My Christmas film viewings over-time have been a very mixed bag. With some surprisingly good hits, where regardless of how predictable they are succeed in being full of charm, warmth and heart so succeeding in being light-hearted and undemanding fun. But also some quite big misses, where the characters are not likeable, everything is forced and shallow with implausibility too in some of the worst cases, the acting and writing being weak and basically with just nothing to them.
Despite being a long way from perfect or being a complete hit, 'Snowbound for Christmas' is thankfully closer to the former category. Certainly not a film to humbug on. As far as the 2019 Christmas output as part of my Christmas film completest sake goes, 'Snowbound for Christmas' is in the high middle category. Was not expecting a lot admittedly, as there is very little originality in the plot idea and setting, but it turned out to be better than expected.
'Snowbound for Christmas' main asset is most of the cast. Zarin Darnell-Martin and Henderson Wade are very likeable and engaging leads and their chemistry is very easy going and not hard to relate to. Franco Lo Presti and especially Scott Thompson amuse in support. The chemistry never comes over as disconnected or ill at ease. Most of the production values slick and not drab and the music generally has a pleasant nostalgia.
There are a fair share of amusing moments that never felt overdone and an equal amount of never too over-sentimental serious ones. The writing is a long way from perfect, but compared to some Christmas films seen recently it's acceptable, here not heavy or not going overboard on the cheese. Enough of the story is very charming and heart-warming and even if the characters are not meaty they were characters to me that were worth caring for on the whole.
However, the character of Diana came over as an annoying caricature, one that Josephine Buettner overplays. Some of the photography is on the blurry side.
Also there is no doubt, with it being the case with all Christmas films made by either Hallmark, Lifetime, UpTV etc and being a long way from being a novel premise, that the story is very predictable and quite safe throughout, so there are major plot points and developments that can be seen from a long way away. The ending is easily foreseeable in particular.
Overall, quite decent. 7/10.
