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★★★★
Directed by: Jake Horowitz
Written by: Jake Horowitz, Andy Lewis
Starring: Storm Steenson, Alexander Oliver, Liam Marshall, Jacob Hogan
Its Christmas! A Christmas movie! Certainly that means people smiling, full of joy, snow, decorations everywhere, Christmas Trees, presents and heartwarming scenes! Right?
Well the elements mentioned above are present in this feature, however there are some additional ones that are not often seen in a story that evolves around this joyful season. There is profanity, dark humour, adult humour, toilet humour, a bit of blood, child abduction, death by allergic reaction and it is even indicated that a murder takes place off-screen! Not a family film then!
So what is the plot then? Mary (Steenson), a young journalist, is assigned to go to Snowy Heights, her home town, in order to write an article about the town's world famous Christmas cheer. There she ends up getting involved with Chris (Oliver), the owner of the Cup of Cheer, a hot cocoa shop. The shop is in danger of closing its doors for ever on Christmas Eve and Mary decides to help prevent that from happening.
The film has 'Christmas' written all over it! As mentioned the elements of this celebration are visible here, and they do look great! Beautiful decorations everywhere and people wearing Christmas clothing. And the music that is heard throughout sounds like...Christmas! It sounds jolly, uplifting, sentimental and childish. The movie even makes references to A Christmas Carol! And the Christmas-themed closing credits are a nice treat!
The protagonists deliver generally goofy, slapstick, over-the-top performances. They portray individuals who are not to be taken seriously (this is after all an adult comedy). All characters are more or less cheerful and tend to look at the bright side of life.
The narrative is interesting enough to follow, but the most enjoyable thing are the jokes and the awkward situations, that tend to involve adult themes.
Director Horowitz does a very good job, creating fantastic establishing shots.
This is a Christmas romantic comedy for adults. Is is entertaining? Well, that depends on the person. If one fancies an hour and a half of outrageous comedy and would also like to see wonderful, festive decorations, then they should give this one a go!
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