Christmas Time (2017) User Reviews (42)

Quirky, enjoyable little flick

[Stovepipe99 · 7/10 · 12 December 2018]

I watch a lot of low-budget, never-heard-of-it flicks on Amazon, and most of them are garbage. But every now any then I'm pleasantly surprised, and this was one of those cases. Despite some red flags (the characters share their names with the actors who play them, a suspiciously high IMDb star rating, etc) I gave this one a chance and I'm glad I did.

The film follows a couple, Maclain and Clare. They are struggling with infertility and Maclain is also dealing with strange dreams involving his brother and the childhood death of his parents. In an attempt to help Maclain, Clare finds Maclain's estranged brother, Jake, and invites him to have Christmas with them at the family cabin. What Clare doesn't realize is that the reason the brothers have drifted apart is that Jake is utterly convinced that he is a time traveler.

On the positive side, the three leads have pretty good chemistry. The lead couple are married in real life, and I see from looking through all of their pages that they've all worked on several films together. They have a real, lived-in comfort with each other that elevates the group banter. There are also several funny moments. I really like low-key sci-fi films (think Happy Accidents with Marissa Tomei), and so I enjoyed the goofy premise of Jake's possible time-traveling. If the film really was made in 6 days (as claimed in the trivia), that's pretty impressive. Overall it looks professional. If you're familiar with the horror-comedy "Crush the Skull," I'd compare this film to it in terms of how well it worked with a small cast and limited budget.

On the down side I only had two really negatives. One is that the film takes a turn in the last 20 minutes toward a more serious tone and some drama, and that shift is kind of jarring. I appreciate that the film is trying to address some of the issues it brought up throughout, but it packs a lot of serious moments/confrontations/outbursts into a short stretch of time and it feels too abrupt. My other complaint is specific maybe to me: there was a joke involving the killing of animals that I just didn't appreciate, and generally humor around the handling of a gun that made me cringe more than it made me laugh.

Overall I think that this one's worth checking out. It's a fun mash-up of a Christmas movie and a low-budget sci-fi drama and I quite enjoyed it.

Cute Christmas Movie

[ever_so_small · 7/10 · 20 December 2018]

Cute & quirky Christmas movie! It was different, & I really enjoyed it!

Not your average Christmasay movie

[sebastiansanchez38 · 7/10 · 22 December 2018]

I liked it because it did not have a played out storyline like the ones the Hallmark channel shows. Hug your family tight because you never know what might happen.

Watch till the end

[korechko · 7/10 · 7 December 2019]

One of those movies that has something extra after the credits

Jolly good time

[oruphotograph · 7/10 · 25 December 2019]

Take a shot of eggnog, grab a pint of hot chocolate, and kick back with this quirky bit of Christmas comedy. We probably laughed a bit too much at this film, and that is a good thing. It's light hearted, has a couple solid twists, and was an overall enjoyable experience. The end credit scene was legit, also. Boom.

a fine little family getogether with a wincked eye

[ops-52535 · 7/10 · 24 November 2019]

In an off the maingrid yulstory film about two brothers bonding together for the x-mas season. its a weird little story about to believe or not to believe , very well filmed,produced and acted. the humour are not hilarious but it made my wife take a few lumberjack laughs, and smeared a smile over my face too. the verbal oratorium are solidly stapled like mr.griswalds yullights on the roof, and the obscene lack of shame shines through during the singing parts of the story. dont misunderstand me , but it made me realize that english spoken x-mas carols are so darn beautiful to listen to , either way how the pitch maight be.

its a low budget film, with a ''the same name turn up several times on the cast and crew list'' production, but the story sits well allthough there are some odd changes/flashbacks dug into the story that looks as an editors error but it isnt.

so the grumpy old man thinks that the message are, love thy neighbour and family in the holyday season, you might need that love in the future. its a 7 with a recommend from the grumpetto up in the cold north

over rated

[williamlogan-92171 · 3/10 · 27 November 2019]

This is no where a 10/10 movie...did nothing for us and will go on the pile.

Great little Christmas film

[asarandes · 9/10 · 29 November 2018]

I'm watching it for the second time. I really enjoyed this film. It's sweet and funny and silly and has a nice message. I loved all the characters. And characters they were, especially Jake. Very well done.

Not your normal schmaltzy Christmas film

[FreakyDarling · 7/10 · 3 December 2022]

First off this is a MAJORLY independent film, it was funded through Kickstarter.

Secondly there's more to the story and it's really good!

Came across this silly movie on Peacock and honestly glad we gave it a chance. It's truly not your average family drama Christmas story with comedy in it.

No it may not have the best writing but it's quaint in its simplicity as a whole. The interactions with the actors is cute, silly, and at times much like real family.

If you get easily weepy with emotions this will bring a couple tears to your eyes.

Had I known about this kickstarter I very likely would have help fund it too.

Simply awful!

[u-80192 · 1/10 · 24 December 2018]

Can't find the words to express how poor this movie is.

Different is Good

[henrys-88548 · 8/10 · 16 December 2019]

I enjoyed this. I can see how it might be a bit slow for some but it has a unique quirky charm to it. It's awkward and a bit forced in places, just like in real life. But overall, the message is positive and I liked the ending (look through the window)

It isn't awful, but it lacks the charm and personality required to really make a movie like this work.

[Pjtaylor-96-138044 · 4/10 · 28 December 2018]

'My Brother The Time Traveler (2017)', or 'Christmas Time' as it's listed as on Amazon Prime (for some reason), is a low-budget, insular family-drama with a very slight sci-fi slant that somehow managed to make its production money upfront via Kickstarter, which is strange simply because the oddball premise of the piece is something both difficult to communicate and, frankly, somewhat 'undesirable'. It has a really weird, inconsistent tone and, as such, is never funny, though you can usually tell when it's trying to be. The performances are all decent (save one minor but annoying appearance by a 'tenderloin') and the conventional central story is handled with enough cut-and-paste care to carry you through the brisk ninety minute experience. It isn't really effected by the 'time travel' stuff, though, as the film, at large, isn't actually about that at all; it simply uses the idea of it as a basic function to push the overall plot through all the beats you'd expect. Overall, the flick isn't awful, just generally dull and lacking the charm and personality required to really make a movie like this work. 4/10

So much fluff

[elijlsmith · 1/10 · 10 December 2019]

Probably the most boring Christmas movie I've ever seen. There is a LOT of dialogue without actually saying anything.

Surprisingly good!

[ladybirdlouise · 9/10 · 3 December 2018]

I settled down to watch this Christmas movie, fully prepared for it to be cheesy and a bit lame but it totally wasnt! It was funny, quirky, sweet with a really decent storyline. The characters are brilliant - all very easy to warm to. Cant believe it was filmed over 6 days! Amazing. Loved the ferret references for Murr too!

What happened to warm and fuzzy feelings?

[michael_wells_gr · 3/10 · 29 April 2020]

To say this is an Xmas film with an unusual ending is an understatement.

This film has a twist ending that takes away all the warm and fuzzy feelings that a Xmas film is supposed to leave you with, which is all I should say so as not to reveal any particular details. I didn't like the end at all even though most of the film has the kind of somewhat enjoyable holiday banter from a more or less dysfunctional family that one might expect from a Christmas movie.

If you manage to make it through the credits, which do say "to be continued", and get to the very last seconds of the credits, then another twist is thrown in, which I suppose is the nod to something Sci-fi in a Xmas film but left me almost as perplexed as I was at the end of the movie. I do not think I would watch it a second time.

One of the bests

[zehra_aze · 9/10 · 28 November 2018]

I usually don't weite reviews but seeing that there was no review on this film is a bit sad. What a breath of fresh air. Really enjoyed every part of it. Very special movie, very different to what we are all used to but at the same time it is not anything marginal or weird. It is proper sweet smart Christmas movie...

OK

[Gubby-Allen · 4/10 · 4 December 2019]

There are two different reviews that you could write for the film. One up until then minutes from the end, which would not be very good and one of whole film which is better.

The problems with it, is that it is so slow in parts and struggles with really only three characters in the entire 90 minutes, bar three others for a minute each.

The tone is all over the place as it seems to want to be a comedy at times, but lacks a single funny moment in the entire film, it can deal with very serious issues in between those and there is a part sci-fi element to sit, which is not explored anywhere near enough.

The ending actually feels very rushed, as a few parts come together brilliantly, but with little time to absorb them and having gone through a lot of tedium to get there.

Mildly entertaining at times, but ultimately quite a mess.

[domtaylor · 4/10 · 28 December 2018]

Surprisingly, this low-budget, pretty much unheard of Christmas film isn't terrible. For what it is, it's at least shot and edited competently and provides a bit of entertainment, but as the film fails in its storytelling, it's ultimately quite a mess. It's clearly trying to be first and foremost a comedy, but it's simply not funny. The fact that the majority of characters are extremely annoying (especially the psychiatrist, who was straight-up unbearable - despite the fact that the actor is probably the most well-known out of the entire film) doesn't really help either. When it's not failing at comedy, it's actually trying to explore serious themes - such as depression and infertility- and these are completely out of place and badly handled; they're thrown out almost as soon as they're introduced. The main conceit of the time-travelling brother seems to come second to everything else and you almost forget that that is even a part of it. There's some mild entertainment to be had in a few scenes, and the film is put together decently (surprisingly so, considering the quality of the screenplay), but the overload of themes, annoying characters, and lack of an engaging story really make you wonder why they bothered. 4/10

I Love This Movie !

[pkaiser3 · 10/10 · 26 December 2018]

I thought it was quirky and cute ! It has a flow similar to Dan in Real Life, and one of the brothers, Jake, played by Jake Van Wagoner, is one of the sweetest characters you will ever find. I hope they make another one!

James "Murr" ?

[tommyabyss · 3/10 · 22 December 2019]

I'm watching the movie right now and I'm just going to be the grinch. This movie only survives on "nostalgic" film rip-offs . If that's your thing cool.

Please, bring us the sequel!

[ryanddowns-582-353565 · 10/10 · 6 October 2019]

I started watching this a year ago, got side-tracked because I'm very busy, and found it a few hours ago and started it from the beginning. I love the movie. I love the characters and I love the actors. You all did a wonderful job with this film. Thank you, and I'm praying there will be a soon-sequel. God bless you all. 😘🎄❄✨

Sugar vomit

[fritz-114 · 1/10 · 15 December 2019]

This movie is like over eating cotton candy and then throwing up! Even though I have never eaten too much cotton candy and then thrown up I believe that this movie almost got me there! The dialogue is pathetic and contrived....the editing is horrendous! Just by recalling it to my memory makes me gag! If you need to purge than this movie should do the trick!

Odd, forced ending

[leslieestes-15315 · 2/10 · 31 March 2022]

This isn't the feel-good movie you might expect based on the title and the trailer. It has a very dark, depressing ending. That's too bad because it looked like it was going somewhere and seemed to have potential.

Truly enjoyed it

[camcry · 9/10 · 30 September 2019]

Backstory- my 7 year old son just had tonsillectomy and adenoids removed so we have been cooped up in the house in my big comfy bed for the last 5 days. TV definitely helps the time pass and provides distraction from the pain. I came across this movie and decided to try it and told him if it sucked we would change it. To my surprise we both really enjoyed the movie. In fact he already asked to watch it again. It's low budget and you can tell, but the comedy relief makes up for it. The movie isn't too busy or loud. It's a great feel good movie and it left us wanting more to the story! We are both hoping they make a sequel! Jake Van Wagoner is our favorite and we hope to come across more of him not only for his funny character, but his amazing singing voice!

Refreshingly funny and down to earth!

[lindsaym-62855 · 8/10 · 20 December 2019]

Haven't seen a movie quite like it. Definitely a fan of James " Murr" Murray so i was excited to see him in this movie!