My cousin and I watch all the Christmas movies on Netflix and man, this was such a disappointment. Based on the description, we were looking forward to watching something that didn't have the love conflict of "girl already dedicated/engaged to someone falls in love with someone else at Christmas time". Get 10 minutes in and, haha, we're already disappointed on that front.
I'm not going to get into the line delivery, because I feel bad for the cast having to work with this script. All but one of the characters were unlikable, or really, had nothing particularly likable about them (of course, the one likable character is the second male lead who gets tossed aside with no real explanation).
The male lead is so unlikable I even shouted "bye forever!" at the screen when he stormed off after a tantrum. Regrettably, he did not disappear forever from the movie. His whole character was designed to be pitiful, to make you, and the female lead, want to pity him. He's constantly whining about being alone, about being poor (maybe don't go to an expensive private university then?), about how unfair it is the female lead likes someone else. If you meet someone like this in real life, ladies, run away - he is not a mature individual. He also perpetuates an awful stereotype about foster children - that they're all kids who just can't help causing trouble in their youth and aren't well-adjusted as adults. This is an awful way to try to gain empathy for a character. It's much easier to be empathetic to the second male lead, but he's tossed aside at the end with a "well I didn't want to get married yet anyway" when he's the one who sincerely seemed to fall in love during the movie.
Very little of the character motivations made any sense. I was literally scratching my head during scenes wondering why exactly anyone in the scene was doing any of the things they did. Particularly why the "villain" does anything he did. The only character whose motivations made sense is, again, the second male lead. And his abusive relationship with his father (his motivation) is never resolved so I was left thinking the only thing that could redeem this movie is a sequel where he gets a happy ending with a lovely girl (and NOT the annoying elf, as the ending jokingly implies).
All in all, my cousin and I reached the end of the movie and said to each other "I wish we had turned it off 15 minutes in."
I'm not going to get into the line delivery, because I feel bad for the cast having to work with this script. All but one of the characters were unlikable, or really, had nothing particularly likable about them (of course, the one likable character is the second male lead who gets tossed aside with no real explanation).
The male lead is so unlikable I even shouted "bye forever!" at the screen when he stormed off after a tantrum. Regrettably, he did not disappear forever from the movie. His whole character was designed to be pitiful, to make you, and the female lead, want to pity him. He's constantly whining about being alone, about being poor (maybe don't go to an expensive private university then?), about how unfair it is the female lead likes someone else. If you meet someone like this in real life, ladies, run away - he is not a mature individual. He also perpetuates an awful stereotype about foster children - that they're all kids who just can't help causing trouble in their youth and aren't well-adjusted as adults. This is an awful way to try to gain empathy for a character. It's much easier to be empathetic to the second male lead, but he's tossed aside at the end with a "well I didn't want to get married yet anyway" when he's the one who sincerely seemed to fall in love during the movie.
Very little of the character motivations made any sense. I was literally scratching my head during scenes wondering why exactly anyone in the scene was doing any of the things they did. Particularly why the "villain" does anything he did. The only character whose motivations made sense is, again, the second male lead. And his abusive relationship with his father (his motivation) is never resolved so I was left thinking the only thing that could redeem this movie is a sequel where he gets a happy ending with a lovely girl (and NOT the annoying elf, as the ending jokingly implies).
All in all, my cousin and I reached the end of the movie and said to each other "I wish we had turned it off 15 minutes in."