Christmas Survival

Not bad for a tv Christmas movie. A little grittier than most and though it's not something to watch over and over, it kept me watching to see what would happen to these characters. As others have commented, not everyone is like able, but that's how it is in a family. I prefer a more realistic story than overly nice (unreal) Christmas stories.

For a Christmas movie with a well used storyline...that being just as the title says - Surviving Christmas with the Relatives - it is quite enjoyable. Not as silly or madcap as most...it is a good little timewaster to watch with the family after Christmas day winds down.

I seemed to spend most of it shouting at Gemma Whelan (who I love & why I watched this) to get dressed! She spends a lot in time in a tiny shortie nightie, wellies & thick coat, at one time complaining that the (non existent) frost had got her sprouts! If it was that cold - and cold enough for her husband to wear a woolly hat in bed - she'd be wearing nice warm pyjamas. Don't know why that bugged me, but it did!

I felt that some parts of the story were unresolved - something would happen either without explaining why or how, or it wouldn't be discussed again. And then everything suddenly became all right again.

Based on some other reviews I guess it might have been edited for TV.

Interesting if you want a glimpse into 3 days in the lives of a dysfunctional family, but not if you want a "traditional" nice & tidy Hallmark-type Christmas movie.

The cast was virtually flawless...The plot? Hard to find one. Who were the main characters? What was the story? When you get to the end of the movie you're left thinking, "So what?"

If you're British with a dysfunctional family, or, enjoy British humour, it's brilliant. If not, c'est la vie.