The Holiday Swap

Technologically dependent Ally goes home to unplug. She can't avoid her ex, Henry, with whom she had a bad breakup. There's a Snowy Ball. And oh yea, the luggage got switched with someone she can't find. So a quest begins to find M. A. Turner.

I'd like to say this couldn't happen, especially the part about unhelpful airline reps and the publisher, but I had something similar happen to me and it is real.

For well into the movie, Ally isn't very likeable. The atmosphere of the movie is anything but jolly. Characters look and sound like they are about to cry in many, maybe most, conversations. The pace of them is slow and melancholy.

The movie would not be a total loss, at least in the first half, due to interesting clues that keep popping up with regard to the lost luggage. And the viewer can't help but think at least some people are hiding things from Ally. The reveal is only slightly past half way, and then everything that just happened is replayed from another person's POV. Unfortunately, this replay does not add anything to the story and becomes boring. Much of what's revealed is totally predictable. And finally. With only about 10 minutes left in the movie, Ally meets M. A. and the story can progress to the ending which was sappy but didn't impress me either.

Acting and dialogue are fair if uninspired. There is no chance for Alex Paxton-Beesley and Morgan David Jones to show any chemistry. (BTW the character's name is Jake not Jack as shown on the IMDb cast list at the time of this writing.)

This movie easily could have been at least 6 stars, but the way it is done makes it one of the more simply boring stories I've seen. Otherwise, it is not so much bad as mediocre and uninteresting and predictable.

This was a unique story, with 3 chapters telling it from different viewpoints.

The audience knew what was up halfway or earlier into the first chapter.

Well done, and most of the acting was good.

Other than the strange attempt at snow and the obviously fake Christmas trees in the forest scene, where we had to stop to laugh, it was well done.

The dialogue and interaction between the characters was good, and humorous at times.

My husband rates it an 8, he liked it that much. So I rated it an 8 also. Definitely a 7, though.

There were noticably very long pauses for effect in the more dramatic scenes.

Still a lot of fun to watch.