The Christmas on Candy Cane Lane writers went for absurdity and touching in the same movie, and they never sold me on either mode.
When you have a film where you're relieved when one character isn't in a scene, that's a bad sign. And not because you have a bad guy you don't like but just because the character is constantly annoying.
The whole subplot about "vandalizing candy canes" by moving them around was a non-starter for me. It wasn't serious enough to raise concern, nor funny enough to be amusing.
On the sentimental side, we have divorced parents coming to terms over their daughter and possibly becoming close again and an accused prankster who clearly isn't going to be the culprit.
More than halfway in, I looked over at my wife and said, "At an hour and sixteen minutes into the movie, I'm thinking it should have established SOMETHING I care about." Oops, and just after that Miss Annoying Neighbor walked into another scene to ruin it. We didn't turn it off but probably should have.
When you have a film where you're relieved when one character isn't in a scene, that's a bad sign. And not because you have a bad guy you don't like but just because the character is constantly annoying.
The whole subplot about "vandalizing candy canes" by moving them around was a non-starter for me. It wasn't serious enough to raise concern, nor funny enough to be amusing.
On the sentimental side, we have divorced parents coming to terms over their daughter and possibly becoming close again and an accused prankster who clearly isn't going to be the culprit.
More than halfway in, I looked over at my wife and said, "At an hour and sixteen minutes into the movie, I'm thinking it should have established SOMETHING I care about." Oops, and just after that Miss Annoying Neighbor walked into another scene to ruin it. We didn't turn it off but probably should have.