My Christmas film viewings over-time have been a very mixed bag. With some surprisingly good hits, where regardless of how predictable they are succeed in being full of charm, warmth and heart so succeeding in being light-hearted and undemanding fun. But also some quite big misses, where the characters are not likeable, everything is forced and shallow with implausibility too in some of the worst cases, the acting and writing being weak and basically with just nothing to them.
2021 was a rather unexceptional year for Lifetime and their Christmas films, considering the circumstances they could have been a lot worse certainly but very few of their films stood out in a good way. 'My Christmas Wish' was no exception. It is not terrible and is watchable, but nothing is done exceptionally and it didn't feel like anything special. Lifetime did do worse that year, but they also did better. Also found Hallmark's 2021 Christmas output more consistent, and even that wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination.
There are good things, but they are too far and between. It looks good. Loved the scenery especially, regardless of any authenticity being called into question there is a festive look to it and it looks picturesque. Personally thought the photography, while never extraordinary, complemented it nicely, not overblown while not basic either. The music is a nice enough fit and is pleasant music on its own, it doesn't make as much of a mistake as other Christmas films of being used too constantly or being too loud (something that a number of Lifetime Christmas films are guilty of).
Did think that most of the supporting cast came off quite well, if never amazingly. There are moments of real charm and heart warmth and the film starts off quite well.
Against all of that, there are also a lot of flaws with 'My Christmas Wish'. Meggan Kaiser and Zane Stephens look as though their hearts weren't in it, Stephans particularly looked as if he wanted to be somewhere else, and their chemistry is lukewarm at first and mostly incredibly bland. On the other end of the acting spectrum, we have the out of kilter overacting Ashton Leigh and her character is incredibly annoying. None of the characters are that interesting or likeable and Kaiser and Stephans just don't have much connection, in fact most of the character interaction was flat.
The story on the whole could have been a lot more engaging. It has its moments, but the excessive predictability from doing nothing new with very familiar done to death ground does hurt it. Also thought that it dragged quite a lot, from the story being very thin and over-stretched, and the conflict is contrived and lacks any kind of tension. As does the too convenient final act, with a climactic moment that occurs far too early and an ending that wraps things up far too neatly. The dialogue is very awkward sounding and cheesy a lot of the time, as well as sappiness overload, and there is very little heart or charm.
Concluding, watchable enough but nothing special. 5/10.
