MovieChat Forums > Family for Christmas (2015) Discussion > Plots I hoped to see in this movie ... b...

Plots I hoped to see in this movie ... but!

posted 9 years ago by Jaouad-El
5 replies | jump to latest

Ok here we go, basically same start with a successful workaholic woman with no luck in relationships receive an invite from her ex boyfriend from 10 years ago to his wedding she meets him and he told her that he only wanted a closure so he could move on with his life, she start wondering what if.
Some magic force took her to this glimpse of her life if she stayed with her ex boyfriend and she is married to him with 2 kids, decides to play along and everything goes good and she is happy 'till everything goes wrong and she discovers that this life is not for her and the guy was just some old flame and he is not the answer to her misery.
So she wishes to go back to her old life because she is happy where she was and doesn't need some guy and 2 and half kids to make her life happy.
This magic force took her back to her old life and the first thing she does is to talk to her ex boyfriend and apologies to him for walking out on him 10 years ago but it was the right thing to do and there relationship was not going to work because she can't make all the sacrifices and if she did she was going to blame him for it so they decide to stay friends.
On the day of the wadding a guy sits next to her and makes a remark about how people do it (get married, have kids and all these staff where trying so hard to build a reputation) she takes a good look at him and she discovers that she knows this guy from the glimpse and she start talking to him (here the Hallmark happy ending).
Well I hate movies where a couple only hints for the beginning of a relationship in the end of the movie so the guy must had a fair screen time in the glimpse and also some 2 years after at the end to see where there life took them or a sequel movie.

What do you think?

[–] Larry-R 9 years ago

Yeah, it seems like Hallmark has boxed themself into a corner of targeting a very specific stereotype of viewer demographic. So for example the movie has to show that being a single "career-woman" is bad and being a stay-at-home mom is good; working in a corporation is bad, but having a small business is good; big city life is bad, but provincial life is good; the family is centered around the husband; etc, etc.

I'm guessing that's why they just do slightly refined remakes of previous movies which came closest to satisfying all their constraints. I'm sure many writers have tried to do something a little different, and the producers gave them enough nudges with the cattle prod that they decided to just give up trying.

[–] Jaouad-El 9 years ago

So for example the movie has to show that being a single "career-woman" is bad and being a stay-at-home mom is good; working in a corporation is bad, but having a small business is good; big city life is bad, but provincial life is good; the family is centered around the husband; etc, etc.

True and it looks like it's a Hollywood thing not just Hallmark, the way they make workaholics the bad guys so there spouses can go find someone else and don't feel guilty about it or so they are trying to do anyway and big corporations Evil and other stuff, maybe these Hollywood people don't like it if most people work so hard to get rich so they are trying to send a message "Money doesn't buy happiness" and just stay in the middle Class.

[–] Larry-R 9 years ago

the way they make workaholics the bad guys so there spouses can go find someone else and don't feel guilty about it

Yeah I've lost count of the number of movies that start with the girl having a fiance who is working his way up the ladder and about to get a promotion or land a big account, probably requiring him to move to New York or another Big City, and it's axiomatic that he doesn't really love her, so she will find a man who cares about the things that really matter, and she will leave her fiance for him, preferably on their wedding day, ideally during the ceremony itself.

I'm not convinced there are that many viewers who really want that turn of events, but Hallmark seems to be convinced beyond a doubt. It doesn't bother me, because I know the outcome from the beginning, and am only watching for the path they take to that destinatino. I guess for writers who are willing to accept those canonical story arcs, it gives them freedom to focus on other more subtle aspects of the script.

[–] Jaouad-El 9 years ago

Funny I just watched I do, I do, I do a couple of days ago and man what a weird movie even for Hallmark, a girl going for the future brother in law on the wedding day and they call it romantic. wait there is an other one from the same year Bridal Wave only the guy is a stranger thanks God and it goes for the guys too with A Country Wedding.

[–] rebekahrox 8 years ago

Here's what I would have liked to see: After she goes back to her single career-oriented life, she does reconnect with her old boyfriend. they decide to meet, but he brings along his two daughters, whose mother mysteriously disappeared a year ago.

Or how about this: She reconnects with her original boyfriend and they start a relationship. however, wherever they go, whatever they do, they are mysteriously followed around by two little girls crying out for their Mommy. Only she can see or hear them. Eventually she is driven insane.