The Groundhog Day parallel is very obvious and lest you miss it, each morning for Darcy starts off remarkable similar as it does for Bill Murray at least for the first few seconds. The Pleasantville comparison is a little bit of a stretch, but I am thinking in terms of both the transference and the theme of conformity (which Darcy calls perfection). This story certainly has an unusual premise compared to most of the Christmas movies around.
Another big difference to me is the lack of time spent together between the destined leads. Also, any relationship between them was already there, nothing developed. Darcy just needed to realize it. As a result, you don't really see the chemistry except possibly for the very brief scene on the couch where Brandon ends up rubbing Darcy's feet.
The outline of the movie seems to me to be quite brief and lacks depth. That's probably my biggest complaint. I kept waiting for something surprising to happen, or at least add to the story. The only real tension in the story was breaking the cycle. There was never any real threat.
The acting seems bad by all the village people, but that's because they were intentionally lifeless characters. I didn't think Caitlin Thompson was either very bad or very good.
Some reviewers don't like Darcy. And it is very true that she doesn't grow, as reviewer fringe-2 says. She gets frustrated and has a knee jerk reaction. Wait until next Thanksgiving. She'll be back. But as annoying as her perfectionism and controlling personality are, a lot of people should be able to recognize similarities in themselves. We all want some control over our lives. Some people go to extremes to get it. List makers are very common in this kind of movie.
This movie is tame for Lifetime (where I saw it). There is a bit of humor when Darcy starts trying to cuss and the words that come out are like "figgy-pudding!"
Another big difference to me is the lack of time spent together between the destined leads. Also, any relationship between them was already there, nothing developed. Darcy just needed to realize it. As a result, you don't really see the chemistry except possibly for the very brief scene on the couch where Brandon ends up rubbing Darcy's feet.
The outline of the movie seems to me to be quite brief and lacks depth. That's probably my biggest complaint. I kept waiting for something surprising to happen, or at least add to the story. The only real tension in the story was breaking the cycle. There was never any real threat.
The acting seems bad by all the village people, but that's because they were intentionally lifeless characters. I didn't think Caitlin Thompson was either very bad or very good.
Some reviewers don't like Darcy. And it is very true that she doesn't grow, as reviewer fringe-2 says. She gets frustrated and has a knee jerk reaction. Wait until next Thanksgiving. She'll be back. But as annoying as her perfectionism and controlling personality are, a lot of people should be able to recognize similarities in themselves. We all want some control over our lives. Some people go to extremes to get it. List makers are very common in this kind of movie.
This movie is tame for Lifetime (where I saw it). There is a bit of humor when Darcy starts trying to cuss and the words that come out are like "figgy-pudding!"