7.3 stars.
As I'm sitting here in the middle of 'Flipping for Christmas', I watch the leads as they portray an overstated flirtation that could easily crumble into a full-blown burnout. I've seen enough Hallmark love stories to realize what I'm looking at is a caricature of a romance, inflated to give us the impression that these two are immeasurably enamored. I see the pattern leading up to some disappointment.
It's the usual Hallmark plot, at least one of about 5 different general plots. In this case it's the one where two people are falling madly in love all too quickly. This always leads to the eventual conflict and the inevitable conclusion full of misunderstandings, anger, resentment, gaslighting...but eventually things get better.
Let's not forget the reason why they are working together to renovate this old Victorian house, as they both have completely opposite goals for the end product. This whole "endearing" blossoming affection will end well, but only because it's Hallmark. They can manipulate the pieces on this chess board, because the end is always the same: the king and the queen end up together with some help from the pawns and a couple of knights. I have no idea what I'm talking about, except I'm using chess to describe a Hallmark plot.
I didn't love this film, but I do enjoy the leads and how they do actually have a lot of chemistry, in spite of the fact that it looks forced at times with her constant semi-fake smiles. He makes up for it by reciprocating with more genuine expressions. The end was pretty good, maybe there will be a sequel. I wouldn't be opposed to another one, maybe it will be more memorable.
As I'm sitting here in the middle of 'Flipping for Christmas', I watch the leads as they portray an overstated flirtation that could easily crumble into a full-blown burnout. I've seen enough Hallmark love stories to realize what I'm looking at is a caricature of a romance, inflated to give us the impression that these two are immeasurably enamored. I see the pattern leading up to some disappointment.
It's the usual Hallmark plot, at least one of about 5 different general plots. In this case it's the one where two people are falling madly in love all too quickly. This always leads to the eventual conflict and the inevitable conclusion full of misunderstandings, anger, resentment, gaslighting...but eventually things get better.
Let's not forget the reason why they are working together to renovate this old Victorian house, as they both have completely opposite goals for the end product. This whole "endearing" blossoming affection will end well, but only because it's Hallmark. They can manipulate the pieces on this chess board, because the end is always the same: the king and the queen end up together with some help from the pawns and a couple of knights. I have no idea what I'm talking about, except I'm using chess to describe a Hallmark plot.
I didn't love this film, but I do enjoy the leads and how they do actually have a lot of chemistry, in spite of the fact that it looks forced at times with her constant semi-fake smiles. He makes up for it by reciprocating with more genuine expressions. The end was pretty good, maybe there will be a sequel. I wouldn't be opposed to another one, maybe it will be more memorable.