Snowed In For Christmas/Christmas Au Pair (2021) -
I've seen this story done before, so I was a bit annoyed that the writers hadn't come up with anything new or done something to improve on the others, but it was a better version of the same tale, without a lot of farce and daftness.
I'm also getting really tired of the overly busy executive trope. No one can be or at the very least should be that overworked. In my mind it shows a lack of skill to manage one's workload, but maybe that's just me?
As for the actors, initially I felt that Jeremy Guibaut was only fine as a goofy brother type and I didn't really think of him as a charming leading man with his depiction of Ethan. Perhaps he was just directed to be too comedic to believe that he was a serious businessman or human even, but he did feel like a secondary character in some ways. He was sort of cute though and actually as the film moved on I did grow to like him and appreciate the difference to the norm, although he should still have had a larger presence.
I didn't think that Ethan would ever make it as an artist though, based on what the props team had created for him to claim as his own.
Kayla Wallace as Kaley was alright for the most part, but towards the end she definitely started to get a bit frustrating with her overactive imagination and fretting over nothing, because it was like she was deliberately trying to push him away, but not to actually protect herself, but more because she was a bit clueless. She was so presumptuous about their budding relationship and about Ethan's ex.
The kids were not the best unfortunately, because a decent child actor can be the difference in a film about the festive season and the joy that it can bring to a young heart. Sadly their performances were quite poor and they were a tad too well behaved as characters too.
In general the film had plenty of Christmas going on, if a bit obviously tick list-y, but there weren't any specific issues with the production elements that I could see. It just didn't win any points for originality.
6.39/10.
