There are some good moments in this movie, but the chemistry in Josh & Abbey was without.
As friends it worked fine for them...but they weren't believable as a romantic couple. That first kiss they had seemed more awkward than anything else.
There are many feel good Christmas movies out there, but this one felt a little off and less endearing.
If you have a slow afternoon I'd say go for it, as it does have a good holiday spirit about it, but I wouldn't expect too much from the storyline.
104 Reviews
Cute but no chemistry
pee_bee9 November 2018
Warning: Spoilers
It's a cheesy Netflix Christmas film so you know what the ending will be five minutes in. And that's fine for the most part - grandpa is wise but sharper and more knowing than people think, there's a comic relief friend who laments his lack of a love life, and the kindly town mayor gives our heroine the break she needs. Hell, even chisel-jawed perfect on paper but not the right guy grandson of Gregory Peck really only makes a safe error to show us that although he's nice he isn't the right guy.
The problem is when the two main characters get together at the end there's nothing believable about the romance. As best friends their chemistry was excellent, but their kiss just seemed like two awkward strangers at a failed audition. Grandson Peck might not be the one, but I doubt the best friend would be if they were that lifeless.
Okay..
cthompson-8964026 November 2018
The concept of the movie and the calendar gifts were unique but the rest of the movie was average.
First off they act like this girl is some struggling artist with her brand new car and her giant apartment. She's more like the daughter of a wealthy lawyer so she can be a photographer all she wants.
Then the male lead has braids and a unibrow going on where it makes you root for the other guy.
The meet cute with that other guy was pretty cute so the movie gets points there.
Very predictable but still cute!
barofsoapppp5 January 2019
Genius
gracieliz954 November 2018
If we're rating according to how well the movie accomplished its goals, I have to give this a rave review. Somehow Netflix noticed that people love watching bad holiday TV movies, so they made their own perfect versions, taking every gloriously terrible detail into account. The Holiday Calendar combines a ridiculous plot, adorably unrealistic characters, incredibly cheesy writing, over-the top scoring, and the perfect amount of cliche, both of the Christmas variety and of the bad movie variety. It's a perfected version of your average Hallmark movie, but without the soulless blonde leads. I have to take off one point because it's neither a "good" movie nor an official satire, but it certainly impressed me. Netflix understands TV watchers better than any television network.
So bad and so annoying
d-cisowska25 November 2018
Warning: Spoilers
The predictability is not the biggest problem, most of Christmas movies are predictable. What I found most annoying is the storyline with the doctor who literally did nothing wrong, was open and direct, liked her and told her so and just seemed like a good guy. After which he got dumped for DARING to say that the calendar might not be magic. I found the main character obnoxious, angry at the whole world and not seeing any faults in herself.
This is really bad, you guys, just don't watch it
Worst chemistry ever!
lik_mar21 December 2018
Perfect Christmas movie!
caitlinvica4 November 2018
OK everyone maybe if you don't like "predictable Christmas movies" go somewhere else? But come on this is the PERFECT holiday movie to get you in the holiday spirit. It's wayyy better than A Christmas Prince and that movie was the talk of the town last year. Who wants to watch a Christmas movie with twists and turns anyway??? I don't!!! They make Christmas horror films if that's more your thing.. I wanna see love, friends, family, joy, all the holiday staples, etc at Christmastime. Sorry, I guess that means I like my Christmas predictable? Maybe it's because the rest of the year is so unpredictable that Christmas should be the one thing you can count on.. which this movie is! And it's freaking perfect in its execution, simplicity and all! This is my very first IMDb review ever, because that's how badly I wanted to get this message across in a sea of negative reviews. Don't let people's sad attitudes stop you from watching this adorably inspiring movie. But if you want to be depressed this Christmas, then by all means listen to their reviews and watch something else.
A holiday calendar with not enough magic
TheLittleSongbird2 January 2019
Christmas is my favourite time of year and has always been very special. Main reasons being that it means lots of family time and reliving the nostalgia of singing and listening to carols, watching Christmas films and animations, playing festive games and opening presents. Will never tire of it and nothing will ever change that for the world.
There were two main reasons for seeing 'The Holiday Calendar'. One was due to absolutely loving the concept, which was one not seen an awful lot in festive films and sounded really interesting and cute. The other was wanting to see more festive films, and ones different to the ones familiar with, adored and watched every year. Watching 'The Holiday Calendar' with no knowledge before of its critical reception, thought it was semi-watchable and not quite that bad but also couldn't help feeling underwhelmed. It could have done so much more with its concept, which would have made it feel fresh, but it ended up feeling like a typical cheesy sentimental drama-romance with some merits. Despite how that sounds, that is not meant to imply that there is a personal bias against drama-romances, there are some good to great ones out there. They do however have traps, and 'The Holiday Calendar' falls into pretty much all of them.
Certainly there are good things. There is a real festive charm to how 'The Holiday Calendar' looks, it's beautifully shot and the locations are even lovelier. This festive charm can be heard aurally too, with an infectiously catchy soundtrack that does get one into the Christmas spirit.
It is when it focuses on its concept of the calendars/gifts when 'The Holiday Calendar' is at its most watchable. Then the film is interesting as well as sweet, without being too sugary, and charming, when one is caring about what happens.
Unfortunately, much more could have been done with it and for me it was not focused on enough. Instead 'The Holiday Calendar' focuses too much on the romance and dramatic elements, and the film falls well short in this respect. The romance suffers from a complete lack of chemistry between the leads and from being completely bland, with especially cheesy dialogue that doesn't flow and a rather impossible to root for protagonist. The drama felt forced and over-sentimentality is far from kept at bay, the film is practically covered in it and at its worst it is hard to stomach. The severely wanting dialogue and lack of chemistry is apparent here too and although the main character is the worst case none of the cliched characters are interesting and are instead annoying.
Charm and heart comes too far and between, and the film is further hurt by its excessive predictability, where everything is easily foreseeable long before it happens due to being done so many times before, and going so over-the-top on the credibility straining that it becomes unrealistically far-fetched. And it is not just trying and failing to accept that most of the cast are too young for their archetypcal characters and that it is impossible to believe that the main character is struggling to make ends meet when it looks like she is the richest character in the whole story. The direction is routine at best and all the performances fall flat.
All in all, semi-watchable but lacking in too many areas to be good. 4/10 Bethany Cox
There were two main reasons for seeing 'The Holiday Calendar'. One was due to absolutely loving the concept, which was one not seen an awful lot in festive films and sounded really interesting and cute. The other was wanting to see more festive films, and ones different to the ones familiar with, adored and watched every year. Watching 'The Holiday Calendar' with no knowledge before of its critical reception, thought it was semi-watchable and not quite that bad but also couldn't help feeling underwhelmed. It could have done so much more with its concept, which would have made it feel fresh, but it ended up feeling like a typical cheesy sentimental drama-romance with some merits. Despite how that sounds, that is not meant to imply that there is a personal bias against drama-romances, there are some good to great ones out there. They do however have traps, and 'The Holiday Calendar' falls into pretty much all of them.
Certainly there are good things. There is a real festive charm to how 'The Holiday Calendar' looks, it's beautifully shot and the locations are even lovelier. This festive charm can be heard aurally too, with an infectiously catchy soundtrack that does get one into the Christmas spirit.
It is when it focuses on its concept of the calendars/gifts when 'The Holiday Calendar' is at its most watchable. Then the film is interesting as well as sweet, without being too sugary, and charming, when one is caring about what happens.
Unfortunately, much more could have been done with it and for me it was not focused on enough. Instead 'The Holiday Calendar' focuses too much on the romance and dramatic elements, and the film falls well short in this respect. The romance suffers from a complete lack of chemistry between the leads and from being completely bland, with especially cheesy dialogue that doesn't flow and a rather impossible to root for protagonist. The drama felt forced and over-sentimentality is far from kept at bay, the film is practically covered in it and at its worst it is hard to stomach. The severely wanting dialogue and lack of chemistry is apparent here too and although the main character is the worst case none of the cliched characters are interesting and are instead annoying.
Charm and heart comes too far and between, and the film is further hurt by its excessive predictability, where everything is easily foreseeable long before it happens due to being done so many times before, and going so over-the-top on the credibility straining that it becomes unrealistically far-fetched. And it is not just trying and failing to accept that most of the cast are too young for their archetypcal characters and that it is impossible to believe that the main character is struggling to make ends meet when it looks like she is the richest character in the whole story. The direction is routine at best and all the performances fall flat.
All in all, semi-watchable but lacking in too many areas to be good. 4/10 Bethany Cox
Great unique Christmas movie!
jml19885 November 2019
I loved this gem of a movie. I've always felt that advent calendars have a sort of magic to them, and this one definitely did! It was so fun connecting the dots. The characters were great, well acted, and had good chemistry. This will be a rewatch during holiday seasons for me!
Predictable. Yet worth it.
swiftmetrick2 November 2018
It's easy to say that yes this movie is highly predictable. I'd presume that's one of the reasons it's receiving a large load of bad reviews. I think coming from my point of view is that the film is like any other good Christmas movie. It's predictable although always has a moral behind it. It's worth giving a watch. No you're not going to watch it more then once this year but it's still pretty good.
Plain, cheesy and boring
jsamual527 November 2018
This film lacks conviction. The storyline is flat and the acting falls short. I had hopes this would be an above average Christmas film but it is not. It is boring from beginning to end.
I can see why some people would like this film because if you are in to cheesy Christmas films it's right up your alley but if not I wouldn't bother wasting your time
I can see why some people would like this film because if you are in to cheesy Christmas films it's right up your alley but if not I wouldn't bother wasting your time
Horrid
Davalon-Davalon23 December 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Gramps gives Abby an "antique advent calendar" -- it truly looks like a big deal. Grandma (who recently died) wanted Abby to have it, so says Gramps. She expresses little to no interest in it, other than to thank him. I mean, this thing is huge. It's made of wood. It's hand painted. If someone had given me something from a relative that I loved (specifically bequeathed to me), I would at least take a moment to find out a little about its history or how to use it. Abby does none of that because Abby is "a talented photographer stuck in a dead-end job." Uh, no she isn't. She is a young, attractive woman who could probably be doing a lot of other things, including working in her father's law firm, with her dad and her big sister. Why is she "stuck in a dead-end job"? I don't buy it for one second.
Also, there seems to be this bizarre belief that she couldn't work at her father's law firm, and make decent money, and then take pictures at night. Why is it "either/or"? She doesn't seem to have much gumption and seems resigned to taking passport photos and other non-artistic family photos -- but why? Why is that the only job in the world? Ten minutes in and I do not like her enough to watch this movie. And her "straight male friend" has come back from traveling for 18 months (on what money, I don't know) and the first thing he says to her is "What's up?" He comes back from abroad after 18 months (also assuming/expecting that she's read every single word of his "blog" since he's been gone -- like she has nothing else to do). He sounds like he just stepped out of the hood (but he, like the other POC in this film isn't "too" dark) and didn't learn too much from having traveled the world.
At 11 minutes in, she's feeling sorry for herself and... so... ? So what? Who cares? I sure don't. She's also had too much to drink, but that doesn't stop her from driving off in the middle of the night with Josh to show him her "dream place" -- a building she could rent to showcase her work -- and the work of other people. That's great, but it's "just talk" -- I'm sorry. This woman is young, attractive, intelligent, and apparently has some talent, but she can't figure out how to move forward and is going to feel sorry for herself. This is a "Christmas movie"? All of this is coated in syrupy, cutesy music.
Then she and Josh return to her "apartment" -- which is a massive, massive loft space that people would kill to have. I mean, it's massive. She could open up her own studio in her apartment. I'm looking at it and hating her. Also, she couldn't possibly afford to live there unless her parents (Black father, White mother) bought it for her. And she's moaning and complaining about her life? I'll happily take her life. I worked 3-4 jobs for most of my life, but she can barely do one without spiraling into a big steaming pile of self-pity.
Then something "falls over" that draws Abby and Josh's attention -- it's connected to the advent calendar. He asks her what it is -- even though they both left her parents' house and she was carrying the thing with her (wouldn't he have wanted to know at that point what it was)? Then she explains it to him with a voice of authority: "It's an antique advent calendar." So, now she's an expert on it? She showed zilch interest in it 10 minutes ago.
The other thing that is insane about this movie is: So, Grandma wanted to bequeath this "antique advent calendar" to Abby. Okay, great. Now why is it that Grandma never told Abby about this in all the years she was on earth? Also, it's in perfect condition, like they just picked it up from the prop department.
Finally, things pick up the pace when she has a "meet cute" with Mr. Christmas Tree (tied onto his car with a bungee rope), "Ty Walker" (Ethan Peck, grandson of Gregory Peck -- and he seems to have inherited Gregory's good looks and rich baritone voice). It was actually very clever and funny. If the rest of the movie could be as good as this scene, it might be worth watching.
Twenty-five minutes in, she's finally asking Gramps about the "story behind" the advent calendar. It seems odd to me that she had no interest in it before.
He doesn't tell her enough to make that much of a difference, but now she's convinced the calendar is predicting her future. And she tells "Josh" (why do women in these movies always have to have a straight male "best friend"?) about the calendar. He thinks she's nuts. She explains everything we just saw, using the tiny, tiny, tiny toys that appear each day in a little "room" inside the advent calendar. This movie is hinging a lot on these fingernail-sized toys.
Now a "candy cane" pops up in one of the calendar's wee rooms. And lo and behold, Abby gets "injured" when a contrived situation causes a row of giant candy canes to "fall" on her. She is cajoled into going to a clinic to get her wrist looked at, because she may have "sprained" it. Lo and behold... the doctor is... you guessed it, Ty! While Ty has a legitimate surprised response to seeing Abby, Abby looks up and sees him... and just offers a shrug and smile. Doesn't it dawn on her that something is odd about bumping into the same person three times? Apparently not in this movie. (And I don't blame lead actress Kat Graham; I blame the director and the screenwriter.) Then Ty asks her out in a cutesy way, she agrees, Josh and Nando (a completely unnecessary character) find out, Nando is shocked to know that there's a "guy" in Abby's life, because he thought (based on what?) that Josh was Abby's "guy." And Josh, who was traveling abroad for 18 months, also apparently thought that Abby was going to put herself in suspended animation until he returned from having the time of his life (because, why would she also have a life in those 18 months). This is so stupid and idiotic and if Josh had really wanted to let Abby know how much he loved her, he would have grabbed her and kissed her full on the lips the moment he returned from abroad.
And yet, this insane, weak thread goes on. Abby and Gramps have a heart to heart. Ty is now somehow too "polished" for her -- and for some reason, this seems to bother Abby. Also, she doesn't really "know" him, because he's showering her with gifts, which she also doesn't seem to like, but, as with the rest of her life, seems incapable of saying so. Gramps thinks that "Josh" is the right one for Abby, because, despite the fact (as Abby says) that he has "girlfriends all over the world," he "came back here for you, didn't he?"
I'm sorry -- again, was she supposed to put herself in a deep freeze for 18 months while "Josh" sewed his wild oats? What is it with these movies where people can't say what they're really thinking?
Also, as is the case with any film these days, a drone flies overhead, capturing the perfect snowy city glittering in the winter sunlight, breaking up the boring scenes we still must slog through.
Finally, a line that addresses the reality of this movie, "Are saints like you allowed to date mere humans like me?" -- said in reference to Ty and Abby's date at the local soup kitchen, where he "gives back" to the community once a month. His actions, however, apparently don't sit well with two of the hungry homeless, who call him a "Boy Scout" -- and apparently are the moral arbiters of his life. In fact, when Abby "confronts" Ty with the comments of the "two of the three wise men," he says "You're taking dating advice from two guys that live on the street." -- exactly what I would have said.
As expected, the movie lumbers on for what seems like a fortnight, only to have Abby finally realize that her "true love" is Josh! (whose dialogue vacillates between "What's up?" -- after not seeing her for 18 months -- and "What up?")
Then, because Josh has become financially independent as a "travel blogger" (he was abroad for 18 months -- but then gave it up because he wanted to "settle down"), he, along with his parents (who we never meet) and Abby's Gramps (the "third" of the "three wise men") has pooled together his apparently endless resources to buy Abby the "studio of her dreams" - (the building we saw earlier) where she (and he, because, of course, he is a photographer as well) can have an ongoing exhibit of her photos and she can take the kind of photos she wants to (which are still of people and families and things associated with the pretty town she lives in, which only exists in a parallel universe).
Everything is totally, 100% unbelievable. I only watched this movie as research, and it was a slog to get through it.
The leads are appealing and have nice smiles, but both have limited facial expressions (I'm happy!, no, wait, I'm sad!, no, wait, I'm confused!, no, wait, I'm troubled!), so, after a while you're looking at them and thinking, "Uh, hello, acting school anyone?"
I cannot believe anyone green-lit this movie. Two thumbs down and run for the hills if it's the only thing that's on.
Also, there seems to be this bizarre belief that she couldn't work at her father's law firm, and make decent money, and then take pictures at night. Why is it "either/or"? She doesn't seem to have much gumption and seems resigned to taking passport photos and other non-artistic family photos -- but why? Why is that the only job in the world? Ten minutes in and I do not like her enough to watch this movie. And her "straight male friend" has come back from traveling for 18 months (on what money, I don't know) and the first thing he says to her is "What's up?" He comes back from abroad after 18 months (also assuming/expecting that she's read every single word of his "blog" since he's been gone -- like she has nothing else to do). He sounds like he just stepped out of the hood (but he, like the other POC in this film isn't "too" dark) and didn't learn too much from having traveled the world.
At 11 minutes in, she's feeling sorry for herself and... so... ? So what? Who cares? I sure don't. She's also had too much to drink, but that doesn't stop her from driving off in the middle of the night with Josh to show him her "dream place" -- a building she could rent to showcase her work -- and the work of other people. That's great, but it's "just talk" -- I'm sorry. This woman is young, attractive, intelligent, and apparently has some talent, but she can't figure out how to move forward and is going to feel sorry for herself. This is a "Christmas movie"? All of this is coated in syrupy, cutesy music.
Then she and Josh return to her "apartment" -- which is a massive, massive loft space that people would kill to have. I mean, it's massive. She could open up her own studio in her apartment. I'm looking at it and hating her. Also, she couldn't possibly afford to live there unless her parents (Black father, White mother) bought it for her. And she's moaning and complaining about her life? I'll happily take her life. I worked 3-4 jobs for most of my life, but she can barely do one without spiraling into a big steaming pile of self-pity.
Then something "falls over" that draws Abby and Josh's attention -- it's connected to the advent calendar. He asks her what it is -- even though they both left her parents' house and she was carrying the thing with her (wouldn't he have wanted to know at that point what it was)? Then she explains it to him with a voice of authority: "It's an antique advent calendar." So, now she's an expert on it? She showed zilch interest in it 10 minutes ago.
The other thing that is insane about this movie is: So, Grandma wanted to bequeath this "antique advent calendar" to Abby. Okay, great. Now why is it that Grandma never told Abby about this in all the years she was on earth? Also, it's in perfect condition, like they just picked it up from the prop department.
Finally, things pick up the pace when she has a "meet cute" with Mr. Christmas Tree (tied onto his car with a bungee rope), "Ty Walker" (Ethan Peck, grandson of Gregory Peck -- and he seems to have inherited Gregory's good looks and rich baritone voice). It was actually very clever and funny. If the rest of the movie could be as good as this scene, it might be worth watching.
Twenty-five minutes in, she's finally asking Gramps about the "story behind" the advent calendar. It seems odd to me that she had no interest in it before.
He doesn't tell her enough to make that much of a difference, but now she's convinced the calendar is predicting her future. And she tells "Josh" (why do women in these movies always have to have a straight male "best friend"?) about the calendar. He thinks she's nuts. She explains everything we just saw, using the tiny, tiny, tiny toys that appear each day in a little "room" inside the advent calendar. This movie is hinging a lot on these fingernail-sized toys.
Now a "candy cane" pops up in one of the calendar's wee rooms. And lo and behold, Abby gets "injured" when a contrived situation causes a row of giant candy canes to "fall" on her. She is cajoled into going to a clinic to get her wrist looked at, because she may have "sprained" it. Lo and behold... the doctor is... you guessed it, Ty! While Ty has a legitimate surprised response to seeing Abby, Abby looks up and sees him... and just offers a shrug and smile. Doesn't it dawn on her that something is odd about bumping into the same person three times? Apparently not in this movie. (And I don't blame lead actress Kat Graham; I blame the director and the screenwriter.) Then Ty asks her out in a cutesy way, she agrees, Josh and Nando (a completely unnecessary character) find out, Nando is shocked to know that there's a "guy" in Abby's life, because he thought (based on what?) that Josh was Abby's "guy." And Josh, who was traveling abroad for 18 months, also apparently thought that Abby was going to put herself in suspended animation until he returned from having the time of his life (because, why would she also have a life in those 18 months). This is so stupid and idiotic and if Josh had really wanted to let Abby know how much he loved her, he would have grabbed her and kissed her full on the lips the moment he returned from abroad.
And yet, this insane, weak thread goes on. Abby and Gramps have a heart to heart. Ty is now somehow too "polished" for her -- and for some reason, this seems to bother Abby. Also, she doesn't really "know" him, because he's showering her with gifts, which she also doesn't seem to like, but, as with the rest of her life, seems incapable of saying so. Gramps thinks that "Josh" is the right one for Abby, because, despite the fact (as Abby says) that he has "girlfriends all over the world," he "came back here for you, didn't he?"
I'm sorry -- again, was she supposed to put herself in a deep freeze for 18 months while "Josh" sewed his wild oats? What is it with these movies where people can't say what they're really thinking?
Also, as is the case with any film these days, a drone flies overhead, capturing the perfect snowy city glittering in the winter sunlight, breaking up the boring scenes we still must slog through.
Finally, a line that addresses the reality of this movie, "Are saints like you allowed to date mere humans like me?" -- said in reference to Ty and Abby's date at the local soup kitchen, where he "gives back" to the community once a month. His actions, however, apparently don't sit well with two of the hungry homeless, who call him a "Boy Scout" -- and apparently are the moral arbiters of his life. In fact, when Abby "confronts" Ty with the comments of the "two of the three wise men," he says "You're taking dating advice from two guys that live on the street." -- exactly what I would have said.
As expected, the movie lumbers on for what seems like a fortnight, only to have Abby finally realize that her "true love" is Josh! (whose dialogue vacillates between "What's up?" -- after not seeing her for 18 months -- and "What up?")
Then, because Josh has become financially independent as a "travel blogger" (he was abroad for 18 months -- but then gave it up because he wanted to "settle down"), he, along with his parents (who we never meet) and Abby's Gramps (the "third" of the "three wise men") has pooled together his apparently endless resources to buy Abby the "studio of her dreams" - (the building we saw earlier) where she (and he, because, of course, he is a photographer as well) can have an ongoing exhibit of her photos and she can take the kind of photos she wants to (which are still of people and families and things associated with the pretty town she lives in, which only exists in a parallel universe).
Everything is totally, 100% unbelievable. I only watched this movie as research, and it was a slog to get through it.
The leads are appealing and have nice smiles, but both have limited facial expressions (I'm happy!, no, wait, I'm sad!, no, wait, I'm confused!, no, wait, I'm troubled!), so, after a while you're looking at them and thinking, "Uh, hello, acting school anyone?"
I cannot believe anyone green-lit this movie. Two thumbs down and run for the hills if it's the only thing that's on.
Holiday Magic!
ginasharp14 November 2020
I adored this movie! Netflix has taking the Hallmark concept and boosted it 2.0! The acting hits the mark, the storylines are unique and wonderful, a there was a touch of magic for those who want to believe! Love that you get to see "a year later" instead of ending too soon. If you like romantic Christmas movies, add this to your list!
Cute holiday movie!
JessaKat1821 November 2018
I thought this was a cute holiday movie. I wouldn't say it's an awarding winning movie that truly touched my soul! No nothing like that. Just a cute, clean family movie. Def. gave me the Hallmark Christmas movie vibe.
Great movie
nicole-fenton894 November 2018
Warning: Spoilers
I am a sucker for romantic Christmas movies. This one is by far one of my favorites. The acting was great! Seeing the main character finally realize after all these years her love was right in front of her. I will def be watching this movie again.
Humorous and Sweet
elsiejanecorena24 October 2020
Cute movie
jlmail-2495822 December 2019
Good enough for Christmas
sophieashwood6 November 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Classic Christmas movie, but it could have been better. I don't think it's the acting that was bad in the film, it's the editing that wasn't done well; they probably needed to keep it to 90ish minutes and ended up cutting too much out.
A lot of parts they mention something and then quickly move onto a different topic, such as 'first Christmas without nan is hard' and the gramps is like oh yes, but let's talk about the advent calendar. Next few scenes he says Christmas is always a hard time without his wife...so it's not the first Christmas without her?
I felt like this film could have had great potential but they added in the random storyline with Ty, which brought barely anything to the film. Is he a bad guy? Apparently not according to Abby at the end, even though those guys tell her he brings a lot of girls to the soup kitchen (and not one of those girls was his daughter).
Also - the mayor, who had never seen Abby's photos wants her to send them over to decorate her office?
Yes it's predictable, yes it's a bit of a lame storyline, but it is one of those Christmas movies you can throw on in the background to get you in the holiday spirit.
A lot of parts they mention something and then quickly move onto a different topic, such as 'first Christmas without nan is hard' and the gramps is like oh yes, but let's talk about the advent calendar. Next few scenes he says Christmas is always a hard time without his wife...so it's not the first Christmas without her?
I felt like this film could have had great potential but they added in the random storyline with Ty, which brought barely anything to the film. Is he a bad guy? Apparently not according to Abby at the end, even though those guys tell her he brings a lot of girls to the soup kitchen (and not one of those girls was his daughter).
Also - the mayor, who had never seen Abby's photos wants her to send them over to decorate her office?
Yes it's predictable, yes it's a bit of a lame storyline, but it is one of those Christmas movies you can throw on in the background to get you in the holiday spirit.
Super cute holiday movie!
tiffany-williams0511 November 2018
The story and characters are adorable. Some of the low-rated reviews are that the movie is cheesy and you know how it's gonna end. Hello duh! That's what makes these little holiday love stories cute and charming. This movie is still well worth watching and very well done. So grab a warm blanket and a cup of cocoa with marshmallows, and enjoy!
These Reviews- Scrooges!!
ajsoblessed23 December 2019
This movie was super cute!! The acting was not bad at all. Quincy did a great job . It is a predictable feel-good Christmas movie- but -duh!! Aren't they all? I wish there were more scenes with Josh (Quincy) and Abby (Kat) to make them uncomfortable and address their feelings head on, but that did not happen. All in all- it was a family movie everyone can watch and appreciate. Yes, the family dynamic was a little weird but it wasn't terrible. I am glad Netflix is still promoting this film. I watched it like three times.
It is what is it
lilzsuzsika1 December 2018
It's a holiday movie, don't expect too much . It's wachable. Poor acting dough... But I liked the idea with the calendar, I could use that one in real life... :) It's worth waching if you don't expect too much from a Christmas movie.
Poor, starving artist with a huge, a** apartment?
asmithee2323 January 2021
The good - Kat Graham. The over the top decorated town - for a while. The good? The rent is so reasonable the struggling photographer can afford that huge, a** apt, her new car, her fashionable wardrobe and her expensive photography equipment. The bad? The decorations go too far, even for a Christmas movie. The public school has lit garland on the banisters? C'mon. Everything is decorated! Every window, street lamp, fire hydrant...okay, I exaggerated on that last one. Here is the real issue with the film and that is the male lead. He is completely wrong for the role. This movie is set in a very well to do, well educated small town with nary a bad neighborhood in sight. Quincy Brown's character speaks as if he's right off 8 Mile suddenly transplanted to Gross Pointe. Supposedly, the two leads grew up together. It just isn't believable.
This Heroine needs the full Scrooge treatment
dormantdude-8881019 November 2018
So. Our heroine has problems.
She wants to be a photographer.
But.
She isn't brave enough to travel the world to follow her dreams like her best friend.
She can't bring herself to ask her parents to help her finance her own studio.
She forces herself to work in a studio taking passport photos to "pay the bills" and lives in this gorgeous, but I suppose less than mansion-like loft.
And worst of all? Her parents keep offering to give her money! Or a job at their law firm. They care about her life choices and worry for her. Her loving grandfather even has the audacity to give her a slightly broken family heirloom for Christmas that had belonged to her deceased grandmother.
The absolute horror of it all.
What this girl needs is a calendar that strips her of everything she has until the day before Christmas. Perhaps then, standing on the verge of the destitution and lonely despair that is the inescapable reality for so many people, will she realize how much she had to be grateful for.
I can't believe anyone could take this spoiled girl seriously or develop any form of connection with her as the leading character. This film was over for me before it began.
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