Christmas Plus One

There is little I enjoy more than a cheesy, cliché, sentimental, holiday fluff Christmas romcom.

The execution of this movie, however, is a waste of resources and breath when you consider the unnecessary sighs (breath after breath, sigh after sigh, and deep breath after deep breath) coming out of Emily Alatalo. The girl thought she was in yoga class!

The characters were homely-looking in an unlovable way, and the sets might as well have been on Mars; that is how unconvincing the scenes of Manhattan or NYC appeared.

Cara Martin, a New York woman, was so toxically positive, and her performance was so ingenuine, it was insufferable to watch. I began to wonder if the 50-going-on-5-years-old energy about this character was some kind of developmental delay.

Christmas Plus One popcorns around themes of Christmas traditions, love (true love), the magic of Christmas (?), serendipity, careers/passions, and honing in on what truly matters (?). The popcorn burnt before they got to the point.

Whatever resources went into the production of this movie were a disgrace and irresponsible.

I don't know what is going on, but Reel One Entertainment 2022 winter/Christmas season is a train wreck after train wreck. It's not that casting is bad or directing or writing - it's for the technical reasons. Like somebody at ROE thinks that "Christmas Belle" TV movie is masterpiece. Do you remember notorious "Christmas Belle" TV movie which vast majority of us hated it for its constantly loud background music? This is the same thing here - almost the same or similar music 90% of the movie. It will drive you crazy especially if you are using headphones! I used 10 sec skip function for at least a quarter of a movie because I couldn't listen it.

For some reason lighting at Cara's parents home was just bad. I never saw so much bad lighting in any other ROE TV movie.

Like in the so many other ROE TV movies, this one was filmed in Hamilton, so they have to show too much stock NYC footage, and Cara had to say so many times how and why she loves NYC so viewers get fooled that it was actually filmed in NYC. Stock footage was so bad that I even saw stock footage from Slovenia in Europe!

Lets talk about cast. Corey Sevier is an average TV actor. I watched a lot of his movies and IMO he's best is "Grounded for Christmas" where writing allowed him to shine. I don't know if it's him or his agent, but this is at least the third time he was playing a writer (after "Mr. Write" and "Meet Me in New York"), and the second time in the fake NYC. Maybe there's more but I didn't watch his every movie. It's not a bad thing per se, but it's a bit of boring.

Emily Alato - this is the third train wreck I watched her in. The other two are "Christmas Catch" and "The Princess and the Bodyguard". She was awful, she acted like a horny high school teenage girl, and she grin whole movie. I'm not sure if director is to blame because of the other two mentioned train wrecks.

Andrew Bushell deserves better. He was barely in the movie but at least his arc was very well done. He did the right things. Cara and Michael deserve each other.

The rest of the cast was all right.

There is at least one good thing is that you can watch the whole movie compressed in just 2:28 min long trailer. In the normal circumstances it's a bad thing but this time it saves your valuable free time.

The only reason to watch "Christmas Plus One" is Corey Sevier's performance.

I've seen him in many TV Christmas movies, and he always strikes me as quite genuine. Without a word, he can run through a full range of emotions with just his face. If he had been born near the beginning of the Twentieth Century, I believe he would have been a major silent film actor and have had the ladies swooning as well! Move over, John Barrymore!

So why haven't I seen him in any movies at the cinema???

The other actors were okay, going through the motions, but Corey carried this film.

Special mention goes to Leighton Alexander Williams, who played Pete the coffee shop owner.

This movie has plenty to offer - quite a big three-generational cast with several storylines running. Unlike many Christmas TV movies, bereavement is not included as the lead's parents are both present and the child character is a nephew. There are lots of relationships covered - parents/adult children, sisters, uncle/nephew, lovers, friends and colleagues so most viewers will connect with at least one situation. Aside from regular work issues, the plot features a variety of familiar Christmas and Wedding traditions, plus a few original ones along the way, making the tale accessible yet interesting throughout.

Christmas Plus One is one of my favourite Christmas movies of 2022. The storyline was a little different than a typical Christmas movie which was a nice change. Cara (Emily Alatalo) tries to find Chace (Andrew Bushell) after they connect while sharing a ride home to their families for Christmas and Cara loses his phone number.

I loved the close relationship between Cara and her sister Amy and their tradition of making Christmas wishes. Add in Corey Sevier and this made a great movie.

I didn't find the background music overbearing, in fact I liked it. This is a movie I'll definitely watch again.