Christmas Miracle (2012) -
This film was a bit depressing right from the start and had none of the Christmas cheer that I've come to expect from these Made For TV films.
I'd already turned off a God bothery film before I started watching this one, so I was a bit apprehensive about seeing another one, actually set in a church, however I loved Dan Payne in 'Mulligans' (2008), so I was prepared to give it a fair try. He wasn't in it enough, didn't get even topless and it wasn't really worth it overall in the end.
By the time the credits rolled I wasn't sure that any of the couples should have been married or stayed together. The experience that they all faced only seemed to show them up more than ever, especially the newlyweds.
And James Mason (Why would you choose that name?) was a strange one too. He felt like a creepy preacher from a horror film or someone that should be on a list, if you know what I mean?
What I found really weird was that nobody phoned the Police or the Ambulance services at any point in this film, despite having phone service. Surely they weren't the only people on the road that night and the police would have been better at search and rescue? Not to mention the need to prevent further collisions and risk to others. Even if they'd tried and been unable to get through or the phone line had cut out, it would have been something, because otherwise it was a gaping hole in the plot.
It definitely wasn't my favourite Christmas film, but at least the story was different to the usual formulaic romances, although I do love some of those.
Some of the acting was pretty bad and it got very Bible bashy and drawn out at the end too. There was no point in turning it off at that point though.
My crush on Dan aside (He was way too good for Allison Hossack as Mary), I don't think that I will revisit this film again, because I just feel that it could be made with a bit more joy. Which kind of reflects my thoughts about the church as a whole. Be more gospel and less dirgey!
4/10.
