La Reine de Noël

Bon film !

source: Wrapped Up in Love

I love Brittany Bristow because she is always so cheerful. Her Ashley had that dialed down a bit in this movie largely because of the rivalry with Ben. Ben makes the classic new guy in charge mistake by being overly enthusiastic to make changes for change sake. Ashley is slightly adverse to change and gets defensive, perhaps a little unfairly, but not surprising given her history with the store. This mutual rivalry lasts a while and saps from the chemistry between Bristow and Olivier Renaud. Often a good rivalry just spices up the chemistry, but this one seemed to have an edge instead of good fun. Eventually the two get in sync, but it isn't long before Ashley suffers the usual misunderstanding and the edge is back. I wonder if they had to practice hard to say "Co COO" as many times as they said it. This phrase annoyed me especially since it refers to a small town department store manager position. OK, put on airs if you want, but the mantra of keeping in touch with the community and staff was repeated even more often and I can't see how such a title fosters that attitude.

I LOVE Brittany Bristow and watch everything she is in. Having said that, this movie is probably the worst Christmas movie I have ever seen. The writing was terrible with plots that made no sense and were very condescending to Ashley (Brittany). And I have never seen such a card board character like Oliver Renaud. He was AWFUL. He was not acting at all and there was absolutely no chemistry between him (Ben) and Ashley. Timothy Kuryak should never be allowed to write again and Olivier Renaud should never be allowed to pretend to act again. For what she had to work with Brittany was great. Very disappointing movie.

I watch this type of movie all the time, really don't expect much and therefore, I usually enjoy them for what they are. This is the typical Christmas Story that has been done many times before. Department store themed, Ashley works there, Ben is related to the owner and comes in and starts making changes. Invariably, one of them is the more traditional, the other is more modern and therefore their opinions clash. I could tell straight away that this was written by a male, and wasn't surprised when I looked to check. One scene in particular where Ashley agrees to assist Ben with the editing of a video he made about the store. She arrives at his house and when he opens the door she hands him a 'housewarming' gift, that he does not thank her for. He then proceeds to invite her inside for which she thanks him... for what? For the pleasure of assisting him? I could have played this movie in the background while doing housework and would still have been able to follow the story. It was something of a snooze-fest.... And that's coming from somebody that is very accepting of this style of movie and watches dozens every year.

It's ok to once in a while "waste" your time by watching a sweet Christmas movie. Mostly these are feel-good, have decent actors and they don't require your undivided attention to understand what's going on. You relax and let them entertain you. But this one is so cringe-worthy that it almost hurts. There is no chemistry whatsoever, the female lead desperately bulges her eyes while trying to establish a connection with her opponent. In vain! The story is weak; in some parts even illogical and it takes quite a while before it reaches the core of the plot. Boring! One of the worst movies in its genre. 2 stars because the main problem lies with the writer, giving the actors hardly any chance to shine.

Not great but just okay. The plot is not original. I didn't think there was much chemistry between the leads. I like the male lead in other movies. This was not a good movie for him but I guess he needed the work. The female lead was just annoying here but she has been OK in other movies. It was uncomfortable to watch them try to connect. There was the usually misunderstanding towards the end of the movie because one of them misheard something. The reaction from the one that misunderstood the comment resulted in some pretty rude behavior. Because of this overreaction, I found the ending awkward. Hard to watch, including the big kiss. Yikes!! I gave it a higher score because I liked some of the music and would like to see the male lead get casted again but hopefully in a better movie 😊.

source: Wrapped Up in Love

Bon film !

source: Loving Christmas