Surely the reason that Maggie split up with Jeff was because he's so obviously gay? That would have made this a far more interesting story actually and showed something quite current, as more and more same sex couples are becoming parents or are able to find the courage to come out and still be a parent despite a break up. The 'Stepmom' thing has been done before though and they all seemed quite mismatched. I might even have swapped the couples around. I certainly can't see Brooke Nevin and Kristian Braun's characters getting together. I give it a year before he realises that it wasn't Amy Acker as Maggie's fault that they separated and that he actually enjoys fellas instead.
I can see Maggie and Sam working in a different setting, but it almost feels that she should have got back together with Jeff and Sam should have ended up with Kate, if she hadn't been his sister. I'd actually like to see more films about separated parents coming back together, but done properly. The other guy should be used as a tool to show what they've been missing.
Something in the setup is definitely amiss though and I obviously can't put my finger on it exactly.
I did like the fact that they looked at how Christmas is spent for divorced families and what that means emotionally for both sets of parents and the kids.
They explore how hard it must be to find favour as a new stepmother to two girls and how heart wrenching it surely is to let those kids go if you're the biological mother. All of which must be done of course whilst trying to balance a relationship with exes and yet still move on in your everyday life, including a potential new romance.
I would just like to have seen it finessed a bit more.
There is plenty of Christmas and a lovely posh house and it helps that Warren Christie is easy on the eye. I think they could have made more of that in the "Hot Spa" scene though.
It's not a bad film in its genre and I would say give it a watch, but all of the actors have done better.
6ish?/10.
I can see Maggie and Sam working in a different setting, but it almost feels that she should have got back together with Jeff and Sam should have ended up with Kate, if she hadn't been his sister. I'd actually like to see more films about separated parents coming back together, but done properly. The other guy should be used as a tool to show what they've been missing.
Something in the setup is definitely amiss though and I obviously can't put my finger on it exactly.
I did like the fact that they looked at how Christmas is spent for divorced families and what that means emotionally for both sets of parents and the kids.
They explore how hard it must be to find favour as a new stepmother to two girls and how heart wrenching it surely is to let those kids go if you're the biological mother. All of which must be done of course whilst trying to balance a relationship with exes and yet still move on in your everyday life, including a potential new romance.
I would just like to have seen it finessed a bit more.
There is plenty of Christmas and a lovely posh house and it helps that Warren Christie is easy on the eye. I think they could have made more of that in the "Hot Spa" scene though.
It's not a bad film in its genre and I would say give it a watch, but all of the actors have done better.
6ish?/10.