Le_Serenity

I'm not one for Lifetime or Hallmark movies. The cliche plots, predictable story lines, cringey moments, and flat characters... It's never been my taste. I went into this movie thinking I would likely lose interest within the first thirty minutes, assuming it was that sort of storytelling. I was happily surprised.

It was a Hallmark movie with a mature twist. The plot was predictable, of course, simply because you know the main leads are going to end up together despite the obstacles and resistance. Let's be real -- you don't watch these sort of movies not wanting that to happen anyway.

What helped it stand on its own was the adult humor, the believable characters with actors who know what they're doing without it feeling flat and dull, and allowing the characters to develop on their own instead of rushing it along. The two leads also worked well together with great chemistry.

I give it 7/10 stars because some of the adult humor did feel more crude than necessary. Also, a couple moments were simply "meh" (i.e. Losing a finger). The ending was cute and well-delivered, but I also wish we had maybe 5 more minutes of seeing a full circle of them spending Christmas together. Maybe even jokingly donning two ugly sweaters together.

Overall, I think this could become a holiday movie for me, and I'm happy I finally gave it a chance even if it's a year late.

The trailer on Netflix sucked me in. I've never been a "OMG IT'S TAYLOR SWIFT I LOVE HER" fan. Yes, I like some of her songs on the radio but haven't had any interest in spending money on an album or going to a concert. I grew up with her, though, even if I didn't follow her fame. I remember her stepping onto the music scene and sweeping the awards up with a broom, I remember Kanye dissing her at the awards show, I remember the feud between them and Kim later, and I remember the release of Reputation. I also remember her speaking up about politics for the first time.

I remember it all from a distance.

And this was a wonderful documentary to show how Taylor felt behind the scenes during all of that. You don't really think about how the media impacts the celebrities they're too happy to trash or how stunned Taylor felt when she was publicly humiliated on that stage at only 17 years old. As terrible as it sounds, this documentary helped further shape her into a 3D person instead of just a voice through the radio or a face on the screen. People call her fake, but this documentary showed she's anything but.