I watched
Jolly Good Christmas, starring Will Kemp and Reshma Shetty. Ugh! I'm so disappointed.
I was so looking forward to this movie. I really like the movies Will did with Lacey. And I liked Reshma from
Royal Pains, so I was rooting for her to have a good movie.
The movie was originally titled
Christmas in London when they were filming it. So, it takes place all around London and the scenery IS beautiful. They really show off London, which I've been to.
Will Kemp is starring in it. So I mistakenly thought, "Great, he gets to film in his home country, his home city even, as he's originally from just north of London. He will be in his element. We will get to see
him show off his beloved home.
Instead, they made Will's character an American! And for no necessary reason. Is there an unwritten rule that one of the Hallmark lead characters HAS to be American? They couldn't do a good movie where both characters happen to be British, as the film is set in London?
Will's being American wouldn't be a problem if he could ACT it
well err, decently. Will Kemp is a fantastic
dancer. Attempting to do an American accent, he fails MISERABLY. It was so distracting, that that became the focus during as much of the movie as I could stand to watch.
He kept falling in and out of the accent he could muster, and it would CHANGE within a sentence. Sometimes he'd have it at the start, sometimes it would get more pronounced, or he'd lose it by the end of the sentence.
An
IMDb.com reviewer stated it so well,
"I've noticed that Australians seem to understand us Americans, our activities and our speech patterns pretty well. The British and Canadians, however, seem to think American males are all cowboys, hayseeds or frat boys, and overly casual even in the most formal situations."
What is ironic is that for a dancer, Will couldn't get the physicality of an American. Instead, he did what he thought was stereotypical facial expressions and quirky mannerisms, like shrugging a lot, that he thinks Americans do. And saying "Uh-huh, a lot inappropriately. Again, distracting.
During the first scene with Reshma, on a double decker bus, he was acting in such a way, I actually thought, "Is he
winking at the audience??? 'Here is the "annoying American male"'
and portrayed him in a mocking fashion, the way the actors on
Saturday Night Live do caricatures of people, mocking them.
I nearly turned off the TV there, but I stuck around a bit longer to watch Reshma who was great. She did a great job. The actors who played her family were great too. I hope she gets another chance to be the lead in a Hallmark or Lifetime movie, with someone who doesn't have to stretch in areas where he just doesn't have the talent.
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has compiled this list and updates it constantly. Not sure if this cat actually ever gets any sleep!
