Love Christmas and Christmas films, and there are good festive Hallmark films out there. No, there has never been any personal bias against Hallmark. Having said that, expectations were not high. The premise sounded ridiculous and shallow, it did not look promising and trusted Christmas Hallmark film fans had a very low opinion of it. Decided though to see 'A Christmas for the Books' and was determined to not say anything personal against the lead actress or attack her looks like others have.
'A Christmas for the Books' unfortunately did turn out to be that bad, even when trying to judge it for what it was and not take it too seriously. It was hard to do any of those things with so much done wrong, the worst components done to an insulting degree. It actually was even worse than advertised and made out to be, and of my recent festive film quest 'A Christmas for the Books' by quite some way is down there with the worst. Something that is not being said with any pleasure or intended disrespect.
The best and only really good thing about 'A Christmas for the Books' is the location for the apartment. That was really lovely, an adjective that cannot be used for the rest of the film.
Everything else is a failure. The look of the film in general is drab, failing to capture the magical atmosphere of the holiday and the editing and the flow from frame to frame looked like it was done in a rush. This did not look like a film made by people that loved Christmas. Music is an important thing for talking about when reviewing anything and Christmas has some of the catchiest and most timeless tunes around. Didn't find much special with this component here.
Dialogue is ridden with cheese, soap and contrivance, enough to cause unintentional laughter and groans. Not things you want to feel watching something that should uplift, warm and move you, of which the dialogue for 'A Christmas for the Books' does none of those things. The story is basically the same formula and similar plot-line for most Hallmark festive films, but without any of the heart, charm and warmth of most of them. There is no energy here, it is cold emotionally, the story is even more ridiculous than the premise suggested (nothing rings true) and there is no substance whatsoever.
Not to mention the dubious messaging and a lead character that is impossible to endear to. The acting is weak, particularly from Chelsea Kane, am not going to go on about her looks to the extent that others have done but my brief take on it is that she does look ill. Drew Seeley phones in and the rest of the cast just have nothing to work with. The chemistry throughout is as stiff as one can get.
On the whole, very bad and not one for the books. 2/10
'A Christmas for the Books' unfortunately did turn out to be that bad, even when trying to judge it for what it was and not take it too seriously. It was hard to do any of those things with so much done wrong, the worst components done to an insulting degree. It actually was even worse than advertised and made out to be, and of my recent festive film quest 'A Christmas for the Books' by quite some way is down there with the worst. Something that is not being said with any pleasure or intended disrespect.
The best and only really good thing about 'A Christmas for the Books' is the location for the apartment. That was really lovely, an adjective that cannot be used for the rest of the film.
Everything else is a failure. The look of the film in general is drab, failing to capture the magical atmosphere of the holiday and the editing and the flow from frame to frame looked like it was done in a rush. This did not look like a film made by people that loved Christmas. Music is an important thing for talking about when reviewing anything and Christmas has some of the catchiest and most timeless tunes around. Didn't find much special with this component here.
Dialogue is ridden with cheese, soap and contrivance, enough to cause unintentional laughter and groans. Not things you want to feel watching something that should uplift, warm and move you, of which the dialogue for 'A Christmas for the Books' does none of those things. The story is basically the same formula and similar plot-line for most Hallmark festive films, but without any of the heart, charm and warmth of most of them. There is no energy here, it is cold emotionally, the story is even more ridiculous than the premise suggested (nothing rings true) and there is no substance whatsoever.
Not to mention the dubious messaging and a lead character that is impossible to endear to. The acting is weak, particularly from Chelsea Kane, am not going to go on about her looks to the extent that others have done but my brief take on it is that she does look ill. Drew Seeley phones in and the rest of the cast just have nothing to work with. The chemistry throughout is as stiff as one can get.
On the whole, very bad and not one for the books. 2/10