My grown up Christmas list
Year of release : 2022
Run time : 1h25min
Genre : Drama / Romance / Christmas
A Hallmark channel production, My grown up Christmas list ,had potential but failed to deliver.
The movie starts with the lead getting off the bus which took her to her grandfather's small town. She immediately meets the male lead,who is under the Santa disguise,keeping her in the middle of the street to talk. They are strangers at this point,he asks for her name,she gives it,because why not,but he doesn't give his. The very same night,he sends her his parents' basket of Christmas candy canes.
They meet again that very night,as she wanders off through the streets,and he was delivering something. And talk for five more minutes.
Surprisingly,it's already the next Christmas,and our female lead didn't forget Luke. We see her again getting off the bus,but Luke disguised as Santa isn't there anymore.
No worries,they see each other the same day at her grandfather's Christmas store. They go on a date right away,and the very same day he tells her he's a soldier and has to leave for Eastern Europe ( which they show to the audience as a third world country) to train the troops as there's conflict there ( where?(Keep in mind this was shot before the ukraine thing(I watched the movie in April or May)) I live in Eastern Europe! at a certain point they talk about enemy lines,as they walk around with riffles!) But,he can tell she's the one ! Because they spent so much time together!
Fast forward to the next Christmas ,as they talk online,and can't wait to see each other,as they didn't see each other since the Christmas we saw them together.
They're not gonna see each other in person this Christmas either, due to a storm which interrupts their laptop video call ( eye roll)..and..
It's the next Christmas already,and I forgot if Luke proposed the last Christmas or this one ( because he does it online,he already bought the ring,as he had it home!,his father gives her the ring and she says Yes! So he bought it when he met her!?!),but he finally comes home for the wedding! But doesn't stay long,as his superior calls him to tell him one of his colleagues' plane or whatever crashed,and only he,Luke,knows the terrain ( the shocker).So,they have to postpone the wedding!
The leading lady decides to go after him ( I have no idea of the time line here,as she's wearing the same clothes she wore when home(this summer skirt). Also,I don't think one can do that,as she even sleeps in his bed at the barracks or whatever they are) after he just left,and he's surprised to see her at his base in Eastern Europe after he just came back from rescuing some bad actors from a supposed crash.
They try to sell this as real love,but they're never together,we know nothing about their struggles,individually or together! At the end of the movie they were still strangers to the audience and to each other! I didn't feel any love coming from them,they were generic,and hollow!
The leading lady only has a grandfather,her mother died,but we know nothing of her grandmother and father!
Luke's parents are generic,his father a bad actor,Luke doesn't seem to like his job,as his father tells him at the beginning of the movie word is,he's gonna get promoted ( wink). Luke tells the lead,in one of the few,if not the only, moments of talking about themselves,that his father was a soldier and knows how hard it was on the family and him,and how much he hated his father for always being away for holidays and birthdays..yet,he chose the same carrier!Make it make sense,movie! And puts his family and woman through the same thing,expecting her to understand. And she does! She never complains!The movie has no real conflict, they never fight! They never break up! I feel it's a movie about nothing!
The attempts at creating suspense didn't work as they were lame,ridiculous in nature, and the actors bad at acting.
When it comes to acting,the only one good at it was the lead actress,the others being more or less bad at it.
Rating : Could have bee a contender!, leaning more towards the Horror! the more I think about it !