Christmas with the Singhs

This film uses the joining of two families over Christmas to rerun the Meet the Parents theme, while showcasing Indian celebrations of the holiday.

Ultimately dry and lifeless, this effort is not worth your time. I felt uncomfortable for our leads for having such annoying families who spoke in long, robotic and way-too-complete complete sentences.

One bright side, our leads. They could have carried the movie alone, had they not been busy playing caricatures of "regular white guy" and "modern Indian woman."

Change the channel on the Singhs.

Measuring Christmas magic: no magic, but good representation of Indian culture.

Cast Kudos: I'd like to see Anuja Joshi given another lead role, but with less responsibility than representing the entirety of her culture.

Alternative titles: Christmas engagement clash; Blending Culture Christmas.

Asha is a nurse practitioner who one Christmas night encounters Jake, an old high school classmate. They hit it off immediately and go on an impromptu date that same night. Fast forward a year later, they get engaged and it's time to go back home and meet the inlaws.

I'm a bit biased because I love Benjamin Hollingsworth and I think he is a great leading man, full of carisma and charm. I've seen Anuja in the Resident and I think it's her first Hallmark movie. I thought the chemistry was there. I'm definitely not mad about the early kiss. It instantly breaks the formula we are all used to.

Yes, this movie is full of stereotypes. And you can imagine how this goes, Indian family on one side and Irish descendants on the other, everyone proud of their cultures. The problem is that the main characters get stuck in the middle and the relationship struggles because of that. The parents should know better.

This movie is quite fast paced, it has a big secondary cast, meddlesome parents, sweet scenes between Jake and Asha and unnecessary drama. If they do get married, I recommend they elope.

This movie is a total cliche, It is a rehash of all the movies where an engaged couple spends Christmas for the first time with their families bringing both of them together. Samuel Singh is the prototype of the difficult father-in-law. His wife tries to dull the rough edges but plays it a little too close to the cultural stereotype of an Indian wife. Jake's dad is a little difficult, but compared to Samuel he is a pussycat. His mom, although a competitive Christmas decorator is the most diplomatic of the group. Given all this, the story is mostly predictable right down to the last scene.

An interesting exception culturally is that the Singh family are generational Christians even before leaving India. So the climax is especially disappointing in a face off which leave's Samuel looking anything like the best of Christianity. Fortunately, forgiveness is one of the more important aspects of Christians since they all know how much they have been forgiven.

The acting isn't bad and really neither is the story other than being so derivative. I failed to find all of the conflict funny, so I will not want to watch this again.

Wow! I totally enjoyed this whole movie n can relate to the cultural differences.

Both the main cast Asha n Jake did an amazing job! They had great chemistry n were so natural.

Yes this is often how it is in the beginning when 2 families with 2 different backgrounds come together.

Many real families go through this, yet they find understanding n compromise eventually.

Ben Hollingsworth was perfect for the role.

He was very patient with the father in law n loved how he tried to fit in.

His Indian dance moves put us in awe.

The father in law Manoj Sood from Little Mosque on the Prarie played the role perfectly.

Loved the little things in the .movie about removing the shoes in the house to the couple sleeping apart at parent's home out of respect.

Jake's parents were respectful n were right in saying they had a say in their son's engagement.

It's 2 families coming together n yes it is difficult but in the end it's a beautiful thing blending cultures n customs.

Loved the ending n the speeches from the 2 dad's.

We enjoy Hallmark movies taped in other countries (Ireland, Portugal etc ) but this movie was a big hit with us.

We got the little jokes in between lol like "indian time".

They weren't trying to portray rudeness but in reality it is difficult to please everyone to accept each other's traditions.

Everything is different from food, clothing to customs n traditions.

In reality these differences is what makes a fun n unique togetherness for everyone.

Well, not without ALL the daggers.

A WASP young man and a woman whose heritage is from Christians from India have (almost) love at first sight, bumping into each other after they knew each other in High School, where she tutored him in Chemistry.

After a year of happy dating, he proposes and she cheerfully accepts. Then comes the issues ... meeting each other's families and the families meeting each other.

The daggers? Looks the two fathers give each other over the preference for baseball or cricket.

The poison? The extra spicy food the young man gets (sort of) tricked into eating at a family dinner in the Indian home.

Eventually, family issues threaten the relationship, and that happens all too frequently in real life.

The conclusion is satisfying. I'm not sure this will bear repeated viewings, but we wouldn't avoid it. Thre are a few truly amusing moments.