Christmas Made to Order

Before seeing 'Christmas Made to Order', catchy title don't you think, some of my previous Hallmark Christmas film viewings had not been particularly good (not at all in a few cases) so feelings were somewhat sceptical. Did have some glimmer of hope though for 'Christmas Made to Order', as the premise was interesting and as far as Hallmark Christmas films go it and the setting are or at least sounded different from the norm.

'Christmas Made to Order', actually saw it a while back but have been behind on my reviewing, turned out to be much better than expected. Of the Christmas films seen in the period it was seen in, 'Christmas Made to Order' was generally up there among the better ones. It's not great or perfect, with a few of the usual gremlins when it comes to talking about the flaws but with a good deal of good things that Hallmark Christmas films have quite a number of times shown.

It didn't for me start off particularly promisingly. Quite routine and a lot of the dialogue was laughably bad early on (the worst of it had me cringing in my seat).

Some of the support acting struggled to make much of an impression and was quite anaemic in roles that never were more than just there cliches. Also would have liked more development to the central relationship, it was nice and didn't seem forced but with more time to unfold and wasn't quite as whirlwind feeling.

To me though, 'Christmas Made to Order' did get a lot better. So don't be deterred. Jonathan Bennett is likeable enough and even better is Alexa PenaVega, refreshingly spirited in a role that isn't over-written or personality deprived. Their characters weren't meaty, but they at least had personality and personalities that actually appealed. Their chemistry is unforced and charming. It looks attractive in its own way, with nice scenery and the photography complements it nicely. The soundtrack is pleasant enough and is not as overscored as other Hallmark Christmas films. The direction is not exceptional but is solid enough for the type of film it is.

While the dialogue is far from perfect, it did improve later on and didn't feel as corny or gooey. It induced some smiles. The story may be straightforward and doesn't have many surprises, but the setting is made very good use of and there is not too much of a stale feel compared to other Hallmark Christmas films, not feeling as over-familiar. The film is very light hearted and really warmed my heart and when the sentiment came in it didn't feel excessive or manipulative.

Overall, pretty good. 7/10

I watched this movie expecting it to be better based on the rating here, however, I was unpleasantly surprised. The main problem for me was the leading lady, she felt like "acting nice" and her facial expressions were cringy. No chemistry between her and the leading man as well. I couldn't bother finishing it.

It's a feel good movie but it would have been better with a different leading couple. The leading lady looked like she tried too hard to be likeable and always seemed to have just come out of the hairdresser's. I would have liked something more natural and laid back. Also I didn't feel any real spark between her and the leading guy.

Starts off with a few cheesy lines (like most of these movies) but the dialogue did get better. Plot was also pretty interesting and I'm glad that Hallmark is starting to make more finding-love-in-the-city Christmas movies, because all those you-have-to-go-to-a-small-town-to-feel-the-Christmas-spirit-and-find-love movies were really, REALLY starting to get tiresome. PenaVega and Bennett were pretty good but my expectations are not high for Hallmark movies; still, they never took me out of the movie with over-the-top acting so that's a plus. I give it a 6.5-7 stars.

It was nice to see a movie with a very different plot/setting of the usual working formulas.

The underlying message of the movie: "believe" is beautiful and very Christmas-y.

The camerawork is decent, the dialogue is at sometimes unbearable and the acting (individually) is fair.

However, o rated this film with 4 instead of the usual 5 for Christmas movies because, in my opinion, the two lead characters share no chemistry whatsoever.