All About Christmas Eve (2012) -
So this film was an obvious take on 'Sliding Doors' (1998) and I thought that was a nice touch for a made for TV Christmas production.
I would have liked it to have been a bit clearer which version of her was which though. Perhaps she could have hit her head in one reality and had to wear a plaster to distinguish that one from the other, but after a while it was easy enough.
And I didn't think that the romance between Aidan and Eve really had much time to develop, because of the 'Sliding Doors' back and forth, which may be why I couldn't buy their connection.
As has been true with so many of these films, another ten minutes could have made such a difference in that respect. Film makers - Stop restricting the flow of the story to fit a time slot please??
As for the actors, I personally thought that Chris Carmack as Aidan was lovely, despite the pointless scooter, which was obviously way too short to actually have been his, but I didn't think that Haylie Duff as Eve was right for him, she was too all over the place and she had such a "Poor Me" face, as if nothing bad had ever happened to anyone else. I just felt that she would bring him down and squeeze all the joy from him and she put up so many obstacles foe happiness with him. That might be a bit harsh?
Having said that, she did obviously work for the most ridiculous boss and the company clearly didn't have a behaviour management policy.
Actually, the business models in these films have always been so weird. One minute they might be sacked for doing a bad job and the next they might be heading the new office? Talk about extremes? Surely the bosses would have to give better grounds for dismissal than one failed account, if the employee had been doing well otherwise and the bosses certainly wouldn't want to sack the employee if they were in line to run a whole branch of the business provided that they did well?
So, yeah, that was a bit weird, like Tito (Patrick Muldoon), who was so slimey that it was literally dripping off of him. And the home wrecker was proper fugly too, like some sort of alien, there were definitely hints of 'Predator' (1987) about her.
Honestly, the film wasn't that bad, but there were definitely bits that weren't thought through properly, like the terrible artwork produced by the "Stunning Artist", which was at best something that you might find in a charity shop and from the 80's/90's. Once again it was the little touches that let it down and I'm not Haylie's biggest fan.
5/10.
