It's seems no budget was left after spending most of it on Jeremy Piven and Joely Richardson, both of whom are not money well spent. I watched this for Jeremy Piven thinking it would be a nice Christmas movie with a Quirky lead performance Piven. None of which materialised. Piven looks awkward in all his acting and his comedy is forced. As for Richardson. Why they didn't hire a Yorkshire actress, I dont know. Her accent evolves from generic northern to a mix of a debatable Scottish and Irish. She never nails it and her character is pointless. The script is terrible. Trying to be a comedy but failing so the director tries to inject the comedy into the physical acting which doesn't work either. The actors struggle with the dialogue constantly. The cinematography is terrible with endless drone shots of York and cheap soap style shots. The music and score is terrible. None of it lends itself to the film and is ultimately misplaced.
The story is terrible. No set up of the dad and daughters previously life and nothing really happens. The casting is terrible. Everyone is miscast. Why they didn't just hire Yorkshire actors to give it even a sprinkling of realism. An American dad, an London daughter, a don't know what friend (Joely), and a plethora of upper class characters all seriously out of place in the story. Oh and the art direction and sets are terrible. Nothing works.
The actress playing the daughter is probably the only ember in the fire which will probably go on to ignite and do good things. She's a good actress but that's it. I couldn't wait for it to end. York looks lovely though.
Review of My Dad's Christmas Date
