Christmas In London/A Christmas Exchange (2020) -
The closest this film got to London was a jar of Hartley's Jam snuck in to a shot of a sweet shop. It was absolutely the fakest London I've ever seen and that includes the one shown in the 'Austin Powers' films.
And the British accents were all over the place and I don't just mean that they were a collection of various local dialects, but some of the actors couldn't work out whether they were from one end of the country or the other in just one sentence, Jules Blossoms being the worst offender of them all.
And some of the actors were way over the top, which wasn't the only thing that made them awful to watch.
It was like watching yet another version of 'The Holiday' again. I really enjoyed 'Trading Christmas' (2009?) and of course 'The Holiday' (2006), but this was so poorly made that it just couldn't get away with being such an obvious rip off.
Because it all moved too fast as well, before I knew it days had passed and whole chunks were missed out. I felt like I'd skipped out on whole conversations between the two leads.
And so much of it just didn't make sense, all the connections were absent, friendships formed and developed without showing how and there was too much information that just wasn't provided. Perhaps the original novel delivers it better, which wouldn't be hard.
I couldn't buy the connection between the leads or how Molly and Patrick got to know each other so quickly, because frankly I've had more interaction with people on eBay.
The addition of Molly's back story was totally unnecessary too, adding an extra dimension about her parents that was too much for such a short film, where it should have been focussed on their relationship. It felt like they'd taken the book and cut out all of the wrong bits, leaving in the side stories that were really quite irrelevant, which was a shame, because given another half an hour, a decent budget, some better actors and an actual trip to the U. K. the concept could have been very sweet.
I also didn't exactly feel that Rainbow Sun Francks was much of a leading man, but he did somehow just about work. If he'd had better direction and a clearer script, he would have been just fine, but I know that there are others out there who could have shined in the role regardless. I suppose that Laura Vandervoort was okay too, it was just that her character was a bit wet and annoying.
The constant soundtrack in the background was off putting too. There needed to be some moments with silence to give more balance.
I did like the final scene and not just because it meant that the film was ending, but because it seemed to be how the rest of the film should have been made. Even then I couldn't understand why she bothered to put her coat and hat on, leaving him in the snow waiting. It was all of those little details that were wrong with it. They just didn't bother with the polish or the thoughtful elements that do make a difference in this genre.
There were so many moments that made me want to turn it off, yet for some stupid reason I kept going. I will not be making that mistake again though.
3/10.
The closest this film got to London was a jar of Hartley's Jam snuck in to a shot of a sweet shop. It was absolutely the fakest London I've ever seen and that includes the one shown in the 'Austin Powers' films.
And the British accents were all over the place and I don't just mean that they were a collection of various local dialects, but some of the actors couldn't work out whether they were from one end of the country or the other in just one sentence, Jules Blossoms being the worst offender of them all.
And some of the actors were way over the top, which wasn't the only thing that made them awful to watch.
It was like watching yet another version of 'The Holiday' again. I really enjoyed 'Trading Christmas' (2009?) and of course 'The Holiday' (2006), but this was so poorly made that it just couldn't get away with being such an obvious rip off.
Because it all moved too fast as well, before I knew it days had passed and whole chunks were missed out. I felt like I'd skipped out on whole conversations between the two leads.
And so much of it just didn't make sense, all the connections were absent, friendships formed and developed without showing how and there was too much information that just wasn't provided. Perhaps the original novel delivers it better, which wouldn't be hard.
I couldn't buy the connection between the leads or how Molly and Patrick got to know each other so quickly, because frankly I've had more interaction with people on eBay.
The addition of Molly's back story was totally unnecessary too, adding an extra dimension about her parents that was too much for such a short film, where it should have been focussed on their relationship. It felt like they'd taken the book and cut out all of the wrong bits, leaving in the side stories that were really quite irrelevant, which was a shame, because given another half an hour, a decent budget, some better actors and an actual trip to the U. K. the concept could have been very sweet.
I also didn't exactly feel that Rainbow Sun Francks was much of a leading man, but he did somehow just about work. If he'd had better direction and a clearer script, he would have been just fine, but I know that there are others out there who could have shined in the role regardless. I suppose that Laura Vandervoort was okay too, it was just that her character was a bit wet and annoying.
The constant soundtrack in the background was off putting too. There needed to be some moments with silence to give more balance.
I did like the final scene and not just because it meant that the film was ending, but because it seemed to be how the rest of the film should have been made. Even then I couldn't understand why she bothered to put her coat and hat on, leaving him in the snow waiting. It was all of those little details that were wrong with it. They just didn't bother with the polish or the thoughtful elements that do make a difference in this genre.
There were so many moments that made me want to turn it off, yet for some stupid reason I kept going. I will not be making that mistake again though.
3/10.