Meet Me Under the Mistletoe

I wasn't going to watch this one, but then I saw the ratings were pretty high. I'm now wondering what those people were thinking.

Plot involves two real estate rivals forced to work together to sell a home.

We know where that's going.

From the previews, it appeared Eva would be sweet, and she is...when she's not being bat-poop crazy.

Jeff looks like a deer in the headlights at times.

Supporting cast consists of a 16-year-old who looks 25, and a couple selling the home who seems to be in every Hallmark/GAF movie ever.

I'm thinking the more people who watch this the lower the ratings will go.

My thought is to spare you.

Meet Me Under The Mistletoe (2023) -

Right from the off I didn't like Simon Arblaster as Jeff.

Sarah Fisher in her role of Eva was more natural, but I still didn't find her particularly appealing. I certainly didn't understand how Jeff suddenly decided to be nice to her having obviously been a Dick to her for at least a year beforehand.

Where did the animosity go, surely it would have only got worse as the two of them went toe to toe in an attempt to get a house sold before Christmas and it actually didn't grip me at all. It was all a bit weird and the conversations between them were vague and wishy washy.

Most of the supporting artists did a good job and they actually had some good ones, so it was a shame that the leads were just too simple.

I would say that Mitch (Erik Athavale) has felt like he's all over these films this year but he's such an odd 'Steve Buscemi' character that he's really seemed quite an odd choice and irks me for some reason.

The standard "15 minutes from the end" fallout was stupid, Eva could have just let him finish what he was saying and avoided the whole upset. It was the weakest way to cause a "Problem" ever. They should have shown Jeff and her Niece Bonnie (Jerni Stewart) plotting, but with Eva only misunderstanding it, not initially overreacting to it. That would have been another tired way to do it too, but it still would have been 10 times better, reverse no one would just let that argument go without standing up for their actions, regardless of whether the other person didn't want to hear it.

Aside from a fairly lacklustre feel to it in general, I don't know it was missing some glamour or warmth or something, I just couldn't get enthused.

Overall this would not be one that I would come back to, I was wrapping presents while it was on, which was the only reason I didn't turn it off (I was using the remote control to weigh the paper down in order to cut the tape).

I'm going to need to see more effort from the producers to keep from just re-recording the ones that they did make well, back in the day, because a lot of these more recent attempts are obviously just churned out to make a quick buck.

4.16/10.

We bagged this one after the male real estate agent inserted himself into a meeting between a couple and a female real estate agent. That was after I already had serious doubts because all the women in every scene were so perky and smiley I developed a concern they'd crack our TV screen.

Back to the real estate side. I've had real estate agents as clients, friends, and agents for more than 30 years. I've never seen ANY indication that one agent would break into another agent's meeting to poach a client. First of all, I don't think there's a broker in the business who would tolerate it. Complete turn off, and so we turned this mess off.

Hopefully NO realtor would be so underhanded as to butt in with another agent speaking with clients. His constant referral to "Agent of the year" was nauseous.

His constant reminders that he has "sold houses" whereas the lady had sold "condos" was petty and childish. Is anyone that insecure?

If your network wants to compete with Hallmark you need better writers.

I'm doing my best here to give a short accurate review to this pitiful movie but everything I hit "submit" an error message pops up telling me that my review is too short.

How many words does it take to request better writers and a better plot?

In the beginning, I hated Jeff with a passion. He was everything I hate which is one thing, but the Jeff of the first 20 minutes was the antitype of a romantic lead. Guess what? His personality magically softened, as well as his attitude toward Eva. Instantly, which is typical in these movies. I had problems with Eva too, even though she was a little more generous and upbeat. But her arrogance and competitiveness almost matched Jeff's.

What was worse, was the actors. Sarah Fisher often looked like she had severe gastric discomfort. Her delivery was poor. Simon Arblaster wasn't much better less the uncomfortable demeanor. The two have no chemistry. They each look so uncertain when being nice or saying something nice to the other. Most of these movies have friends commenting on how the couple must be in love because of the "way you look at each other". There are none of those looks here.

Many of the supporting actors were also bad. One exception was Jerni Stewart as Bonnie. She is meant to be appealing from the start plus being the mediator. Only trouble is that she looks and acts like an adult or at least college age. The actor is 22.

The dialogue was a little flat. The movie lacks the spark that makes it fun.

The story is slightly unusual with two competing realtors working together to sell one house. But the point is to throw Jeff and Eva together so they can develop a relationship. Selling the house becomes their Christmas project together. There isn't much of a story except for Eva's dream of being a novelist which she has put aside while she sells houses.