Reviews for 'The Mistletoe Inn' on here seemed to be very mixed, when first coming across it as part of my Hallmark/Lifetime etc festive film completest quest (have had a lot of these quests over the past few years). Some really liked the film, while some were mixed on it and others disliked it. Alicia Witt's, who can be competent in the right role, lead performance garnered a mixed to negative critical reception too, so was not sure what my expectations were.
'The Mistletoe Inn' on the most part left me quite indifferent, Hallmark festive films can be watchable and more but this is not one of them. Didn't hate it but there is too much wrong with it, summed up very well already, for me to recommend it in any way. Definitely in my view among the lesser Hallmark festive efforts from 2017, with the writing alone bringing the film down significantly (ruined it even). Count me in as one of those people that was not impressed by Witt's acting here as a character that was perfect for her on paper.
Actually thought the rest of the cast fared quite well, despite all the characters being quite poorly written here. David Alpay is a likeable leading man with a presence not hard to warm to. In support, the charm of Lucie Gest especially stood out.
It's a lovely looking film, the truly attractive settings are the main redeeming merit and the photography complements well. The soundtrack is not ham-fisted or too syrupy, capturing the spirit of the holiday nicely.
Witt's acting however for my tastes was really affected and pompous, which made her very annoying, and her character really gets on the nerves because her personality traits are so exaggerated. The lack of any proper chemistry with Alpay is the main reason as to why the romantic element of the film fails, found the chemistry predictable, awkward, too underplayed and disconnected. That it was really difficult to root for any of the characters, who are little more than shallow stereotypes seen all the time with Hallmark and with little variation each time. Samantha is the best written character, but Kim is pretty intolerable throughout and although Casey Manderson does his best as Garth there is absolutely no depth to Garth (the stereotypical bad boyfriend).
Dialogue is throughout painful to listen to, so incredibly phony and childish with a far from smooth flow and forced sentimentality and no charm. The story, especially the first half an hour, is lifeless in pace and atmosphere, and with such bad writing, unrelatable and underdeveloped characters and a lead performance not working on any level there is just no warmth or heart here. If you have seen other Hallmark festive romance films, you'll know exactly how this maps out as it is pure "see a few and you've seen them all" formula with no creativity in sight. The direction is similarly disconnected and 'The Mistletoe Inn' is a failure in the continuity department too, it is riddled with blatant lapses in it and it is so unforgivably careless.
On the whole, very lacklustre. Am really trying to be nice here, being someone who has always tried to be encouraging and fair, but 'The Mistletoe Inn' regrettably just didn't do it for me. To be checked out for a one-time watch for some of the acting and the settings, but ruined by Witt and the writing. 4/10
'The Mistletoe Inn' on the most part left me quite indifferent, Hallmark festive films can be watchable and more but this is not one of them. Didn't hate it but there is too much wrong with it, summed up very well already, for me to recommend it in any way. Definitely in my view among the lesser Hallmark festive efforts from 2017, with the writing alone bringing the film down significantly (ruined it even). Count me in as one of those people that was not impressed by Witt's acting here as a character that was perfect for her on paper.
Actually thought the rest of the cast fared quite well, despite all the characters being quite poorly written here. David Alpay is a likeable leading man with a presence not hard to warm to. In support, the charm of Lucie Gest especially stood out.
It's a lovely looking film, the truly attractive settings are the main redeeming merit and the photography complements well. The soundtrack is not ham-fisted or too syrupy, capturing the spirit of the holiday nicely.
Witt's acting however for my tastes was really affected and pompous, which made her very annoying, and her character really gets on the nerves because her personality traits are so exaggerated. The lack of any proper chemistry with Alpay is the main reason as to why the romantic element of the film fails, found the chemistry predictable, awkward, too underplayed and disconnected. That it was really difficult to root for any of the characters, who are little more than shallow stereotypes seen all the time with Hallmark and with little variation each time. Samantha is the best written character, but Kim is pretty intolerable throughout and although Casey Manderson does his best as Garth there is absolutely no depth to Garth (the stereotypical bad boyfriend).
Dialogue is throughout painful to listen to, so incredibly phony and childish with a far from smooth flow and forced sentimentality and no charm. The story, especially the first half an hour, is lifeless in pace and atmosphere, and with such bad writing, unrelatable and underdeveloped characters and a lead performance not working on any level there is just no warmth or heart here. If you have seen other Hallmark festive romance films, you'll know exactly how this maps out as it is pure "see a few and you've seen them all" formula with no creativity in sight. The direction is similarly disconnected and 'The Mistletoe Inn' is a failure in the continuity department too, it is riddled with blatant lapses in it and it is so unforgivably careless.
On the whole, very lacklustre. Am really trying to be nice here, being someone who has always tried to be encouraging and fair, but 'The Mistletoe Inn' regrettably just didn't do it for me. To be checked out for a one-time watch for some of the acting and the settings, but ruined by Witt and the writing. 4/10