I love a great Christmas movie and this year while cooking I discovered the treasure trove of ABC Family Christmas movies. I have no doubt that giving movies like this a high review will bring all sorts of criticism but I don't care. I review films according to how much they entertain me and 12 Dates of Christmas was awesomely entertaining!! I loved it!! I can really only think of a single criticism for the film and that was that it ran just a shade too long. Obviously a film with this type of story, the "Groundhog Day" schtick is in danger of feeling repetitive and it does but just barely. It certainly isn't enough to take away from the enjoyment of the film. It is sort of the perfect "magical" Christmas movie to have someone relive Christmas Eve over and over again until they learn a lesson about themselves and their life. The film has strong morals, it has a strong lead female character with a great message and will make you laugh and even brings tears to your eyes in the end. As far as a great Christmas film this one nails every category you can think of from magic, to romance, to laughs.
This is certainly and easily one of the best performances I have ever seen from Amy Smart. I've never really seen her do anything spectacular despite popping up in so many films. She really gets a chance to shine in this film as the focus of the movie. Her character is shy and lost and looking for love in all the wrong places and watching her change throughout the film truly puts the magic into this and she is fantastic. Mark-Paul Gosselaar is absolutely perfect in this movie as well. Him and Smart together are just fantastic. They have the best chemistry of any of the ABC Family Christmas couples I watched. The supporting cast are all familiar character actors and they all do a great job in their parts. Some particularly strong roles were Jayne Eastwood, Mary Long, Benjamin Ayres, and Peter MacNeill as Smart's neighbour, step-mother, ex-boyfriend and father respectively.
With a long history in Television director James Hayman clearly knows his way around a good script. Obviously comparisons to Groundhog Day are not unwarranted nor is that a bad thing. The concept is almost identical but the fact that its Christmas Eve and she spends so much time trying to make things go the way she thinks she wants makes for a sweet and heartfelt movie. I would watch this again and again because its a feel good movie with really terrific characters, good acting, a beautiful romance and just a very sweet story that will satisfy any Christmas movie fiend or romance addict. ABC Family clearly knows how to put together these movies and I for one and am a huge fan. 8.5/10
This is certainly and easily one of the best performances I have ever seen from Amy Smart. I've never really seen her do anything spectacular despite popping up in so many films. She really gets a chance to shine in this film as the focus of the movie. Her character is shy and lost and looking for love in all the wrong places and watching her change throughout the film truly puts the magic into this and she is fantastic. Mark-Paul Gosselaar is absolutely perfect in this movie as well. Him and Smart together are just fantastic. They have the best chemistry of any of the ABC Family Christmas couples I watched. The supporting cast are all familiar character actors and they all do a great job in their parts. Some particularly strong roles were Jayne Eastwood, Mary Long, Benjamin Ayres, and Peter MacNeill as Smart's neighbour, step-mother, ex-boyfriend and father respectively.
With a long history in Television director James Hayman clearly knows his way around a good script. Obviously comparisons to Groundhog Day are not unwarranted nor is that a bad thing. The concept is almost identical but the fact that its Christmas Eve and she spends so much time trying to make things go the way she thinks she wants makes for a sweet and heartfelt movie. I would watch this again and again because its a feel good movie with really terrific characters, good acting, a beautiful romance and just a very sweet story that will satisfy any Christmas movie fiend or romance addict. ABC Family clearly knows how to put together these movies and I for one and am a huge fan. 8.5/10