Christmas with the Campbells

After sitting and watching so many Hallmark movies with my wife I'm glad someone actually followed through on the dare to make a satire- well done.

It has the same tone, look and feel of the hundreds of holiday movies before it, but the dialogue goes a different direction.

Fantastic idea, but have the kids in the other room- not that they will want to come anywhere near a Hallmark movie anyway, but the language is spicy and absurd- reinforcing the satire.

In a day of serial writing and production this blows up the whole concept of the Holiday film in a fun and comical way. Not that you could or would invite your buddies over to watch a Holiday movie, but this one might be the one to recommend they watch with their wives on their own.

We've all been stuck watching these thing, now we have one for the (good) guys.

I'm maybe 30 minutes into this film right now and I'm regretting my decision to watch it. Justin Long is usually a good actor but what the hell is this?? The accent and attempt to sound more "manly" is embarrassing. He's trying so hard that it is over shadowing any chemistry he could have had with Brittany Snow. Even his interactions with the dog are awkward and forced. I don't know if I can actually finish this movie. Its only saving grace is the side characters. I like the mom and Joanna Swisher. I actually really like all these actors which is why it's so disappointing that this movie isn't good.

You might recall Brittany Snow from the Pitch Perfect movies. This movie had that same odd dialogue where characters say really odd, inappropriate or absolutely crazy things.

I am a HUGE Justin Long fan and I was really looking forward to this little Christmas truffle. But his character is really strange, like he grew up with the Amish.

Again - odd dialogue.

I ended up watching it all, attempting to jive with the vibe, but it's really not all that good.

That being said, it COULD have been good, perhaps with some tweaks in various areas. And, I did enjoy Brittany and Justin, even with his odd character.

Apparently this was filmed where it was really cold and there was a lot of snow which they used to great affect.

Also, it was great seeing Norm after all these years. NORM!

I came for Justin Long but stayed for Alex Moffat. He was hilarious in this movie. He made me crack up. I could tell he was ad-libbing. Brittany was cute as well. And the mom.

Otherwise this movie was pretty lame. Weird sex jokes mixed in with cute comedy. They just don't make good Christmas movies anymore, like The Holiday or Family Stone. This one might have been trying to copy Just Friend's humour but couldn't pull it off.

Anyway I'm still glad I watched it. It has a legit cast and that's what brought me to it. These days the Christmas movies (on Hallmark) have no names.

This one was not as cheesy as those.

Come on, people: this movie is a PARODY of Hallmark Movies! It is SATIRE. That means the inappropriately raunchy comments, how the parents are doing weird things like rough sex, purple drank and huffing paint are meant to MAKE FUN OF THE ULTRA-CLEAN HALLMARK MOVIES. It is HILARIOUS.

The R-rated dialogue, the incredibly awkward and cringeworthy break-up, the completely out-of-character Justin Long, and the ridiculous past love, are all meant as JOKES. Justin Long is SUPPOSED TO ACT TERRIBLY, with a TERRIBLE ACCENT, and completely inappropriate machismo. If you don't believe me, watch the extra behind the scenes clip on the DVD (yes, they still make those).

The plot is ridiculous, the movie is completely predictable, but some of the one-liners are bust-out laughing funny if you realize the movie is a SPOOF.