Image via: https://www.hallmarkchannel.com/jolly-good-christmas
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Jolly good fun! Or was it? Maybe! I struggled with the beginning, but the end was certainly jolly good fun! Here’s a quick recap and my two cents 😉
Quick Recap
Anji is an aspiring writer and struggling personal shopper. She accidentally switched packages with a stranger who had intended to buy his girlfriend a gift card for Christmas. After learning of the switch Anji tracks down David to switch back the packages. David realizes a gift card probably isn’t the best Christmas present and offers her double her normal fee for helping him find the perfect gift for his girlfriend.
My Two Cents
I LOVE Reshma Shetty. Once upon a time Jeff and I watched Royal Pains and she was one of the leads on that show. I hadn’t seen her in a long time, so when the Jolly Good Christmas previews started, I was very excited to see this movie!
Despite being excited, I struggled to get into it. I’m not sure if it was me or the movie. Once again I was cranky when the movie started. So, quite possibly it was me. I kept thinking about how similar this movie was to 12 Gifts of Christmas, which admittedly kept me distracted.
Eventually I got into the movie and ended up enjoying it quite a bit. I liked the havoc created when David and Anji continued to run into Charlotte. Like when Anji’s purse became stuck in the Christmas tree and David accidentally shoplifted. I also giggled a little bit when David fell into the water and Anji commented about Americans. 🤣
There were a few good British references, which I appreciated. I like when they use local words for where they’re suppose to be. Anji said Mum instead of Mom and I think she called the trunk of the car the boot at one point. It’s the little things that I enjoy sometimes. 😉
I’m going to keep this review a little shorter, because Christmas Bedtime Stories is on and honestly, it’s already better than this movie. Why is it always the movies I’m not looking forward to that capture my interest?!
Anyhow, Jeff gave up on this movie early on. He called it dull and left. I don’t think it’ll appeal to everyone because of the slow start and David’s friend is a gay married man. I’m giving it a 3.5, but since I don’t do half stars, I’m leaving it at 4. Give it a shot! You might like it!
Did you watch this movie? Let me know what you thought! Leave a comment!
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Did not like Will Kemp with an American accent. Was trying to figure if his voice was dubbed.
This was my thoughts! I’m American and was trying to figure out why he sounded like that. It doesn’t sound like any accent I’ve ever heard.
Hi! A friend sent me your review – I wrote “Jolly Good Christmas”. I apologize for the boring parts at the beginning; we used to call that “the setup”, with character and situation and so forth…from now on, however, I promise to just forget all that stuff and go right to the running and jumping parts. Also, I’m sorry Jeff didn’t like the gay couple; they are based on my ten year marriage to my husband. I promise in future to be more interesting, and perhaps then we will meet with his approval. In any event, thanks for the four stars! Merry Christmas! R
That’s pretty cool that you’re the writer. I think there can be some running and jumping with the setup 🙂 Also, Jeff didn’t have an issue with the gay couple. He had left the movie much earlier than they appeared. Some people have issues with LGBTQ relationships in movies, but not us!
Your movie was wonderful. Engaging from the start and all the way thru. Great writing! I have watched several times.
I loved the movie!! DVR’d movie and it cut off at the “One Year Later”, so I will have to watch it again!! And the guy couple were great!! More movies please!!
Happy Christmas!!
Loved your movie! My favourite this season!
I love this movie. I have been trying to find out where I can purchase it. I didn’t mind Will Kemp with an American accent at all. I missed it when it was out last week on Halmark. My newest favorite Christmas movie. 4 stars from me.
I love Hallmark Christmas movies for all their sappy, cheese, predictable goodness, but did you have to have the main character westernize her name? It’s totally unnecessary. My daughter’s name is Anjalie and we were so happy to see some representation on TV. I had to debrief her about loving her name and her culture after watching that movie together. It was such a missed opportunity and such an easy thing to do. I really don’t understand tv sometimes. Why even try to represent another culture if you’re just going to show the ways people are assimilating just to make it easier for the western world. It’s ridiculous.
Signed,
Ajhantha Jayabalasingham
And no, I’ve never westernized or shortened my name.
Really? How much are producers being paid for pretty much “copying” from other similar story lines?? Just NO fresh creativity out there anymore and the 2022 holiday movies by Lifetime & Hallmark are a major disappointment not only with same story lines, but such young, silly, senseless and bad so-called acting, we’ve had enough!! Mc 12-9-2022
Expectations for Hallmark movies are generally low, right? We have made it a bit of a holiday tradition to check in on some over a few drinks at the holidays and just look at all the pretty decorations and laugh with delight at the hackneyed tropes. And they have gotten the message apparently about being inclusive which is a jolly good thing indeed.
That said, Jolly Good Christmas held its own, and we happily watched the whole movie. Delightful cast from tip to top, accents and all! The gay couple was a particular surprise, being so relatable and cute. To be fair, we are serious Britophile Americans, but this one is going in our top ten Hallmark Christmas movies. Who knows, maybe it will be up there with Merry Mix Up in our hearts one day?!
I enjoyed the film a lot. I loved all the scenes of London. Well done. My only question is how was he able to use his phone after he fell with it into the river? Did I miss something? It was distracting. Also why did Anji stress “Happy Christmas” so much? Is that British?