A Picture Perfect Holiday

I am not sure than more than five minutes of this film are worth saving. As much as Hallmark is losing inspirations and lowers its standards, Lifetime always manages to run one or two notches below. This production is soulless, awkward and void of authenticity or attention to details. Fist, there is but a casual relation to Christmas or Holidays. Then, the two main characters are enthusiastic professional photographers who spend long time in painful disquisitions of the merits of photographic intents and techniques and, yet, do not seem to know how to hold a camera beyond the ability to point-and-shoot. Tatyana Ali who used to be cute and, now, tries to look cute, plays Gaby, who remains aloof and self-centered until the last five minutes of the action. One wonders why kind and handsome Sean should have any interest in her, unless he has a magical intuition of her hidden qualities revealed in the last five minutes. It is hard to explain how, unable to connect to one another, they should find such a deep interest in the intertwined relationship between Dani and Amelie, which feels like an artificial, unnecessary intrusion in the main story. These latter characters appear so stiff and unfeeling that only provide a chill factor while a snowfall is awaited. The reality is that Lifetime seems to regard these movies as mere carriers of woke messages or proclamations. Good acting, chemistry, credibility, and entertaining become secondary, if not irrelevant, notions. The wokest, the brokest.