Christmas on Mistletoe Farm review – an over-the-top theatrical and hard-to-watch mess
Post-Christmas on Mistletoe Farm review A hard-to-watch theatrical mayhem debuted on Ready Steady Cut.
We’re reviewing the Netflix movie Christmas on Mistletoe Farm, which contains no spoilers.
Christmas at the mistletoe farm It is a British film written and directed by the same director responsible for it Birth! (and all its terrible sequels), Debbie Iset. This director loves making Christmas moviesThis is the latest in a long line of clichéd and hard-to-watch flicks. This Lifetime program meets West Midlands superstar Scott Garnham (whose previous screen credits include appearing as a real estate agent on an episode of Pompidou seven years ago), Catherine Drysdale (From Bridgerton), an Emmy filter Ashley Jensen And the Scott PageWest End musical theater actor in his first screen role.
The main plot point of this Christmas flick was done to death by the Hallmark Channel and Lifetime. Matt Cunningham (Garnham) An estranged single father of five, he learns one day he’s the proud owner of the out-of-place West Midlands Mistleto Farm. His wife had previously died leaving the poor man having to balance raising five young children while appeasing his cruel cartoonish villain to his boss, Miss Fletcher (Jensen) Her motto is “At work, kids don’t count.”
Since Matt needs to get a very important job offer by Christmas Eve, he thinks that some fresh country air and being surrounded by rolling hills is all he needs to get those creative juices going. Of course, all five children fall in love with the small village of Cobbleton after meeting the farmer beno Paige, who for some reason lives in the barn, and the rest of the fun, annoying, close-knit community. Among the privileged villagers is a veterinarian turned love interest, Miss Ashley Drysdale, useless school teacher, Miss Nerris (Sydney Isitt-Ager), Barry Baker (who moonlights as a plumber and plays him David O’Leary), and the Christmas-like town crier (played by Stephen Wickham). Some of the villagers don’t even have names and are simply referred to by Disney nicknames like Angry, sneezing and happywhich further probes just how exotic this West Midlands oasis of happiness really is.
To say this movie is an awful piece that Netflix should have never green-lighted would be an understatement. First, the cinematography makes it look like a failed project for a first-year film student. I don’t know if the fragmented frame is intentional or not, but it looks unfamiliar. The shaky handheld camera motions combined with the rapid frame-to-frame cuts made me giddy, turning the entire viewing experience from boring to physically uncomfortable.
Each character introduced plays as a one-dimensional caricature. The acting is exaggerated and theatrical, which isn’t entirely surprising since most of the cast members have a theater background, and for some of them, this was their first appearance on screen. While the five kids are cute, they play one single-minded character. It would have been nice if each of them had some measure of individuality, and no, one of the boys who loves glamor doesn’t count. Perhaps the entire plot would have stayed the same if they had cast just one child actor instead of five. However, the musical numbers were very interesting and well designed, but unfortunately we didn’t get enough of them.
Unfortunately, Christmas at the mistletoe farm It’s a very theatrical mess that’s hard to watch. Redeeming factors like the musical numbers and Ashley Jensen’s performance are few and far between. Hallmark-style quitting on your job and being happy sounds deafening in 2022. All in all, this is the movie I would force my husband to sit through if he ever forgot my birthday.
What do you think of the Netflix movie Christmas on Mistletoe Farm? Comment below.
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Post-Christmas on Mistletoe Farm review A hard-to-watch theatrical mayhem debuted on Ready Steady Cut.
