Holiday Mismatch

This is a fun movie. My wife laughed out loud at the faces Caroline Rhea made during some of the situations.

I was pleasantly surprised that for once, when the main romantic interest characters became upset, it wasn't at each other. They started out as casual acquaintances who devised a plan keep their moms from consuming their time and energy during the holiday. Their romance developed as they got to know each other better. They didn't need major misunderstandings to add drama to the story. Of course for that they had their parents.

The one thing that might annoy people with traditional family values was the inclusion of a brother who was introduced at one point with his "husband". Since it added nothing at all to the plot, it seemed like just a gratuitous insertion that some might feel was a subtle bit of social normalization added to placate some special interest production investor. Or something.

Overall though, it was a fun movie and a refreshing change from some of the worn-out plot templates we know so well.

Meddling mothers has been done before, but this movie has a new twist, it's a light and funny Christmas rom-com. I liked the script and the dialog just flows naturally and kept the film moving along. The cast is great starting with the meddling mothers Beth Broderick and Caroline Rhea who are the stars, they both have good comedic skills. And Jon McLaren and Maxine Denis are the very talented children who make a cute couple.

I liked the improv "A Christmas Carol", it was fun. The bickering and banter between Kath and Barbara and their plots kept it interesting to watch so it never bogged down like many movies. Hoping we see more movie like this one.

It was good for what it is, a hallmark type of holiday movie. The two young leads are fine... not the best actors, but fine enough. The two mothers, played by the aunts from Sabrina the Teenage Witch (which are the selling point in the ads and previews for this movie) are of course great. Without them this would be a hard pass. Caroline Rhea in particular is really funny and a great actress. She definitely saved this movie. If you like rom coms, you'll like this. If you like Hallmark movies, you'll like this. If you like the more or less wholesome type of Christmas movies, you'll like this. Worth a view!

For the first time, a movie title says it all! It is an awful mismatch. The two female leads are annoying and antagonistic, the adult children are not happy with their interfering mothers. Certainly not a feel good movie. Don't waste your time. This year's offering of Hallmark holiday movies is so poor in quality and scripts. In my opinion, Hallmark is trying to pump out way too many movies in a short time frame. Instead of starting Christmas movies in the middle of October, STOP rushing the season and take the time to develop good quality scripts, find better actors and hope you can redeem your reputation for "hallmark" movies. Someone at the Hallmark movie headquarters needs to go back to the drawing board and recapture what made Hallmark movies so enjoyable. This current season is too painful to watch.

Here we have another of the myriad fake dating stories, but with a twist. This time two mothers have enrolled their son, and daughter, in a dating app and after the match they meet for a get to know each other meeting neither believes will last long. However, they decide to play along just to keep their mothers from trying again before Christmas.

Meanwhile, by coincidence, the mothers work together on Chamber of Commerce Christmas events and thoroughly dislike each other. So when they find out their kids were the matches, they're sure it can never work out.

The males and female lead are fine. The other two people working on the Chamber of Commerce committee are terrible. They're supposed to be funny, but instead are embarrassing to watch. Also, the big "relationship crisis" is no well written, and thus overplayed. And for the what they made it into, the reconciliation is too easy. Not well done.

The mothers used to play 600 year old witches, sisters, on Sabrina the teenage witch for eight years, so for fans of that show (which we never watched), I'm sure they'll enjoy the reunion.

It's worth a watch, but we won't be revisiting it.