'A Kismet Christmas' (2022)
Opening thoughts: Have for a few years now been on a roll watching as many Hallmark Christmas films as possible. It has generally been an interesting and worthwhile project, while also very inconsistent. 2022's Christmas output is no exception, being as variable as the rest of the seasonal blocks. The story for 'A Kismet Christmas' didn't sound particularly mind blowing, but that wasn't enough to put me off.
The previous two 2022 Countdown to Christmas films 'Noel Next Door' and 'We Wish You a Married Christmas' already saw inconsistency in quality, the former was quite good but the latter underwhelmed. Luckily, 'A Kismet Christmas' (very different to what was expected, was expecting a Christmas story centered around the musical 'Kismet' for some reason) was closer in quality to the former and actually one of the better 2022 Christmas films thus far from Hallmark. Not perfect, but with a lot of good things.
Good things: Those good things will be started off with first. Sarah Ramos and Carlo Marks are engaging and nuanced leads with a subtly quiet yet charming chemistry that didn't feel rushed or aimless. Zesty Marilu Henner steals every scene she's in and Rubi Tupper is charming and sincere in a type of role that easily could have been played too precociously. The characters were interesting and easy to root for and the relationships feel real and honest on the whole.
It is also an attractive film visually, with beautiful scenery and colourful decorations. The music fits at least and is easy on the ears. The story is very charming and moving, not feeling dull.
Bad things: Having said that, it is also very formulaic, doing nothing new with familiar elements, and there is a conflict that is very artificial and lacking in sense. Some may say that thank goodness it didn't feature much, for me for it to have made sense more it did need more time to be fleshed out, it did feel also too rushed and throwaway.
While the script is not as cheesy or schmaltzy as many other Hallmark Christmas films, it is too talky and too much of the talk rambles and not all of it served much point.
Concluding thoughts: Overall though, quite nice.
7/10.
