparently doesn't do any actual diplomatic work? I get that might be too boring to be in any scene, but there's not even any reference to having meetings with officials even though he's a newly arrived ambassador.

I did like that there's pro environmental and sustainability messages and interests in both the Magnus and Emily, which feels downright revolutionary for these films. Still, everything else about it is just ridiculous. The bad guy developer is cartoonish yet hardly in the story, the horny mother is creepy as hell, and Arvind is, well, I don't really know what Arvind is.

And then it just...ends. It feels like the writers or actors - or both - just gave up and said screw it, let's go home. Honestly, I wish they'd done that at the start.

Great adult - mature dialogue! Underlying theme is integrity, something most of Washington Lacks! The two main leads have excellent chemistry. One of my top 10 favorites for Christmas season 2021.