It was not easy telling whether 2015's 'Last Chance for Christmas' was going to be good or whether it was going to be bad when first hearing of it, reading the plot synopsis and seeing the advertising. The story did sound interesting if not with much to make it unique and it didn't look too bad. Hilarie Burton is often watchable too, though expectations were dampened somewhat by seeing the negative reviews and hearing of the characterisation of Mrs Claus.
While there are certainly far worse Christmas films about, 'Last Chance for Christmas' was rather lacklustre and despite starting off decently and having two likeable leads it did lack charm and festive cheer. Really do have to agree with those that disliked 'Last Chance for Christmas' and those critical of the characterisation of Mrs Claus, the latter aspect significantly bringing things down. It is not giving any pleasure saying all of this by the way, being a fan of Christmas and having been pleasantly surprised by some of my recent festive viewings.
'Last Chance for Christmas' does have good things. The scenery is lovely and quite picturesque at its best and slickly photographed. The music had an affectionate festive atmosphere and had me smiling and humming along, as good music should do, even if it was intrusive at times. The film starts off quite charmingly.
Burton is the best thing here, she is radiant and immensely likeable. Gabriel Hogan successfully manages to not make his character too uptight or a jerk and is in full command of his material. Their chemistry is definitely there and is sweet. The little girl and reindeer are adorable and the father-daughter interaction while cliched was touching.
However, 'Last Chance for Christmas' has a lot wrong with it. Mrs Claus, instead of being jovial and heart-warming, is a thoroughly unpleasant character, who is irritating, mean-spirited and just a plain bad role model. Jayne Eastwood for my tastes over-acted to the extent that she takes one out of the film. While the two lead characters are easy to like, the supporting characters are very sketchy and have been seen so many times before with a lot more personality. A few of the performances as said are good, but most of the acting was less than great. There is some signs of chemistry between Burton and Hogan and it's sweet and natural, but it doesn't sparkle enough and felt underused and underdeveloped.
The script is excessively cheesy and over-sentimental and is very stilted. The story starts off decently, but is paper thin, very dull and with so many Christmas film cliches and a done to death formula there is absolutely no freshness. To me it lacked charm and heart, doesn't have that much of a warm centre aside from the two leads (Mrs Claus' character writing being a big part of the problem) and was quite bland. The ending is too pat and didn't feel all that realistic either.
Concluding, lacklustre. 4/10
