Christmas from my Couch — A Very Merry Mix-Up

Christmas from my Couch is back for the 2020 holiday season! This year, I am going beyond Netflix. No movies are off limits! If I watch it, I review it! Each movie will receive a flake rating out of five snowflakes.

SPOILER ALERT: I do not hold back any details of the plot, so if you don’t want the ending ruined for yourself, wait to read this until after you have watched the movie.

It is important to note that this is for FUN. I do not have malicious intentions with posting my opinions of these movies. I am NOT an expert on film, only an expert at sitting on my couch in front of my TV! 

Let’s do this!

These reviews were inspired by Alex Stewart of Sassy Confetti. She is reviewing Hallmark Christmas movies on her Instagram, and they are absolute gold!

FEATURED MOVIE: A VERY MERRY MIX-UP (Hallmark, 2013)

Photo source: IMDB.com

The Trailer

The Plot (with my unwarranted two cents)

A Very Merry Mix-Up hits all the plots of a standard Christmas movie…

  • Girl (Alice) is in a relationship with a “distant” guy who is obsessed with his career but says yes to his marriage proposal because it’s a movie and these things happen.
  • Alice goes to visit her future in-laws but takes earlier flight than her fiancé (Will) because he has to work… you know… as important people do on Christmas (*eye roll*).
  • Girl meets inevitable love interest (Matt) in customer service line when they both happened to lose their suitcases.
Here’s where I had to laugh…
Will happens to have the same last name as Matt! Wait, it gets better. Matt happens to have a brother whose name is William but goes by Billy! Obviously, this unravels a little more at the end of the movie, but here’s what gets me… Can you imagine if this happened with Jews? The girl would still be at the airport steamrolling the guy into a lengthy conversation about Jewish Geography! The rest of the movie would be an extensive review of family trees, mutual friends on Facebook, and summer camp memories.
 
Rewinding a bit…
Alice stays at Matt’s family’s house while their Billy coincidentally also has to work just like his name twin! Alice grows to like her “future in-laws” and is sadden when the story progresses, the wrong William comes home, and she has to meet her actual future in-laws. She ends up falling in love with Matt. Duh. Anyways…. On to the follow-up questions!

My Follow-Up Questions

  1. What is up with the businessmen who always have to work on Christmas? What kind of clients do these people have!? I know this is a common trend in a lot of Christmas movies, but that does not make it easier for me to understand.
  2. Why didn’t Matt say there were THREE families with the same last name in his small town right away? AND… Two of the guys literally have the same name! 

My final review

I’m giving A Very Merry Mix-Up 4 out of 5 snowflakes…

WHY I LIKED IT…

  • I love when everything (within reason) is realistic. There was no extra “magical” fluff added to the plot.
  • I did like the relationship that Alice and Matt developed. It never seemed forced.
  • I thought the overall plot was a cute idea considering so many of these movies have plots that are just so twisted.

WHY I DOCKED A SNOWFLAKE…

  •  I just cannot get over the whole name mix-up part in the first place. Maybe Matt thought he would never see her again if she didn’t go to his family’s house with him. That’s all I got.

Published by Allie Bahcall