Your Christmas or Mine?

Saw this on my Prime video screen. Great cast so gave it a go on a dark Monday night and it was actually a pleasant surprise! Familiar family dynamics but still enjoyably entertaining despite knowing where it was going. Asa Butterfield and Cora Kirk are likeable leads, nice support from Daniel Mays, Alex Jennings and Harriet Walter and the rest of the reliable British cast. This is not a film that will go down as a classic but it is undemanding, pretty cosy although actually the film kept me interested all the way through. The most traumatic thing - someone leaves their phone on a train and let's face it, we would all be totally stumped with that situation. Who even knows phone numbers any more!!!

Solidly enjoyable fluff.

Two young people in school in London are developing a relationship, they are just about to the point that they profess their love. But at this moment they must catch trains at the Marylebone Station to travel to their homes for the Christmas holidays. As they say goodbye, at the last second each independently decide they will switch trains and join the other's family for Christmas. So he ends up at the home of her family, while she ends up at the home of his family. And neither knows where the other is!

Asa Butterfield plays the part of James, it turns out he has not told her all about his family, and he has not told his dad that he dropped out of military school. Cora Kirk plays the part of Hayley and she has kept things secret also. All this to generate the difficult situations over the course of the movie's time span of two days.

This is a quite different movie for my wife and me, the British approach to comedy is unique, but we enjoyed the entertainment. Streaming on Amazon.

This is a very enjoyable Christmas movie. Not the stuff of legends but still enjoyable.

The two main actors are good, but the thing that won me over was the rest of the cast. Brilliant and funny! They were responsible for the best laughs and the (almost) tears. Especially the grandparents, the housekeeper and both of the dads!

I used to reeeaaally dislike Alex Jennings and Harriet Walter, due to some of their previous roles as not-so-nice characters (I know, it's just acting but the roles had an effect on me. Kinda like Ron Perlman! I consider him to be pure evil :D). Nonetheless both of them (Jennings & Walter) were amazing in this film and so endearing.

A cast of well known Brit actors including the ever watchable Asa Butterfield, Angela Griffin, Daniel Mays etc do their best to keep this Xmas by numbers film bubbling 'n bumbling along and just about pull it off - but it's by no means a classic. Managing to comfortably straddle the line between inoffensive and formulaic it tells the tale of two romantically engaged students independently ending up at each other's family dwelling for Yuletide - and the obvious 'hilarity' that ensues from this.

And that - along with a number of run of the mill cliches, situations and characters - is about it...

Your Christmas or Mine? Is a sweet romcom that will get you in the Christmas mood for sure.

It largely follows the tried and tested romcom formula, with the added twist that the two romantic leads are not actually on screen together for the majority of the film. Despite this I found myself quite invested in the relationship, and thought it was actually quite well thought out from a plot perspective.

Asa Butterfield and Cora Kirk put in two engaging and enjoyable lead performances, with some great comedic work from them both.

In terms of the plot, it is one of those romcoms where a lot of the conflict could be easily resolved if people actually spoke to each other, so it does feel a tad frustrating and tiresome at times. Other than that the plot is really rather enjoyable. It is nice and breezy for the most part, but with a few emotional moments that feel a little underdeveloped but still add a nice layer to the piece.

The pacing is pretty spot on, and it never felt like it is overstaying its welcome.

Overall a lovely Christmassy romcom. Unlikely to blow you away, but it does the job and will definitely keep you entertained.