A Very Merry Mix-Up (2013) starring Alicia Witt, Mark Wiebe, Lawrence Dane, Scott Gibson, Susan Hogan directed by Jonathan Wright Movie Review

A Very Merry Mix-Up (2013)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Alicia Witt and Mark Wiebe in A Very Merry Mix-Up (2013)

It's a Mitchum Christmas

Alice Chapman (Alicia Witt) has just got engaged to boyfriend Will Mitchum (Scott Gibson) and she is heading with him to spend Christmas with his parents except at the last minute Will has to attend a business deal which means Alice will have to go alone. To make matters worse when she lands her luggage ends up lost and her phone containing Will's parent's address ends up damaged. As luck would have it Alice meets Matt Mitchum (Mark Wiebe), Will's brother, at the baggage claim who ends up taking her home to their parents. As Alice spends time with Matt and his parents she loves the tradition and warmth that the family enjoys until she realises something.

Could I ever confuse Alicia Witt for Sandra Bullock? Never even though both have an easy going charm and sweetness which makes them ideal for romantic comedies they have different looks. You may wonder what I am on about but part of "A Very Merry Mix-Up" reminds me of Bullock's "While You Were Sleeping" as we have the character if Alice falling for her boyfriend's brother. This is combined with another cliche of Alice discovering that her boyfriend Will is not really the right man for her but someone who cares about business first and her second. All of which makes "A Very Merry Mix-Up" for the most incredibly obvious but quite charming when it comes to Alice and Matt falling for each other if you don't mind huge slices of cheese such as when Matt spots Alice at the airport and proclaims "woah". Except there is a big twist on this when it comes to the Mitchum household and the confusion which follows.

But whilst some may reach for the vomit bucket at all the sweetness going on it combines well with all the Christmassy going on with everything from backing cookies, tree decorating and Alice and Matt enjoying everything about having a traditional sort of Christmas. Yes it does make "A Very Merry Mix-Up" a diabetic's worst nightmare due to it being drenched in more sugar than a Christmas cookie dunked in frosting but for fans of sickly sweet and ridiculously cute it is like a huge candy fix.

What this all boils down to is that like so many made for TV Christmas movies "A Very Merry Mix-Up" isn't anything that new and in fact seems to go out of its way to recycle ideas and stories from other movies with just one enjoyable twist on the obvious. But for fans of easy to watch, sickly sweet Christmas movies which are full of Christmas decorations and traditional Christmas stuff this will be an absolute delight.

Tags: TV Christmas Movies, Christmas Movies


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