Have said many times about my love of Christmas and getting a lot of pleasure out of in particular watching films, cartoons and specials during this period, something that most years has been much needed. Wanted to see some more festive films that were more recent, lower in budget and were not childhood favourites, so in a way to broaden my horizons and have been doing so since November 2019. The idea for 'The Holiday Fix Up' did sound predictable and not particularly interesting, but still watched for completest sake.
Jana Kramer and Ryan McPartlin are somewhat hit and miss for me, and it really does depend on how their characters are written, but both come off well here despite the film overall not quite coming together for me generally. There are certainly worse films out there with the fixing up houses concept (whether Christmas or not, with it being especially variable with Hallmark) and certainly worse Christmas films from 2021, but 'The Holiday Fix Up' just struck me as rather average.
Kramer and McPartlin are both charming bundles of energy and in full command of their roles. Their chemistry is always at ease and very sweet in the latter stages without being overly so. The supporting cast fare well too and didn't find myself frustrated, annoyed or bored by the characters despite them being very cliched.
The production values to me were quite nice, even if at times you can tell it was made in a short amount of time. The scenery is very attractive. The music is also easy on the ears and there are worse offenders out there of being too loud or constant, didn't find either an issue. There are amusingly light hearted and adorable moments.
With all of that being said, 'The Holiday Fix Up' does have a number of issues. The story is very thin, very predictable with all the character and story cliches of this type of film present with nothing new and padded feeling. Hence the draggy feel of the second half which has too much filler, the decorative scenes going on for too long. The writing is messy and unfocused, with a lot of over heated and near-mean spirited bickering that dominated the relationship for a lot of the film and then too much mawkish and too shoehorned in over sentimentality in the final act that felt disjointed tonally.
A final act that has a very run out of ideas and too neat feel, the ending can be seen a mile away and considering what happens in the rest of the film it didn't feel realistic. Do agree as well about there being too much musical monatage and some of it is amateurishly staged and indicative of under-rehearsal. The direction is workmanlike and not much more.
In conclusion, very average but at least it's watchable. 5/10.
