Christmas Collision (2021) User Reviews

Different than Hallmark, but still just a middle of the road romance.

[cgvsluis · 4/10 · 11 November 2021]

I am a little at a loss as to how I feel about this film and I have read some interesting reviews by others. First I want to agree that there are full scenes that are stilted and awkward, making them uncomfortable to watch and taking you out of the film, like the first scene with the choir practice and the town mayor...I don't think it was the actors, I think it was the dialogue and the timing. Anyway, it could have used some better direction. Also, I have seen criticisms of the main actress who played Theodora by individuals who claim to only have watched the first ten minutes...which I think is unfair since they did not get to see her soften, in other words I think they should wait until the two bake cookies together or share a meal with meatloaf and pie at the diner before they judge her or her acting...I thought her transition from severe to softening seemed natural and worked with the chemistry between her and Charlie.

Now the story, Theodore has come to town to foreclose on a farm quickly for her firm during the holidays. What she doesn't know until she gets there is that the owner has just passed and they are holding a memorial at the farm where she interrupts to speak to the son Charlie who has been kept in the dark, because of her time constraints. Of course, Charlie doesn't understand how this could happen as his mom keeps good records and he asks for some time to look in to it. Meanwhile, Theodora falls on the property and severely sprains her ankle...having to stay with Charlie at the farm for a few days. It is at the farm that Theodora starts to soften and she starts to get suspicious that this foreclosure isn't as straightforward as she was lead to believe.

This was a little different than say the Hallmark holiday offerings, but still kind of a middle of the road romance.

Awkward take on a possibly good story

[alanna107 · 4/10 · 13 December 2021]

I just like my Xmas atmosphere fix and do not expect any great artistry from Hallmark- style romantic movies. Chose this one because of the title and story teaser. In the beginning, I quite liked Theodora's edge and Charlie's dark sensitivity and thought it would be developed throughout the movie. But it was as if their personalities suddenly changed, mellowed right to the mainstream, and it made no sense. Although the actors are good, a skilled director could have gotten so much more out of them. I found the dialogues awkward as well as the whole storyline and script. And the bad bad banker and investor characters? Not believable in the least - as if they were plucked out of Victorian ages :) Also, the movie looks and sounds like a cheap production with all the popping and hollow spaces. Shame, really.

A puzzling Christmas treat

[jdollak · 3/10 · 6 December 2022]

My wife and I will put on Christmas romance movies occasionally. They go by pretty fast, and they're funny, in a strange way. I usually like seeing ways that different ones stretch the mold a bit.

This movie stretches the mold, but as a result, it's weird.

On the technical side, there are some strange issues. The sound and picture are a bit odd. The color balance doesn't seem consistent, and it might be that interior lighting is way too harsh inside the primary house location.

The sound has some real problems, occasionally the volume dips down much lower than normal. At least there's no distortion.

The story starts off as pretty normal Christmas movie fare - the big city girl goes off (around Christmastime) to some rural area to foreclose on a house as part of some evil business deal. Along the way, she learns the meaning of Christmas - and romance.

Where the movie gets weird is in the skipping of details. There is a dramatic argument between the male lead and his friend, and I came out of it not having any clue what their conflict was.

The evil plot by the Big City Corporation seems to be something nonsensical. They're trying to take control of this family home, claiming that the male lead's deceased mother defaulted on payment.

But this isn't a bank foreclosing. The female lead keeps referring to there being some sort of a deal. And the son doesn't have power of attorney, so he's not allowed to look at any of this paperwork - but they still need his signature to "close the deal." None of this makes any sense.

The female lead is incredible in how evil she is at the start.

In addition to this foreclosure plotline, there's also a Christmas cookie competition. And this is something that everyone is into.

Also, everyone is very into pie. And the couple eats meatloaf and pie to cement their bond.

The movie squeezes in a strange father / daughter drama at the last minute. Since this wasn't set up earlier, it comes across very puzzling.

Direction has some odd choices. In a shot where Theodora says how it's so beautiful out there, everything behind her is a dead field and bare trees in the distance. The reverse show shows the same.

One of the big kisses at the end is framed in a very awkward way. The couple is on the left side. In the middle is the BACK of someone's head. Then someone watching the couple is on the right.

Also, at some point later in the movie, the house is turned into a farm. I'm not sure how it's a farm, since there doesn't seem to be anything other than a suburban house with a few fields around it. No animals, no signs of anything being planted.

Despite all of these problems, the confusion that the movie brings is totally worth the entertainment.

So bad. The worst.

[jbstad · 1/10 · 20 November 2022]

I have no idea how this was made. The worst written I have ever seen. This is not against the actors, who had to work with this drivel. Lack of motive. Melodrama. No logical info on a conflict that was empty. Everything resolved with no information about what happen. How the foreclosure came about. No research done about how these kind of situations work. No explanation of why some little farm was important enough to steal. Did they steal? What happened at the bank? Heroine does a character 180 between scenes. Horrific cliches: she breaks a high heel; opens at a funeral; sudden motive for the all life-important cookie competition? OMG! Over the top dialogue and focus. All that was missing was her father's twirling mustache. The writer clearly has never written anything. Wince-worthy.

Bad on several levels

[Jackbv123 · 2/10 · 4 November 2022]

For starters, there are many of the usual formula plot lines. Save the farm. Send Theodora to close the deal, but instead a romance develops. Friends telling the leads that they are in love. (This one got used way too much.) A cookie contest. Overbearing dad.

There is an element that starts out as a small mystery and grows more ominous as the story goes on. How far this goes is not normal in Hallmark movies, but this isn't Hallmark.

The script is very clumsy. For one thing there are plenty of filler moments that have nothing to do with the main story and are stupid besides. The romance is clumsy. It is not uncommon for the leads to start out with blatant animosity and then have that melt. In this movie, Theodora is downright rude and uncaring. Then the animosity doesn't melt slowly, it disappears entirely and instantly. If Sebrina Scott and John Wells have chemistry, it is hard to find. Which leads me to the terrible dialogue!!! The misunderstanding which creates the conflict is also clumsy. Then more friends saying you really do love him/her. By the climax, there is no mystery or surprise but even that is dragged out and goes too far.

The acting by all but the leads is horrible. Oh, wow, the mayor is cringeworthy, but other supporting people are not far behind. The leads are just so-so. Almost the entire tone of the movie lacks any fun or joy. There is no Christmas energy.

I wondered about ballot box stuffing for reviews and ratings. Two of the highest reviews are one timers. The rating distribution has a huge gap between 10 stars and 5 stars with another spike for 1 star.

Poor

[michaelgannis · 5/10 · 18 October 2021]

I've had to fast forward parts of this. I love Christmas films, the cheesier the better but this one. Oh dear. The two leads at at the bad but as for the rest. The most stilted awkward acting I've seen in a long time. Even Am Dram can be better.

Mixed Message.

[adamjohns-42575 · 7 February 2023]

Christmas Collision (2021) -

As if the depressing beginnings of this film weren't bad enough they underscored it with a comedy soundtrack of plucky violins, which was totally inappropriate for a funeral.

Sebrina Scott as Theodora was an actual b!tch and John Wells performance in the role of Charlie wasn't exactly Mr. Charming either.

I couldn't ever see that the two of them could come back from their initial meeting, which was tense to say the least and that meant that any relationship that might have developed would have been farcical or impossible for me to believe and he wasn't attractive enough to put up with that.

Theodora's boss was obviously pure evil too and I wasn't prepared to watch another hard time Christmas, with nasty characters.

I could tell that I wouldn't enjoy this one, even after ten minutes, so by the time I got to the first advert break I turned it off.

Unscored as Unfinished.

BORING!!

[ricster55 · 1/10 · 24 August 2022]

Slow moving and BORING!! I quit watching after 20 minutes. Very few Christmas movies drag at a snail's pace. If you need a movie to sleep through without feeling like you need to restart, THIS is the movie for you.

Bad just Bad

[sherrikorn · 2/10 · 2 August 2022]

I saw how low the ratings were but I thought I try watching it anyways. No expectations. The acting and plot were so so. The filming was awful. The camera kept moving unsteady like no one had anchored it down. I started getting motion sick after awhile and had to stop watching the movie.

Slow, Boring, not up to Hallmark Standards

[k_chester · 1/10 · 21 December 2021]

This was the worst Christmas movie I think I've ever seen. There probably wasn't more than 10 actors in the whole movie, when it showed the town you didn't see a single person outside. It was slow, it was boring. The concept of the movie was cute but there wasn't a whole lot of Christmas in it. Wasted my money.

Not This One

[kcterrell-25046 · 1/10 · 11 December 2022]

OK, some of these cookie-cutter (no pun intended) movies are actually sort of charming. This one is just annoying from beginning to end. Some feature some quality acting. Here, cardboard animation would have been an improvement. Some feature some half-decent writing. This treatment must have shown up in crayon, written by a kindergarten class - it's barely even English. Some even present a profound question or two. This one is so vapid and gutter senseless as to just be confusing.

That's the other side of the coin. Sometimes these flimsy romance movies are just plain bad, although even those are not usually as painful and insulting as this. Add to all of that, the cheap production - virtually the entire movie is set in two non-descript boring rooms - and you have a just a painful hour and a half.

Christmas Chemistry

[jab-28238 · 10/10 · 6 March 2022]

The 2 lead actors have great chemistry together as you see it unfold throughout the movie. Thought it was going to be a cheesy knockoff Hallmark, but actually ended up being a good story that had a special feel mainly due to the cast. The portrayal of a small town Ohio was on point. I believe this was beautifully made and directed.

How can this pass Amazon Film Team

[williamsonandcompany · 1/10 · 16 November 2023]

These movies are suppose to make you feel good, not make you never wish to watch another movie again. The beginning of this is spiraling nightmare of bad writing, acting, and cinematic workers. The lighting and sound on some scenes was like a high school film crew do this. Then the acting from the main characters was about the worst I've seen. Almost so that if I see these actors in the cast for future movies I won't watch. But back to my headline title. How did this pass? It's almost like the scene in Elf, where James Caan meets with his boss about two pages missing. His boss says how did you miss two pages, then says it doesn't matter because the book still sucked. Amazon can't do this or they will not compete with hallmark on these Christmas movies. Sorry, I just feel so bad my wife and I started to watch. I got to go watch another film to help me sleep.

Not Engaging

[altheafjones · 3/10 · 10 November 2023]

This movie is unappealing. First, Theodora's character was way too harsh in the beginning 10-15 minutes. Made it easy not to care about her or to even wish something bad would happened. Should have started attitude at a lower level.

Second, the dialogue was a new kind of cliche- yes, we've heard it before, but at least it fit- not so with this movie. Seemed like writers grabbed lines they liked or were familiar with and then tried to force them to into random scenes. The writing also negatively impacted the story development. Plot points were disjointed as well, no cohesion.

Reminds me of brainstorming meetings where everyone is too buzzed to be authentically productive and know they need to rework it in the morning when people are sober, but in this case that didn't happen.

Poorly executed

[grahamathomas1 · 2/10 · 17 November 2023]

This movie suffers from a dreadful script, dreadful direction and dreadful acting. Basically, it's shockingly bad.

You feel no empathy towards the guy potentially losing his family home. The side characters seem absolutely pointless and the storyline is just rubbish.

There are farvtoo many cuts to people who you have absolutely nonidea whatvrelevance they have to the story and the whole execution of the 'christmas festival' would make me run a mile rather than visit the dire event.

The lead male character obviouslybhas a background but you don't find out wherevhe's from or why he left until it's too late and you;ve decided he's notbworthy of a relationship or a happy ending.

Avoid like the plague.

Not a Hallmark Movie

[lisaehrman · 1/10 · 13 January 2024]

It doesn't claim to be a Hallmark movie and the quality shows that. The acting is fair, but slow and non-professional. The lighting bothered me the most. Many scenes were fuzzy and dark. Natural sunlight was pointed towards the viewer and very distracting.

The story was similar to a Hallmark movie, but it wasn't cheerful or nearly as decorated.

The scenes were dreary. For those of us who are familiar with Hallmark movies, it must be very expensive to have top lighting professionals, but this film just doesn't have what it takes.

It is a movie with a happy ending, and that's always a pleasure to see.

Woulda Shouda Coulda

[virginiapooler · 2/10 · 24 October 2023]

My expectations for a Hallmarky-type Christmas movie that doesn't make the cut on Hallmark doesn't run particularly high. But typically, there is some comfort in the formula. This one, while I'll give it points for trying to depart from the standard, totally loses it on execution. An awkward script and some very bad acting by a few of the ancillary characters may have been saved by some decent editing and a music score that didn't sound like it was cut and pasted from some other film - plodding and so out of step. The timing and tone of each scene was completely off. In the end, nothing came together in this one.

We love locally filmed movies, especially at Christmas time!

[stewartwithat · 10/10 · 9 February 2022]

What a wonderful realistic story filmed in Ohio! Romantic and interesting story line with beautiful actors. Enjoyable and entertaining evening watching with friends and family.

Great Christmas Romance

[adamchappie · 10/10 · 17 October 2021]

The two leads, John and Sebrina have great on screen chemistry. I went in thinking it would just be a knock off of those improbably cheesy hallmark movies but this is much much better. Highly recommend.

Christmas Collision Review by Santa

[santadept · 10/10 · 8 February 2022]

This was an absolutely Great Christmas Movie. Funny uplifting, and a nice change. It was truly enjoyable by the entire family. Merry Christmas Every Day!

Wait was this on the Hallmark channel?!

[reeveskirby · 10/10 · 11 February 2022]

Christmas Collision is my ideal Holiday movie with a twist and a perfect film to enjoy with a loved one on a frosty evening! Thanks for getting me into the spirit of Christmas!