Sharing Christmas

I stumbled upon this show and immediately knew where it was filmed. Trolley Square is in Salt Lake City. It is a darling little mall that started out as an actual trolley/train station in the early days. I loved watching this show and seeing my city.

Really wanted to like 'Sharing Christmas' a lot more. The story did sound very tired and predictable from having been used with not an awful lot of variation many times, but as a fan of Christmas and as someone who has admittedly liked a fair share of Hallmark's festive films (while not caring for a lot of them too). For a while having been watching Christmas films from Hallmark films as part of a completest quest and it has been an uneven endeavour but an oddly interesting one.

'Sharing Christmas' is one of the ones that didn't do an awful lot for me and somewhere in the below average category. Really did want to be among the positive reviewers and had the intent to at least like it and take it for what it was and aimed to be. Sadly, while there are things done quite well there is a lot here that is not good. Is 'Sharing Christmas' a terrible film? Not quite. Is it good? No, not even close in my view, and do have to agree with those that were mixed to negative on it.

There are good things about 'Sharing Christmas'. The acting to me was one of the better assets, Ellen Hollman does work hard in making her character as appealing as possible and Bobby Campo is a charming leading man. While their chemistry doesn't entirely sparkle, and a lot of the problem is down to how the relationship is written, the chemistry is there and it is an easy going and genuine one. The supporting performances are better than average too, with Cynthia Gibb stealing her scenes.

Photography is quite nice as is some of the scenery. The film starts off quite well, quite conventional but it did charm and engage at least.

A shame that the rest of 'Sharing Christmas' did not. While the cast are fine, they are hampered by wafer thin and well worn cliches passing for characters. Ones that are not developed enough and sometimes behave too stupidly to root for them. They are also let down, even more so, by the even thinner script that is filled to the brim and beyond with awkward cheese and over-sentimentality with all the corn and schmaltz feeling contrived. While the outside and the photography are nice, there is the agreement with others that the interiors are on the tacky side.

What really brings 'Sharing Christmas' down badly is the story. It starts off promisingly, but too quickly becomes extremely basic and tired. With too much over-stretched filler, it felt quite dull and thin as well and comes over as silly and lacking in charm or heart. The sentimentality is hard to stomach, especially when it feels manipulative than sincere, the ending is too neat and easily telegraphed and the central relationship is far too rushed and lacks growth. The music badly over-emphasises the mood and feels excessive in placement and tone.

Despite a few good things, this was very lacking in my view. Sorry. 4/10

This is the 2nd Christmas movie I've seen with the lovely Ellen Hollman- The Perfect Christmas List (2014) and that one was a little better with some humor, but not that good. Also saw Bobby Campo in My Christmas Love (2016) which was not good. My complaint is there was no creativity or depth in the story. I enjoyed the first 30 minutes with the festive colors and such. My wife and I both fell asleep at the 60 minute mark. The title of the movie should have been "The Christmas Shop" because that was the focus of the movie. Ellen Hollman just was just not suited for this role as the happy Christmas Shop owner. The scenes where she was not happy with Bobby Campo were the best. Cynthia Gibb has had small parts in many of these Christmas movies as she did here (not that good). She stars in one of my favorite Christmas movies "Mary Christmas (2002)" which had an excellent story. She needs another starring Christmas role.

This Christmas movie which is new in 2017 uses a greatly overused premise. The pretty young lady, Stephanie, is about have her family business of 40 years evicted because of a new owner that wants to renovate. The handsome guy she just met and might have just a bit of romantic interest in is the one who will handle the renovation and thus is responsible for her eviction. One slightly different take is that this guy, Michael, immediately sees how precious the store is both to Stephanie and to the community. However, his boss is adamant about not finding a compromise. This last bit doesn't ring true since otherwise his boss appears to be fairly reasonable and has at least some motherly affection for Michael, and she is leasing new businesses anyway.

The story doesn't progress much beyond developing the relationship between Stephanie and Michael, and further demonstrating what has already been made plain, i.e. that the shop is precious and even a little unusual. It only remains to be seen which overused plot device will be found to save the store since it is hard to believe that a Hallmark movie could have an unhappy ending.

Ellen Hollman and Bobby Campo make an attractive couple as Stephanie and Michael. It is a bit unusual that they hit it off immediately without the usual conflict we usually have between the two that are obviously destined by the writers to be together. David Starzyk, as Stephanie's father, provides a few humorous moments, but seriously Dan, couldn't you be just a little quicker getting away with something without your wife seeing it?

While the characters are charming, the story is flat so I recommend this movie only for those who are truly addicted to Hallmark Christmas movies.

Stephanie Nichols (Ellen Hoffman) has just inherited The Christmas Shop from her parents which is a business that they have run for the last 40 years or so. However, soon after she acquires the shop she learns that a real estate company has placed a compulsory purchase on her shop and has given her 30 days notice to find another premises. Determined not to be bullied into submission, Stephanie decides to fight against the eviction and receives help from an unlikely source namely Michael (Bobby Campo) whom works for the real estate company responsible for evicting Stephanie...

OK so criticising a Christmas film for being sappy is probably a bit like criticising a horror film for being too scary or too gory - I get it that's the point, but Sharing Christmas takes sappiness to a whole new level...

Everything is laid on way too thick; the score for example is probably one of the most manipulative and over-used scores that I think I've ever witnessed in any film. In fact, I'm struggling to think of a particular scene or moment where it wasn't blaring across the screen. Don't get me wrong a score can be good in a film, but it should be used sparingly and more importantly at appropriate times. In Sharing Christmas it's there all the time which strikes as desperation on the part of the director in order to wring out false emotion from the audience.

The basic/concept story is not a bad one in principle, but even when looking at it in its most basic form it's a hard film to get behind or care about; from an early stage, we're supposed to be against the capitalist giant and the billion dollar acquisition when in reality they are simply doing their job and trying to make some money (which to some may seem immoral, but it certainly isn't illegal). The film might have worked better if it would have shown McClaine properties doing something underhand or illegal to gain their advantage (which would have perhaps made the narrative slightly more involving).

The development of the story is dull and director Peter Sullivan seems to keep the film permanently in neutral; none of the characters come across as being believable and as a whole it is overly nice and cutesy and even towards the end of the film characters do not act and behave how you would expect normal people to behave which ultimately cheapens what message the film is trying to get across.

Even the acting isn't great with many of the actors being in permanent 'grin mode' although given the way that the writer and director smother the film in schmaltz this hardly comes as a surprise - avoid.