Designing Christmas With You/Mistletoe Moments (2023) -
If I'm honest I probably didn't give this film a lot of my attention whilst also completing a jigsaw puzzle, but it didn't exactly steal my attention away from said jigsaw either. As storylines go it had definitely been done at least 20 times before almost word for word in some respects, but it wasn't bad either. If this was the first time I was tuning in to a Hallmark/Lifetime film this one would have done very nicely and I might have gone gooey for the romance, but as someone that saturates themself in these films every Christmas it had nothing new or standout about it specifically.
Except perhaps Liam McIntyre as the leading man Ben. I've been needing some new blood to turn up for a while and he was certainly different, but when I had previously watched him play the role of 'Spartacus' (2010-13) I had thought that he was a bit too soft for that rugged manly action role, now watching him in this I felt that he would actually be more suited to climbing through air ducts or fighting Bruce Lee or something because he was hard to buy as an Estate Manager and he was also a bit too charming as if he was playing a Prince or something instead of a glorified caretaker. His manners and decorum were all a bit too much like it was something he had to be every day as a part of his work, not necessarily natural for a regular fella. But he was obviously handsome, especially in that dinner suit and I liked his sexy voice.
Colbie (Susie Abromeit) was really quite arrogant right from the off though and it was only when she started to try and see things his way that she became likeable.
As Colbie worked with Ben to create a fundraising event for an old family estate they did bond and the connection was there to see, but there was also the usual confusion towards the end about whether he liked her or not, etc and that specific overheard way of doing things had well and truly been done to death in so many other films before.
I also hated the idea that if she did well with the job she would get a promotion, but if she didn't do well she would be the office pariah and unlikely to be offered advancement ever again. That is one of the things that always seems to happen in these films and makes me wonder why they work for such tyrants in the first place. It wasn't so severe in this one, but it did aggravate me that the Boss was like that.
And I had to wonder why they never took off her coat and his scarf? Was that why he had such a husky voice? Was the set absolutely freezing and giving them all colds?
I might actually come back to this one to give it my full attention, but not until I've ploughed through so many others first. Perhaps that huskiness will charm me and take me with them more thoroughly next time if I catch the glint in his eye a bit more without focussing on a puzzle?
6.39/10.
