Christmas List (2016) (aka: Christmas Bucket List) Movie Review

Christmas List (2016)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Alicia Witt and Gabriel Hogan in Christmas List (2016) (aka: Christmas Bucket List)

Seeking Perfection this Christmas

As a child Isobel (Alicia Witt - The Mistletoe Inn) yearned to have a traditional Christmas, unfortunately her highly organized mum liked the perfection of an artificial tree and minimal decorations so she never got it. 25 years later and having discovered the Christmas list she wrote as a child of all the things she wanted to make her vision of a perfect Christmas she decides that for their Christmas vacation she will head to the most perfect Christmas town with her fashion designer boyfriend Brett (Peter Benson - A Bride for Christmas). Except with Brett having to delay his holiday due to business Isobel goes alone and starts working through her Christmas list. It is there that she meets local nice guy Jamie (Gabriel Hogan - Last Chance for Christmas) who ends up helping to give her the Christmas experience she yearns for. But how long can Isobel's perfect Christmas last when both her mum and Brett show up.

Each year the Hallmark channel comes up with several new Christmas movies and I, like many, look forwards to see what festive delights they will come up with. It is no surprise that whilst some of those Christmas movies are wonderfully touching experiences others are lighter, almost throw away comedies which whilst entertaining are the sort of Christmas movies which come next year you won't be too bothered as to whether you watch them again. "Christmas List" is one of those movies as whilst fun and full of the wonderful Christmas decorated sets which fill Hallmark movies it doesn't have that heart warming touching part or uniqueness to make it memorable.

As such we have a lot of familiar elements to "Christmas List" with the central storyline of course being the whole romantic part as Isobel inevitably falls for nice guy Jamie despite already having a boyfriend. But what we get is the humour of Isobel trying to create her vision of a perfect Christmas and learning that Christmas doesn't have to be perfect but is about enjoying it. None of which is in the least bit complicated but it is full of fun scenes from her order obsessed mum turning up, who for Christmas is all about things being perfect as well, but a different sort of perfect. I could go on but basically "Christmas List" is about learning that sometimes things don't need to be perfect or planned to be special combined with some Hallmark Christmas romance.

What this all boils down to is that "Christmas List" is certainly a fun Christmas movie with a lot of comedy whilst it also has a message when it comes to not worrying about perfection. But for me this isn't one of those classic Hallmark Christmas movies which you look forward to watching each year.

Tags: TV Christmas Movies, Christmas Movies


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