I Believe in Santa

I laughed my head off when I read that the two lead characters are married in real life! That explains how two of the oddest looking actors ever, both wound up in the same movie. But it does NOT explain the lack of chemistry! The only thing that explains that, is the fact that they are horrible horrible actors! But honestly I couldn't get past her crazy eyes and his facial expressions and, let's be honest, looks. Also, and I know I'm not the only one to feel this way, I would have believed a romance between our lead male actor and his best male friend more than I believed the actual story that the writer went with. Oh ya, and he IS creepy! Get that little girl away from him!

The movie was fun, although, a very Hallmark channel type of movie. C'mon, a working girl meets a guy really into Christmas, never done before! (/s) And it was rather predictable, since the scene where Lisa's daughter (who's name I definitely remember /s) gets lost I pretty much predicted the whole movie. The acting was weak,certain parts were very corny, and (no offence), Lisa's eyes annoyed me.

Now's the part where i'll discard all of the problems and full-heartedly defend this movie! The idea is like many Hallmark Christmas movies, but more over the top. And people say that this movie is unrealistic and the idea is stupid, and for that I have one word: So? This is a Christmas movie for gods sake! Who the hell is going to sit here and critically judge a CHRISTMAS movie for crying out loud? The idea is fun and that's whats the only thing that matters in a Christmas movie. Christmas needs to be cheerful, heart-warming, not serious.

I rest my case.

I knew from the log line that this would be corrny, but so what. I love corny Christmas movies. Corny is a Christmas movie definer. But, this movie was altogether something else.

First, I was sorely disappointed that Assan was not the boyfriend! TOM she fell for Tom??? I agree with a few other comments that Tom and Assan made a more compatible couple. I also agree that Lisa looked spooked the entire film.

I rated it a 3, a point for Assan who had the best lines, a point for Ella's who was a cool kid, and a point for the sister who played ( just don't get me started on the trope of the minority friend with no life of her own) Lisa's friend for watching her girl go through this foolishness without judgement. Okay, they did finally show her family... and Assan's at the end.

The rest of it was purely ridic.

I think the movie was watchable but ,somewhat corny .I had no idea the two lead actors are married in real life. I did not feel there was any chemistry between them and they seem somewhat awkward together . I've never Heard of either one of them. The movie is about a man that actually believes there is a Santa Claus. It's kind of cute and I was able to watch the whole thing without getting bored. I think it deserves at least a 5 or 6 star rating. I really wasn't expecting much and there was nothing else to watch. I did expect the lead actor, Tom , To hook up with his roommate, Assan. I think they got along better together. Watch this without any high expectations and you may enjoy it.

Like a lot of other reviewers, I found the love story hard to buy. Like one other reviewer I saw, I was pretty convinced that the actual couple was Tom and Assan.

BUT, I love seeing a love of doing all of the holiday things with kids. This movie caught all of the family rituals of Christmas without being overbearing and just stressful like it was depicted in Bad Mom's Christmas. There was a joy in sharing all of those rituals with the kid that made it believable.

In the end, I really liked the message of the movie. I liked all of the reasons to believe and all of the reasons not to steal that from your children. For me, this movie was all about Ella, the little girl even though she was supposed to be playing the minor role.

I couldn't buy the love story--my apologies to the married actors. But, I didn't need to in order to buy into the powerful Christmas message of this movie. I was prepared to hate it and was pleasantly surprised.