source: A Holiday Boyfriend

I hate sappy Hallmark type movies, but this one is different in a few ways that makes it tolerable: 1) Realistically Horrible Depiction of Internet Dating in Your 40's. Dating really is that cringe-worthy and depressing. There's no sugar-coating it here. 2) Realistically Luke-Warm Depiction of Romance. The characters don't "meet cute." It's not love-at-first-sight. It's not all sunshine and roses. No one whispers "I love you" as the music swells and the snowflakes fall. Like life, the main relationship is awkward and uncomfortable, punctuated by brief moments of joy, with a slow-growing understated companionship. 3) The relatively low budget works in this movie's favor. By Hollywood standards, I'm guessing this movie is low-budget, but that actually helps make the movie palatable. Viewers don't need to watch some ultra-posh supermodel living it up in a beachside mansion fully paid for by her 4-hour a week job of cuddling puppies. There's a real person with a normal job wearing Target clothes living in a small budget style apartment.

I really liked this movie. To me, the main characters felt real and not like many rom coms' stock characters. I don't understand some of the lower reviews of this movie. Some people's comments about it make no sense to me. True, the lead female character does drive you a bit crazy. She is kind of a pain for much of the movie, but explains why she behaved the way she did near the end. Anyone paying attention would understand why and have some compassion. I enjoyed the lead male character, played by Matt Merchant. His character was introverted and more quiet, but was very quirky and funny at times, and actually a sweet man. I don't get some of the comments here about his character being "creepy" or like a "serial killer"! 🙄 Nonsense! In the beginning, the character does seem a bit weird, but then soon you just realize that he is kind of shy and humble, and at times was maybe just nervous around the lead female. Perhaps some people didn't like the character because he doesn't fit into a romantic movie mold, but that's why I liked him. He was unique, and ultimately, a good person. Her best friends were hilarious and fun and added a special something to the movie. It's impressive that the lead actress was also the writer, director and producer. I hope to see more work by her and Merchant, and the actors who played her best friends and the waiter. The movie definitely did not feel like another formulaic Hallmark movie with a set script and characters. It felt like real people going through real issues. The best of the season!

This movie is absolutely insanely stupid, and a disservice to older women who are trying to find love in real life. Avoid like covid. Oh, the Asian friend who dressed like an anime girl in her mid 40s who couldn't drive was funny. Obviously, I'm a boyfriend that watched this with my girlfriend.

The main characters have great chemistry. I liked them both. By the end of the story you understand why they both behaved as they did. Also the girl friends are relatable and so real. The movie is written from a woman's perspective which is refreshing. It's all good IMHO. Hope we get to see sequels with the same actors.

This movie is so dumb. The actors have no chemistry and the main dude is SO creepy. The scene of him standing in the doorway watching her put her shoes on was easily one of the creepiest scenes i've ever seen?? I literally thought he was about to murder her but no, just a terrible actor lol.

This movie is so slow that it causes one to wonder if they stretched it out just to be longer than an hour. And the acting was boring.

Yes, it's true. The characters in this movie actually felt real. There were several scenes with groups of people in Holiday settings that felt completely unrehearsed and they genuinely seemed like real people in a real situation. I also appreciated the fact that the lead characters themselves were just ordinary people in an ordinary situation. They're attractive and people any of us could end up with. Matt's character was socially awkward and stilted. Olivia's character, Katie, admitted to her mom at one point that she was broken. Though a little annoying in her brokenness it's easy to understand why that can happen. Another thing that I really loved about this movie is that it was very low on sap. Even though I sometimes enjoy formula, sappy, Christmas, holiday romcoms, this one was a breath of fresh air. There were two reasons I gave this movie only eight stars. First, I would really like for someone to explain to me the purpose of unrelenting music during dialogue. I felt that the scene with Katie and her mom in the bedroom was just utterly ruined by loud piano music. It's like I said before. I don't think these movies are scored and I can understand the reason for that on some levels. The budget for scoring a movie like this just isn't there. But seriously...it can ruin a movie. The only other thing that I felt distracted by was that in some places the low quality sound was very noticeable. Even in low budget movies sound and lighting can be everything. Plot development was well paced and the ability to fall in love in the allotted time was well thought out in the premise of the movie's title. There was no marriage proposal and it was certainly implied that the relationship was taken to the next level with sex. Besides who proposes marriage without first having sex? Nobody's willing to except the possibility of being stuck with the lousy lay. LOL! Though there were some formula aspects here it was well done and certainly different than Hallmark. I will recommend this one and I don't often do that.

A nice Christmas movie to watch. Acting and the way of the directoring may not be super, but it someway somehow has been presented much better than those Hallmark movies which we normally get. No handsome actor, no beautiful actress, the topic and the plot is also not new; but it has shown a better depth than those Hallmark shallow ones. I enjoy watching it.

This movie was one where I had to keep myself wat hing to find out if she ended up with the man but the movie was boring