Jingle Hell

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12/02/2019 Imagine an Eight is Enough holiday reunion special. The actors are game, but production values make a huge difference. The many subplots and unresolved conflicts have me yearning for a sequel. See more 07/28/2017 You've seen it before. You've seen it done better. See more jesse o 12/07/2015 This isn't necessarily a bad movie, per se, as it has some solid writing and a real good cast, but there's nothing really special about this movie. There are a lot of these type of films where families come together for a holiday, or any other special occasion, where their issues are the driving force for a lot of what you see. There's a ton of movies like this, but I'm reminded of August: Osage County. They're not comparable in that Osage County was more of a drama, whereas this takes a more comedic route, with some drama sprinkled in there. It's kinda difficult to compare the acting in Osage County to the acting here, when the former has one of the elite actresses of all time in Meryl Streep, but the acting here is actually really good. There's no real memorable performances per se, but the cast is really strong and they do a great job at elevating the film's, somewhat, formulaic plot. Don't get me wrong, the writing is also solid enough, but I don't think there's enough here that's honestly all that interesting. It just plays out exactly like you would expect without much variation. A lot of the film is based around the fact of Peg's nosiness about her kid's lives and whether or not their spouse is feeding them, guilt-tripping one of her daughters about not giving her a grandchild yet, another one of her daughter's boyfriend, who also happens to be an atheist, whereas Peg is a hardcore catholic. A lot of the film is based around that, but I think the film doesn't make Peg into an unlikable character in spite all of her faults. I genuinely thinks she means well, but the way she goes about it is wrong. I also thought the family dynamic, which is what the film is about at its core, was strong. There's just a certain chemistry between that adds to the film, like this was a play prior to being filmed and they used the same cast, so there's a pre-established chemistry. I have no idea if it was a play first or not, but that's how it plays out. The fact of the matter is that the movie takes place in one location, so it's entirely possible this could've been a play. I wouldn't know, since there's actually not much information on this film out there. But I digress. Like I said, the film's plot is formulaic and, the more obvious flaw, is that the film looks like crap. I don't even know what year this film was originally released, but I'm assuming it was sometime in the 90s. I'm assuming it was early-90s, but it was clear, from how the film looks, that this was a low-budget affair and it shows, at least from the look of the cinematography. The writing and the cast, mostly the cast, at least make up for that. But, like I said, the writing is fairly formulaic and it doesn't really make the best of a talented cast. The look really holds the film back as well, to me. While I was definitely patient enough with the look, I can't see many people sticking with this film in the long run once they see how it looks. And that's even taking into consideration how good the cast is. But I digress, this isn't the best of these type of films, not by a long shot. It's better than the rating implies, but it's not what I would call a good movie. See more Read all reviews

Jingle Hell

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