Expectations were rather mixed prior to watching 'Boyfriends of Christmas Past'. While absolutely adoring the timeless 'A Christmas Carol' story, reading it every Christmas and watching most of the numerous adaptations of it is something of a tradition, it has been adapted and parodied so many times and was worried that it would feel very tired and rehashed. Worried as to whether anything new would be done with it. The idea here did sound interesting and an attempt at something different.
Unfortunately, it was not done very well at all. Was not impressed by the previous 2021 Countdown to Christmas film 'You Me and Christmas Trees', and despite having stronger potential and having a less predictable premise 'Boyfriends of Christmas Past' was worse. It does very little new with such a timeless classic and despite trying to stray away from the formula a little the execution still manages to be rather predictable and ordinary. Why attempt any differences if you are going to do nothing with it or at least anything new?
'Boyfriends of Christmas Past' is not a complete shambles. The best thing about it is the very appealing and understated yet charismatic performance of Raymond Ablack, who really does make the most of what he is given and does such a good job doing so. Did like the father and stepmother characters as well.
It looks pretty good as a film, Hallmark nearly always delivers when it comes to the scenery and it's lovely here and if production was hurried and on a low budget it didn't show in the way the film is photographed.
A lot less appealing however is the lead performance of Catherine Kim, she came over as very wooden and emotionally there is next to nothing in her performance. Everything about it is bland and ill at ease. None of the rest of the cast stand out, it was impossible for the actors playing the ex boyfriends to do so considering how their characters are written. There is no chemistry between Kim and Ablack, part of it is down to her performance and a big part of the problem is how poorly fleshed out the relationship is, very little is done with it.
Which is true of all the relationships in 'Boyfriends of Christmas Past'. Promising on paper but very underdeveloped. Everything with the ex boyfriends that the film centres so heavily around had so much potential but the execution of it was at best ordinary and half-baked, the characters hurt by their screen time all being far too brief to register properly, their scenes being rushed in pace and that they come over more as vignettes than real people. The story is very predictable, with an over obvious conclusion, and quite slow going, with it also being a mess of under-baked and under-seasoned ideas rather than a cohesive story. The dialogue is stilted and full of cheese and schmaltz and will agree with anybody that says that there is too much focus on the job, that the lead character doesn't really grow (a big problem for this premise) and that it doesn't feel like a Christmas film.
Overall, very disappointing with so little done with its strong potential. 3/10.
Unfortunately, it was not done very well at all. Was not impressed by the previous 2021 Countdown to Christmas film 'You Me and Christmas Trees', and despite having stronger potential and having a less predictable premise 'Boyfriends of Christmas Past' was worse. It does very little new with such a timeless classic and despite trying to stray away from the formula a little the execution still manages to be rather predictable and ordinary. Why attempt any differences if you are going to do nothing with it or at least anything new?
'Boyfriends of Christmas Past' is not a complete shambles. The best thing about it is the very appealing and understated yet charismatic performance of Raymond Ablack, who really does make the most of what he is given and does such a good job doing so. Did like the father and stepmother characters as well.
It looks pretty good as a film, Hallmark nearly always delivers when it comes to the scenery and it's lovely here and if production was hurried and on a low budget it didn't show in the way the film is photographed.
A lot less appealing however is the lead performance of Catherine Kim, she came over as very wooden and emotionally there is next to nothing in her performance. Everything about it is bland and ill at ease. None of the rest of the cast stand out, it was impossible for the actors playing the ex boyfriends to do so considering how their characters are written. There is no chemistry between Kim and Ablack, part of it is down to her performance and a big part of the problem is how poorly fleshed out the relationship is, very little is done with it.
Which is true of all the relationships in 'Boyfriends of Christmas Past'. Promising on paper but very underdeveloped. Everything with the ex boyfriends that the film centres so heavily around had so much potential but the execution of it was at best ordinary and half-baked, the characters hurt by their screen time all being far too brief to register properly, their scenes being rushed in pace and that they come over more as vignettes than real people. The story is very predictable, with an over obvious conclusion, and quite slow going, with it also being a mess of under-baked and under-seasoned ideas rather than a cohesive story. The dialogue is stilted and full of cheese and schmaltz and will agree with anybody that says that there is too much focus on the job, that the lead character doesn't really grow (a big problem for this premise) and that it doesn't feel like a Christmas film.
Overall, very disappointing with so little done with its strong potential. 3/10.