A Clusterfunke Christmas (2021) -
I put this film on with the intention of watching the first 15 minutes and then turning it off, because I had expected it to be awful.
And for those first 15 minutes I was right, because I had no idea at that point that it was a parody. It had been unclear, because some of the other 'Made For TV' films had actually been that bad, without deliberately trying. Parodies of themselves in some ways.
However, I felt that it was going somewhere, so I did actually stick with it.
If I hadn't realised then that it was a comedy I would definitely have given up after Holly, played by Vella Lovell, turned up at the inn.
Holly was a vile character and I never actually warmed to her. I felt sorry for anyone that she might have ended up with. So it was fortunate that Cheyenne Jackson, in the role of Frank, was not exactly the nicest character either, although he was sexy. A bit daft and aggressive, certainly to Holly, but definitely nice to look at.
Once I realised what they were trying to achieve, I actually quite liked a lot of the references, because I've often wondered why no one pays for coffee and so on and the traditional Hallmark, Etc films have consistently been so formulaic that they were easy to ridicule.
It was actually quite laugh out loud funny at some points, because as a self confessed connoisseur of Christmas films, it was easy for me to recognise everything that they were taking the mick out of, but I felt that they had really missed an opportunity to go huge with the jokes, with so many other films to replicate and aspects that were crying out for ridicule from so many of the stories they were sending up.
But I did enjoy it and I would definitely look for it again next year.
6.5/10.
