All I Want for Christmas

This movie accomplishes just what it set out to, I believe. I align the theme and lessons learned here with those of my favorites classics like A Christmas Carol and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. It was VERY Funny, entertaining and it ended on a high note like it should. Okay, there was some over acting and some cheesy things, but it was deliberate and genius (I think).

These kinds of "uplifting" family-oriented movies sometimes tend to be a bit on the cheesy side, but this one was extremely moldy. Wow.

Bad, woody dialog. Plot holes big enough to drive a semi-truck through. Undeveloped characters. Actors who can't act. Characters who act without motivation. Even for a fantasy movie, the relationships between characters isn't believable.

Tom Arnold, the only recognizable actor in the movie, must have been really hard up for some pocket change. Even his three brief appearances come across as stiff, lacking sincerity, and awkward.

My wife had control of the remote, so I could only hold my nose through the last third of this stinker.

What's not to love about that? This was a fun movie. I thought the acting was solid. Tom Arnold has a minor role. He is stiff and gives off a strange vibe as the boss, but doesn't he always? The lead character is a self centered, rude, and selfish person. Then an elf gives her a broach that allows her to hear what people are thinking. She quickly get's over the shock of negative thoughts/and men thinking she is hot, and moves right on to how to selfishly use it to her own good. Staying right in character. It all plays out as expected, but it is a fun ride. The actress elevates it a above a cheesy holiday movie. Enjoyable 90 minutes.

I love fantasy Christmas rom-coms! And this one had all the right elements. But...

Here we have a self-absorbed biz exec who is forced to learn the true meaning of relationships at Christmas time. And in pops Calvin, Santa's magical elf, to help!

But did she ever really learn anything? Seems like all she got in the end still seemed, well...self-absorbed?

What we need here is a sequel. Force her to take her lessons learned to a deeper level.

Nah, that would make this too much like real life. Where's the fun in that? 😏

I really shouldn't bother commenting because I recognize that this movie is simply holiday schedule filler featuring actors that don't get cast very often. And I admit I watched only the first 10 minutes. But those 10 minutes were enough to get me to turn off the TV and head to IMDb to comment. I'm going to blame the writers and director rather than the cast for how awful it was. Melissa Sagemiller's Elizabeth is so abrasive and unprofessional that not only would she not be an ad agency vice-president, she wouldn't even be employed. And the repeated drink spilling gag: I guess it's lucky for the characters that the only beverage in their universe is room temperature water served in coffee cups because no one screamed in pain from being scalded or got their clothes stained. There was a profound amount of lazy film making just in the opening 3 scenes and I assumed things would go downhill from there.