Crappy Christmas 2024 Film #8

Definitely one of the better crappy Christmas options I've seen. It's Hallmark-lite but it's funny enough and has enough star quality to never feel overtly hokey. Brittany Snow is fantastic as usual and Justin Long works well with her. Long's accent gets a lot of attention from the Letterboxd comments but I think it worked within the frame of this film. I would never have thought Alex Moffet would be the sleazy cool ex but hey, here we are, and it works. The feel is different from traditional Christmas "Hallmark" films as it throws in some lude comments every so often, but it never goes far enough with that tone and so they feel out of place, even with Alex Moffet's sleazy, horny character. There's a decent ongoing gag with the parents, in that the mum is trying to spice things up, while the husband unwillingly partakes - but it never goes far enough.

I enjoyed this. I don't know if I'll ever see it again but if it was on television I wouldn't avoid it, and for crappy Christmas films that's a big thing. Also, freeze frames are the worst.