Moonicas

Netflix's Set It Up did the same plot much better. Having said that, this actually beats most ION movies in terms of quality. Plenty of cheesy dialogue, but it was enjoyable and had likable actors for once.

Another generic royal movie ION seems to be making every year now. Sure we all know how it's going to end, but this one tells you right at the beginning just in case you had some doubts. Let's put in some average unknown actors and give them funny surnames like Luck, Holiday, or Charles for the prince. Then show bird's eye shots of Neuschwanstein Castle and Lake Bled (not sure why the second one was there besides it being pretty to look at) and some indoor scenes that could be shot pretty much anywhere. The prince wants to do something meaningful with his life, which in this case means giving advice about chocolate to a female marketer in New York while being incognito... And what's up with those sappy telenovela flashback montages? I've seen two ION movies recently, and they both had them. They even used the same song as in A Prince for Christmas/Small Town Prince in this movie. The engagement part was also totally out of place and seemed like it was there only for them to have something to put into the title behind the standard "Royal Christmas". Not the worst movie, but no aspiration for originality. It's just the same as all others.

I've liked Rachael since She's All That and Damon since New Girl, so that was a good start. Together they make a cute couple and have a decent amount of chemistry. The idea of ruined dates arranged through an app was quite original and gave us some funny scenes. Yet the movie didn't use its full potential, there was certainly more fun to be had. The ending was overdone, but that could be expected given the genre. All in all, a feel-good rom-com - not as hilarious as this year's Holidate, which is also from Netflix, but definitely more family-friendly.

One of the early movies in the royal and a commoner genre we're now flooded with. It lacks originality, charismatic actors, and sometimes even logic. The prince obviously took a commercial transatlantic flight to the US since he went incognito, so how the hell did he end up in the middle of nowhere instead of New York in the first place? Or did he travel in his ridiculous royal outfit the whole time the second time around? I usually enjoy feel-good TV movies, but this was pretty bad. I'd rather watch any of Hallmark's movies with a similar plot again than this one.

I'm not a big fan of movies about event planners, and this is one of those trying to tell you that not being able to throw a certain Christmas party seems like the end of the world. However, actors are good and have some chemistry. Both main characters have another love interest, but luckily there's no big drama regarding this issue. It falls between decent Hallmark productions, but you can easily guess that it's been a few years since it came out. Today's holiday movies don't feel so pushy and overall are more entertaining.

The premise - two people with conflicting interests stuck together in a cabin in the mountains - sounded intriguing, but the execution fell flat. There's no chemistry between the leads, and the woman character overreacted in almost every situation and was just plain annoying. And the actress wasn't any better. Since about 90% of the screentime, it's just the leads, it was kinda painful to watch.

An American girl goes on vacation to a small fictional European country where conveniently English is spoken as the first language. She accidentally meets a prince, and they fall head over heels for each other in just a matter of a few days. How many times have we already seen something like this? Also, the name of the main character is Maggie Marks, which is kinda self-explanatory. Having said that, this is one of the better ones that follow the same formula despite not adding anything new to the mix. The leading couple is cute, characters are likable and even think with their brains. There are no cringeworthy scenes or over the top ending, so it's a solid royal movie.

Christmas at Grand Valley is full of overused tropes like a homecoming to a charming small town, an estate in jeopardy, and a big city workaholic guy coming to seal its fate. He's also a widowed father, and the heroine is a struggling artist. A lot of dialogue is forced, especially the way the children speak is unrealistic. Yet the movie is heartwarming and exactly what you'd expect to get from Hallmark.

I didn't care for this movie. I did other things while watching it, and it never prompted me to get my full attention. The lead actress was pretty bland, and the movie looked like a low budget compared even to other Hallmark's productions. It just kind of went by, and, soon, I'll completely forget about it. The idea of a Christmas camp was original, but it also struck me as ludicrous. There are much better holiday flicks than this, yet you won't scratch your eyes out if you watch it.

One of the many movies with a royal and a commoner. This one's, however, a little different because heroes knew each other already since they went to school together. Then there's the usual - prince comes from an unspecified Eastern European country (even the heroine speaks Russian for no apparent reason), and of course, an evil wannabe noble fiancé. Throw in a few kids with cancer and a royal gala, and you can imagine the result. Some dialogues are corny, characters are flat (the prince-obsessed nurse was really cringey rather than funny), and the acting isn't the best either (especially during dramatic scenes). Also never seen a doctor with such a short dress, and if it wasn't for some costumes and presents, one wouldn't even notice that it's supposed to be Christmastime. However, if you can look past the above-mentioned issues and expected clichés, it is actually a quite enjoyable movie. The only really terrible part was the party at the end.

Second chance story in amazing natural scenery. It's not very Christmasy, but full of positive vibes (at least in the first half). The premise is original in terms of holiday movies - two people who fancy each other meet once a year on Christmas vacation, but the timing is never right for them. Of course, there is a love triangle and a big city workaholic boyfriend that is supposed to be unlikable, and one can easily argue that heroes don't know each other that well to be called soulmates by everyone since they only meet for a couple of days and don't stay in touch in the meantime. However, it was nice seeing some fresh faces in the genre, especially The Originals' Charles and Glee's Lea. All in all pleasant movie that can disappoint those looking for a movie filled with typical holiday activities, you won't find them here.

I don't expect much from holiday movies, yet this one disappointed me. It's a cute story based on real-life events, but unfortunately also dull. Not much is happening, the pace is very slow, and the chemistry between the leads wasn't there either. I can live with clichés in Christmas movies, but this one missed some spark that would make up for them.

Characters in Holiday Hearts themselves do the same thing that creators of most Christmas movies do - cross off items from a checklist of Christmas related things (Christmas decoration, the tree, cookies, presents...). You won't find anything outstanding here, but it's a feel-good movie without unnecessary conflicts and misunderstandings. Ashley Williams is all smiles, and Paul and the little girl aren't bad either. Ideal when you're in the mood for simple and lighthearted holiday fun.

I was under the impression that this is a Christmas movie, which it is not. It revolves around holidays throughout a whole year and only begins and ends during Christmas. The premise of the movie is quite original since the families know about their arrangement, so it's not your usual "fake boyfriend for the holidays" type of thing. It makes fun of the genre clichés yet follows them anyway. Emma's character behaves horribly during the second half, but Luke is quite a charmer, and together they have good chemistry. I haven't seen anything with Luke Bracey before, but he looks so familiar. I just can't put my finger on it (maybe he's like a mixture between Chris Hemsworth and Dax Shepard/Dane Cook or something). Holidate is real fun, but also full of cringey moments. The last 30 minutes or so really drag it down - seriously you can't do a movie without embarrassing public declarations that are so over the top? I always considered those painful to watch and far from romantic, and rom-coms would be much better without them. Yet I can't remember the last time when I genuinely laughed so much watching a movie, and it deserves a high rating for that. So, in the end, it's probably the best holiday rom-com from Netflix so far and one of the best rom-coms of the past few years in general.

We've seen movies with fake boyfriends before, but this one's a little different because it leans more towards the comedic side. Most of the humor is based on the protagonist's ignorance of architecture and Christmas, which makes you feel uncomfortable at times. But overall, it's funny, and unlike other Hallmark movies, you actually laugh out loud here. It was also nice seeing Brittany Bristow in the role of a leading lady since she outshined her co-stars in previous movies. I hadn't seen Matt Cohen in anything but Supernatural before but, he was a good addition, and they had good chemistry with Brittany. There was no unnecessary drama, and all conflicts were resolved in no time, which made the movie more entertaining.

Typical movie where a somewhat ignorant American goes to another country not knowing squat about it and expects everything going his way. There's nothing that would set this apart from other movies in the same category - Rome is pretty much the only non-average thing here, and the movie, unfortunately, doesn't make use of the city's full potential. I'd say these "exotic" locations work much better for non-Christmas movies because in the case of Christmas the plot must always be work-centric (otherwise, it wouldn't make sense for the characters not to spend the holidays home with their families since it's shown as the most important value in these movies) and therefore the location plays second fiddle. The chemistry between Lacey Chabert and Sam Page was also lacking, they were more enjoyable in other movies with a different pairing. And for a moment, I actually thought that it was going to end somewhat realistically with them having a long-distance relationship before making drastic changes to their lives (and I was going to give the movie an extra star for it), but then it didn't. So no surprises there.

Hero teaches heroine to forget the science and to predict the weather by flowers, fish, and stuff like that. It's nice to see an original concept instead of the stereotypical storyline, but this one really backfired. The actress, who is approaching 40, looks too old for the part considering the heroine was just finishing her degree and trying to start a career in meteorology on TV. And as others already pointed out, the heroine and her mother look like sisters and the age difference of only 4 years is really noticeable. I also felt that there was no real chemistry between the leads. But overall, it was watchable, and I liked the music.

Not as bad as expected from the reviews. The ending was ridiculous, but not surprising. The movie is average, leads are not very charismatic, but there were some nice moments, and no character annoyed me, which is a plus.