A Very Merry Mix-Up…Not!

I’m not sure what the message of this movie was supposed to be. Don’t be such a wimp? Put your too-good-to-be-true future husband before your mother from hell? Hallmark Christmas movies are not supposed to make you angry, frustrated, and disgusted.

Lucas proposes to Hallie at his parents’ snowy mountaintop vacation home. Hallie and her mother are prevented by circumstances from having the tropical destination wedding they both have dreamed of. Mommy is not happy. All hell breaks loose, while the poor bride and groom are put in the middle trying to keep the peace. The bride’s mother’s inexcusably rude and loathsome behavior, as detailed by some of the other reviews was never confronted the way it should have been by either the bride, her groom, or her husband. Or her gracious hosts, the groom’s parents, for that matter. She basically got away with an apology and a half-hearted promise to do better. And that twist at the end only made her horrible behavior even worse. And then, her disapproving but whipped husband just told her he was even more in love with her! What? There was no justice or balance. I feel most sorry for the wedding guests that traipsed all the way up the mountain to be cheated out of a nice wedding and told to go home with a gift bag, and then they ended up having the wedding with just family the next day. What?

I am disturbed by one review that said that the groom was too handsome for the bride. That they “didn’t match” and that he should have found someone more gorgeous. That is the one thing I really liked about this movie. He really was handsome and appealing. She was just a normal-looking girl. But he was so in love with her. So tender and considerate. He loved HER, her kindness and generosity. They were friends that were also in love. It wasn’t just the sexual attraction for a beautiful sexy girl that might fade with time. It was true love. If their physical attributes didn’t “match”, their hearts did. Their relationship really lifted this movie to tolerable status.

November 16, 2020