Cloudy with a Chance of Christmas

Solid little Christmas movie. Not a bad watch when you're wine-drunk at 5am. My biggest problem is that I'm about halfway thru and the resident Black man hasn't had any lines yet lmao Just threw my guy in there as a prop apparently lol I know not everyone will relate to that comment, but as a BP/POC those are things that can greatly influence our watching experience. What makes his reticence even more appalling is that the movie started out by laying down its progressive stance on race and diversity, only to follow it up by brandishing tokenism under the guise of inclusivity.

All that said, it's an enjoyable watch.

This premise is a slight twist on one that has been done a few times where two morning show cohosts who don't get along get sent on location together for a Christmas special. The twist is that here the cohosts, Drake and Tatum, get along OK, but the "weather girl", Bridget, gets thrown in. The romance is between her and the male Drake.

It felt to me like the actors, especially the leads, were delivering their lines at each other rather than with or together. As a result, I didn't see the chemistry. Sarah Jane Morris makes an excellent rival/villain to Bridget. She's not quite the villain but is mean spirited with Bridget. Some of the dialogue was wordy.

I loved that Bridget takes a stand for what's right at one point rather than take the low road. She does not really consider compromise. The confrontation producing the conflict involved several people, not just the leads, so it played out a little differently than most movies in this genre.

I wish I enjoyed Bridget and Drake together more. The story wasn't exactly a surprise, but had a slightly different feel from the same old stuff, but not enough to make up for what I saw as a missing spark between the two.

I've only seen Brandon Quinn in a few things, but I like home. He is a bit more rugged than the typical lead actor for this genre. But it works. Sarah Morris plays this part very well, I was a fan from Brothers and Sisters and then a bit on NCIS. The lead female, the meteorologist, I have not seen before and I think she has potential but I'm not ready to cast her in anything just yet.

I love the idea of this movie. It's the perfect Christmas town, a good idea for a storyline to bring them to town, the hometown connection with out of towners which gives a reason to showcase the town. But that's about it.

The writing falls flat and the storyline just doesn't live up to potential. The directing is terrible. Everyone seems so wooden and fake and just off.

What half potential totally missed the mark for me on this one. Maybe someone can take the outline and do it properly in another 2 years when everyone (even those of us who have watched it) have forgotten about this movie.

Gosh this is so turgid. The dialogue between the two leads is just so flat (for example, as he shows her round the local museum). There is absolutely no chemistry between the two leads.

I attentively watched the first half and then watched the remainder inattentively. The first half was awful and the second half appeared to be no better. I initially thought the script was quite novel and added a lot of interesting flavour, but it unfortunately was completely empty of (convincing) emotional content.

BTW, there's an awful lot of banging on about German traditions and "delicious" German food. Is Germany really known in the USA for its "delicious" food?