12 Games of Christmas

I just finished watching this movie and it is so beautiful, so fun and so sweet!

A group of friends get trapped in a festive board game and participate in the fun games where they learn what truly matters at Christmas, especially for two childhood friends who begin redeveloping feelings for each other.

A wonderful movie with a nice cast, a simple and fun story, and lessons that will definitely touch your heart.

Don't listen to the negative reviews (on this site or anywhere), The 12 Games of Christmas is a nice, fun and sweet film and I highly recommend it for anyone who loves Christmas and to be reminded what this beautiful season is about.

Wow there are some negative reviews on this. I thought the story was creative and brought something new to the Christmas movie table. Anyone expecting academy award level performances with GAFM, Hallmark or Lifetime are putting lights on the wrong tree. Seriously- people are bashing it because of the editing? These movies are about heart, spirit and faith - qualities this movie had plenty of. Sure there are some cheesy, and/or cringy lines in the script and some of the delivery was off, but it did hit me in the feels. And the characters were likable enough to overlook any shortcomings. Maybe that's because I identified some of the character's shortcomings as my own (missing out on memories with my family as I am deployed). I love the Yuletide spirit combined with simple, but meaningful representation of faith. It is always nice to have a reprieve from the big city main character finding love in a small town script. I would like to see more imaginative stories like this in the future.

The downlow: The dialogue sucks.

The acting sucks.

The editing sucks.

The plot HAD potential.

I thought "12 Games of Christmas" would be a fun seasonal version of "Jumanji". Nope. It turns out it's a lame parody of every white-charactered Christmas movie ever produced by Hallmark or Lifetime, but with GFAM, you get a sledgehammer message to boot. Faith, prayers, family, yada yada. If the message has to be repeated VOCALLY every few minutes, your writers and actors aren't doing their jobs. (see my review of "A Christmas For the Ages")

The characters repeat each other's dialogue, GIGGLE almost constantly in each situation, and the lead actress repeats her very own moronic line, "gosh, does this game have a card???" SPOILER ALERT! All 12 games have cards!!!

The editing left huge amounts of dead air within shots, compared to competent editing.

The plot had great potential, but fell before the starting gate.

I KNOW GFAM can do better. Just look at this year's "'Twas the Text Before Christmas" and "A Paris Christmas Waltz". Engaging stories, competent acting, good plots.

I'd give this stinkeroo 0 stars if possible. And I agree with another reviewer who wrote, GFAM needs to shoot for QUALITY, NOT QUANTITY!

I know this was supposed to be a "message" movie, and I have no problem with that. But the messages were all similar and shoved in our faces. No subtlety at all, no real journeys for the characters to learn the messages. Just simple tasks which really proved nothing.

Worse was the acting. Over the top. Stage actors don't even emote to this extreme. I found all the large smiles and interactions between the characters unrealistic and annoying.

I haven't watched many movies on the GAF network, and this didn't encourage me to watch more. The movies on Lifetime, LMN, UP Faith and Family, and the various Hallmark channels aren't exactly Emmy-level works, but they are so, so much better than this one GAF movie was. Maybe I'll try another one on this channel. Maybe.

For those who haven't seen the movie and are reading the reviews, trust them. This is a movie to skip.

I have to admit, I did not watch this movie word for word but rather had it on for atmosphere next to my faux fireplace while I went about my evening. I didn't even fast-forward through the commercials, so you know I wasn't paying much attention.

But what I did see was okay. Six people were swept away to a magical place where they had to play a series of games to get home. I read some of the reviews, however I never saw Jumanji so I could not compare the two.

The scenery was sooooo pretty, including a magical train ride through a snow-covered village. The dialog was very icky sweet and there was a part about not focusing on perfection, but everything was overly decorated-perfectly.

The best game--which I paid attention to-was when they dressed up and took Polaroid pictures. That part definitely made me smile.

The movie reminded me of The Wiz/Wizard of Oz where once you realize you have everything you need, you *are* home.