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. Love any kind of film with a more mystery element, being a long term fan of murder mysteries and detective stories ever since seeing the Joan Hickson adaptation of 'A Murder is Announced'.
Will admit to having seen my fair share of above average and more Christmas films recently, but 'A Christmas Witness' is not one of them. If anything it is the complete opposite, Lifetime aired some surprisingly decent Christmas films (and films in general actually) that year but there were some that were mediocre and below. And 'A Christmas Witness' is one of the worst, with very little good about it. Liked the premise, hated the execution. Even the few redeeming qualities been done much better in other films of theirs that year.
Those redeeming qualities are going to mentioned first. The production values are quite nice and at least look professional.
Did think Arielle Kebbel brought a lot of upbeat charm to her role. Colin Egglesfield is more laid back but has a nice easy going charisma.
On the other hand, there could have been more chemistry between them, the romance is very underwritten and is practically lost amongst the over the top-ness of everything in the writing and story and the two don't always look natural together, any conflict is forced. The rest of the cast seem to think they are in an over the top parody, especially the murderer, and most of the characters come over too much as buffoonish idiots, again especially the murderer. The direction has nothing special to it and the music is forgettable and could have been used a lot less.
Furthermore, the script and story are a mess. The script is very farcical and crude, with all the humour straining far too hard for laughs, and also is stilted. The story has no suspense or twists, with there being a very predictable feel throughout, and is often truly ridiculous, especially the far fetched ending that is an insult to the intelligence. The pace is erratic, sometimes hectic, sometimes dull.
In conclusion, very weak. 3/10.
