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PattiJoA
Reviews
The Road to Christmas (2006)
Very sweet movie
SPOILER: The demise of Claire's wedding was very apparent within five minutes of the movie, but I wasn't so sure Claire and Tom were going to hit it off. He seemed to disdain her simply because she was classy and used to good living. She didn't look down her nose at him, but her jokes about him being Grizzly Adams were gentle ribbing, not insults.
The romance that developed was very sweet and natural. I liked that they connected as artists, and that she connected to Hilly since she had lost her own mother early on. She also seemed to develop a compassion for Tom due to the intense loss he felt for his wife's death, and that it had affected his passion/drive for his art.
The lady hitchhiker was not necessary to the plot, neither was the horrible truck full of men she rode with. Although, their stranding of Claire was essential to the plot. It was just unfortunate it was done with such hateful men.
I liked the scenes at the farmhouse where she felt true "home" and comfort. Watching her face, you could tell it meant something special to her.
The last 10 minutes were rather disappointing in the writing. It could have resolved a little more romantically. It almost made it seem that she came back to Tom only because things didn't work out with Lorenzo, not that she came to the realization that she didn't love Lorenzo and had fallen in love with Tom, and couldn't live without him.
I felt the 3 main actors did an outstanding job. I love Jennifer Grey, no matter the condition of her nose. She has always impressed me in all her films, and she has aged so beautifully. I think she's lovelier in her middle age than she was as a teenager (has nothing to do with the nose). And Clark Gregg really got to show off his talent in this movie, as opposed to The New Adventures of the Old Christine. He plays such a shallow character in that show - it was nice to see him in a larger range of emotions and subtleties.
An Accidental Christmas (2007)
Very poor writing
This was similar to Parent Trap, set in Christmas time. The writing left a lot to be desired. The story line wasn't developed well and you never really felt connected to the main characters.
The split up of the couple was never explained until the end, so why would the audience want them to stay together? The addition of the "boss interested in the wife" was just plain hokey. It would have been more credible if she was interested in him and there was a conflict in deciding who she wanted to be with.
The scene where the little boy was lost was either completely edited to pieces or the worse writing of the entire show. The actions of the characters were totally unrealistic. The mom and daughter wouldn't have stood there holding onto each other - they would have been out there yelling and searching. And how did the dad know exactly where to find the boy - there should have been more dramatic search. From the camera view, they drove straight to the boy and found him - while mom and daughter were standing there crying. It looked like the boy was incapacitated due to a severely injured leg, yet dad picked him up, took him to the car, and set him down. No hospital? The log he lifted off the boy - not that big or heavy. The boy should have been able to roll it off.
The "almost reconciled" scene towards the end was poorly written. When they were discussing the faults of the relationship, there wasn't a discussion of regret and desire to fix - just "let's end it" on her part. The conversation didn't start out that way and there was no explanation for why it ended that way.
I can't blame the movie on poor acting because actors can only do so much with a bad script.