littlemissbookwerm Review of The Christmas Spirit

The Christmas Spirit (2013 TV Movie)

Adorable Movie Marred by Bad Writing.

[2/10 · 11 June 2014]

I live in Dayton, Ohio and grew up going to Lebanon with my grandma for lunch. She's got a slight obsession with the Golden Lamb, which has (to a lesser extent) been passed on to me. So, last December, when she requested that we record the movie on DVR to watch on Christmas Day, I readily agreed. It was terrible. You've got to understand, I'm a writer. I spend hours every day pouring over manuscripts, editing, hunting for problems with plot, character development, motive... I'm a writing geek. And movies like this make my brain explode. I spent the entire film biting back my thoughts about the illogical motives of the characters, the trite storyline... Sure, they got a decent cast. Not the BEST acting, but not the worst. The setting was beautiful. I know they shipped in a bunch of fake snow, so they could shoot the movie in September, and I can't deny that that was cool. But the plot. Oh dear, the plot... This movie is unique in that it contains one of the largest plot holes I've ever seen. All the action of the movie is based around the fact that this town is so poor, they can't afford to replace or repair a traffic light. But how much would it cost to put up stop signs? The entire incident could have been prevented if somebody somewhere just thought of that, instead. I have a feeling that this is one problem in the script that the writers just glazed over. You know, deal with it later? But they forgot. Also, without that mistake, there is no movie. All in all, it was... cute. And that's the absolute nicest thing I can say. Probably too nice. Go ahead. Watch it. But only if you don't suffer the affliction of having a writer's brain.