Cloudy with a Chance of Christmas

source: Cloudy with a Chance of Christmas

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I've only seen Brandon Quinn in a few things, but I like home. He is a bit more rugged than the typical lead actor for this genre. But it works. Sarah Morris plays this part very well, I was a fan from Brothers and Sisters and then a bit on NCIS. The lead female, the meteorologist, I have not seen before and I think she has potential but I'm not ready to cast her in anything just yet. I love the idea of this movie. It's the perfect Christmas town, a good idea for a storyline to bring them to town, the hometown connection with out of towners which gives a reason to showcase the town. But that's about it. The writing falls flat and the storyline just doesn't live up to potential. The directing is terrible. Everyone seems so wooden and fake and just off. What half potential totally missed the mark for me on this one. Maybe someone can take the outline and do it properly in another 2 years when everyone (even those of us who have watched it) have forgotten about this movie.

This premise is a slight twist on one that has been done a few times where two morning show cohosts who don't get along get sent on location together for a Christmas special. The twist is that here the cohosts, Drake and Tatum, get along OK, but the "weather girl", Bridget, gets thrown in. The romance is between her and the male Drake. It felt to me like the actors, especially the leads, were delivering their lines at each other rather than with or together. As a result, I didn't see the chemistry. Sarah Jane Morris makes an excellent rival/villain to Bridget. She's not quite the villain but is mean spirited with Bridget. Some of the dialogue was wordy. I loved that Bridget takes a stand for what's right at one point rather than take the low road. She does not really consider compromise. The confrontation producing the conflict involved several people, not just the leads, so it played out a little differently than most movies in this genre. I wish I enjoyed Bridget and Drake together more. The story wasn't exactly a surprise, but had a slightly different feel from the same old stuff, but not enough to make up for what I saw as a missing spark between the two.

Solid little Christmas movie. Not a bad watch when you're wine-drunk at 5am. My biggest problem is that I'm about halfway thru and the resident Black man hasn't had any lines yet lmao Just threw my guy in there as a prop apparently lol I know not everyone will relate to that comment, but as a BP/POC those are things that can greatly influence our watching experience. What makes his reticence even more appalling is that the movie started out by laying down its progressive stance on race and diversity, only to follow it up by brandishing tokenism under the guise of inclusivity. All that said, it's an enjoyable watch.

Cute title. But unfortunately, it is dull dull dull, and essentially an hour and a half commercial for Leavenworth, Washington, which is a picturesque if touristy Bavarian Village and home of the Nutcracker Museum. I would like to go there sometime if I am ever in that neck of the woods. But I don't think I will watch this very informative infomercial again. It has all of trappings a throwaway by Lifetime in order to make their goal of 26 new Christmas movies, check the diversity box, and rely on filler and scenery instead of actual plot and writing. Bridget Torres is of Puerto Rican extraction and is the very popular night weather person for her Los Angeles (I think) network. She doesn't like Drake who is the cohost of the morning show because she thinks he chose his current co-host over her because of their "commonality" meaning "not a minority." Bridget is a star on the rise, and has been given an important opportunity to host her own on-location Christmas feature in Leavenworth, Washington (see above). Drake's co-host, Tatum, is jealous and because she is already a star, is allowed to horn in and basically try to steal the spotlight from Bridget. Meanwhile, Drake very passively just goes along with it while looking disgusted even though, far from not wanting to work with Bridget as a co-host, she was actually his first choice. He has had a crush on her from the very beginning. He and his family are from Leavenworth and the crew will be staying at the family resort. He takes Bridget on a multi-day tour of the town (see above), and they get close. She realizes that Drake is actually a good guy with a nice family. His mother is played by 70s and 80s TV sex symbol Audrey Landers who is too young-looking for the role. Meanwhile, Tatum is revealing her true colors including having somewhat of a hissy fit when she finds out she has to do her own hair and make-up. Nothing much else happens. For example, the big crisis that brings everything to a head is whether to use a fake snow machine or not. They peacefully compromise. Yawn. Tatum, though unpleasant and bossy does not even come close to derailing Bridget's big break and the whole feature is a big success. I did like that Bridget always stood up for herself without being unpleasant. She gets her own show and finds out that Drake ended up accepting Tatum as his cohost because the network needed Bridget to save the nighttime broadcast and he was afraid that his feelings for Bridget would compromise his professionalism. This all comes as a surprise to Bridget. If he liked her so much, why didn't he privately explain that to her? Why didn't he have her back while Tatum was trying to take over the Christmas show? Unasked and unanswered. Tatum apologizes at the end and Bridget agrees to go on a date with Drake. Yawn. There were some other casting problems in this. Brandon Quinn did not have the look of a morning tv host with his scruffy beard, rugged looks, and resting sad face. Now Sarah Jane Morris was great as the villainess who turns out to be pretty OK at the end. She mastered her character's frozen smile and outwardly friendly demeanor while raging and scheming on the inside. She was kind of scary, but nothing ever came of it.

source: Cloudy with a Chance of Christmas

I've only seen Brandon Quinn in a few things, but I like home. He is a bit more rugged than the typical lead actor for this genre. But it works. Sarah Morris plays this part very well, I was a fan from Brothers and Sisters and then a bit on NCIS. The lead female, the meteorologist, I have not seen before and I think she has potential but I'm not ready to cast her in anything just yet. I love the idea of this movie. It's the perfect Christmas town, a good idea for a storyline to bring them to town, the hometown connection with out of towners which gives a reason to showcase the town. But that's about it. The writing falls flat and the storyline just doesn't live up to potential. The directing is terrible. Everyone seems so wooden and fake and just off. What half potential totally missed the mark for me on this one. Maybe someone can take the outline and do it properly in another 2 years when everyone (even those of us who have watched it) have forgotten about this movie.

Cute title. But unfortunately, it is dull dull dull, and essentially an hour and a half commercial for Leavenworth, Washington, which is a picturesque if touristy Bavarian Village and home of the Nutcracker Museum. I would like to go there sometime if I am ever in that neck of the woods. But I don't think I will watch this very informative infomercial again. It has all of trappings a throwaway by Lifetime in order to make their goal of 26 new Christmas movies, check the diversity box, and rely on filler and scenery instead of actual plot and writing. Bridget Torres is of Puerto Rican extraction and is the very popular night weather person for her Los Angeles (I think) network. She doesn't like Drake who is the cohost of the morning show because she thinks he chose his current co-host over her because of their "commonality" meaning "not a minority." Bridget is a star on the rise, and has been given an important opportunity to host her own on-location Christmas feature in Leavenworth, Washington (see above). Drake's co-host, Tatum, is jealous and because she is already a star, is allowed to horn in and basically try to steal the spotlight from Bridget. Meanwhile, Drake very passively just goes along with it while looking disgusted even though, far from not wanting to work with Bridget as a co-host, she was actually his first choice. He has had a crush on her from the very beginning. He and his family are from Leavenworth and the crew will be staying at the family resort. He takes Bridget on a multi-day tour of the town (see above), and they get close. She realizes that Drake is actually a good guy with a nice family. His mother is played by 70s and 80s TV sex symbol Audrey Landers who is too young-looking for the role. Meanwhile, Tatum is revealing her true colors including having somewhat of a hissy fit when she finds out she has to do her own hair and make-up. Nothing much else happens. For example, the big crisis that brings everything to a head is whether to use a fake snow machine or not. They peacefully compromise. Yawn. Tatum, though unpleasant and bossy does not even come close to derailing Bridget's big break and the whole feature is a big success. I did like that Bridget always stood up for herself without being unpleasant. She gets her own show and finds out that Drake ended up accepting Tatum as his cohost because the network needed Bridget to save the nighttime broadcast and he was afraid that his feelings for Bridget would compromise his professionalism. This all comes as a surprise to Bridget. If he liked her so much, why didn't he privately explain that to her? Why didn't he have her back while Tatum was trying to take over the Christmas show? Unasked and unanswered. Tatum apologizes at the end and Bridget agrees to go on a date with Drake. Yawn. There were some other casting problems in this. Brandon Quinn did not have the look of a morning tv host with his scruffy beard, rugged looks, and resting sad face. Now Sarah Jane Morris was great as the villainess who turns out to be pretty OK at the end. She mastered her character's frozen smile and outwardly friendly demeanor while raging and scheming on the inside. She was kind of scary, but nothing ever came of it.

This premise is a slight twist on one that has been done a few times where two morning show cohosts who don't get along get sent on location together for a Christmas special. The twist is that here the cohosts, Drake and Tatum, get along OK, but the "weather girl", Bridget, gets thrown in. The romance is between her and the male Drake. It felt to me like the actors, especially the leads, were delivering their lines at each other rather than with or together. As a result, I didn't see the chemistry. Sarah Jane Morris makes an excellent rival/villain to Bridget. She's not quite the villain but is mean spirited with Bridget. Some of the dialogue was wordy. I loved that Bridget takes a stand for what's right at one point rather than take the low road. She does not really consider compromise. The confrontation producing the conflict involved several people, not just the leads, so it played out a little differently than most movies in this genre. I wish I enjoyed Bridget and Drake together more. The story wasn't exactly a surprise, but had a slightly different feel from the same old stuff, but not enough to make up for what I saw as a missing spark between the two.