Christmas Together

'Christmas Together' (2020)

Opening thoughts: Am not somebody who hates Christmas or has a bias against made for television Christmas films. The complete opposite on both counts and have made that clear more than once and will continue to do so if necessary (though am refraining as much as possible from reiterating too much). Have liked Vivica A Fox in other things, though more in supporting roles than lead, so that was another reason for watching 'Christmas Together'. This was watched with a real attempt to like it.

This reviewer has seen far worse films, Christmas and overall, and the film is more tasteful than the title sounds, but 'Christmas Together' is still not particularly good. Actually thought that in general it was rather weak, with a few good things but they are outweighed by the numerous very badly done things. A waste of a quite cute premise, and while Fox is the main reason for the film not being any worse she has been represented so much better in other work.

Good things: Starting with the good things, Fox gives a very amiable and spirited performance that is better than the film deserves.

Did like the scenery too and there are pleasant moments in the soundtrack.

Bad things: However, the rest of the acting is subpar at best with a lot of over-compensating. The chemistry between the actors is unnatural and never fully connected, the romantic chemistry non existent pretty much. Didn't care for any of the characters, the overwritten character flaws make them impossible to endear to and they are never developed really, too much of one level. This includes Fox's later on, despite her valiant efforts.

Furthermore, the script is very cheesy and awkward, while the story when there is any is excessively predictable (even when expecting it to be), full of corn and completely unrealistic. One of the worst offenders being one of the most contrived endings for any Christmas film in recent memory. Too much of the photography has a disorganised, frenzied look reminiscent of hasty straight to DVD quality.

Concluding thoughts: Overall, weak.

3/10.

Cute Christmas story but, lame acting, Poor directing with regards to camera shots etc. Not A waste of time

This is a cute and interesting story and really could have been good. Anna Marie Dobbins does a great job here and is entertaining to watch along with the adorable Rylie Coe, as the Daughter, and Vivica Fox, the neighbor. These 3 alone make this at least watchable. The role of the father however was very poorly cast with Marc Herrmann, who seems like a nice enough guy, but certainly no father of an 11yr old, he's not at all believable. Herrmann just seems in over his head in the role, his lines are simply spoken, monotone, without any emotion or feeling. Had a different actor been cast in this role, it would have made the movie much much better.

The only decent thing was Rylie Cole as Mia. She is the only one that could act. The squeaky voices of all the others made me wonder if I was watching munchkins. Apparently there are no more writers in Hollywood. Cheesy and pretentious and contrived. Tinsel?! (Tinsel Town)

Don't bother, it made me nauseous.

Biggest problem is the actor cast as the male lead and father of the young daughter. He looks like he's 24, which is problematic with an 11 year old daughter. Why did they cast him in this role? Ridiculous. As someone else noted, he doesn't act affectionate with his daughter. Zero chemistry. Female lead does a much better job, as does the actress playing the daughter. I'm no head of casting, but I could have done way better in creating a father that the audience would accept. I'm all for other networks doing Christmas movies (Hallmark re-uses the same actors too many times), but if you're gonna dip your toe into the romance genre, get your casting right. Actually, as I think of it, why not write the story with the male lead as her older brother, struggling to raise his younger sister on his own. Easy fix and a compelling backstory that would intrigue the female lead and the audience. Holy cow, I think I just came up with a new career for myself. Head of casting or executive producer? Hmm. I couldn't do worse than whoever did this.