Christmas Catch (TV Movie 2018) Poster

(2018 TV Movie)

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6/10
Average Movie
hagen-1361714 November 2020
Average movie, but a pretty good plot. I enjoyed the ending. Reminded me of a good Hallmark movie. My only problem is it doesn't really put you in the Christmas spirit. Christmas is almost a side theme.
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5/10
Watchable but Barely
johne-5595225 November 2020
Warning: Spoilers
The plot is a little more interesting than a typical Hallmark-ish movie but the mediocre script and bad acting pretty moderate any glimmer of hope for something entertaining. If Lauren Holley wasn't in this it wouldn't be watchable at all but she does a decent job of comedy acting. A couple of the other leads aren't bad but the male love interest is so bad its embarrassing to watch and that cancels out any chemistry for the couple at the center of the movie.
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6/10
Cute
Marynewcomb201310 November 2020
This is a cute movie!! It kind of reminds you of Miss Congeniality in someways but at Christmas!! The plot IS good for a Christmas time movie! Acting is not as bad as the fake hate reviews say!! It's worth watching once, not going to give spoilers here!! Watched it on Netflix today!!
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1/10
Boxing Day Discard
frukuk23 November 2019
While set at Christmas -- and smothered in Christmas decorations -- this is really not a Christmas movie: it's a romcom that's very light on the comedy.

It's clearly not meant to be taken seriously: the goofy head cop is beyond belief. It sinks or swims on the budding relationship between the two romantic leads and the essential chemistry is completely absent: the romance is flat; the two actors are wooden (and not in a good way). I'm afraid this is much more something you'd throw back than it is a celebration-worthy catch of the day.
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1/10
Is Bethany magical?
sfmaued25 November 2020
Warning: Spoilers
How the hell did Bethany hide the reindeer INSIDE the ornament? And how has no one else mentioned this amazing feat of magic?
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1/10
More a must avoid than a must catch
TheLittleSongbird28 December 2019
It does not give me pleasure saying that or giving 'Christmas Catch' my lowest rating, a relatively rare rating for me these days and it takes a lot for me to give something that. Am actually saying this with a heavy heart and quite reluctantly. It certainly is a rare rating for Christmas films (certainly of the recent ones seen this year) even in the bad ones there is at least something that slightly redeems it even when overshadowed by the massive flaws.

Something that cannot be said unfortunately for 'Christmas Catch'. Of the recently seen films, Christmas and in general, it is for me among the worst. It didn't entertain me. It didn't charm me. It didn't warm my heart. And it didn't move me. Actually found myself annoyed throughout, one of only two feelings felt throughout (the other being boredom), and it takes a lot for me to feel those when watching a film or anything for that matter. Especially now.

The least bad thing about 'Christmas Catch' is Yanic Truesdale, at least there was some effort with him, but he was used poorly and he doesn't bring enough of what made me so memorable in 'Gilmore Girls' (got into that fairly recently and was shocked by how addictive and great it was).

Everything else is just bad, worse than bad actually. The two leads are dull and stiff and their chemistry is un-decipherable and at best uncomfortable looking. The supporting cast similarly seem disconnected to their roles and to each other. Not that they can be blamed, having to work with such cliche ridden and one-dimensional character writing that has no character to it at all and a continually uneven mix of forced attempts (if you even call it that) at comedy and mawkish over-seriousness present all over the dialogue.

Got absolutely nothing out of the story either, which was dully paced, had too much of a heavy hand (the complete anti-thesis of light-hearted, likewise with the direction) and devoid of any heart, warmth or charm. It was just bland and made the further mistake of trying to be more complicated than it needed to be later on. The look of the film is drab, with some of the editing looking awkward, and although the music is not too awful on its own it is ruined by how it is used, too often misplaced and lacked subtlety.

In conclusion, really poor. 1/10
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3/10
Awful ...
irishhone2 December 2020
I have seen better Elementary school productions

everything about it is awful -dialogue -the lines
  • the actress
-the actor
  • the goofy scenes


just a pile of trollop
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8/10
Christmas Hook-Up
pgreywacz-500-467986 October 2020
I guess I just like Christmas and romance. Entertaining and lots of eye candy. I've watched it more than once. Different premise. Cute!!
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3/10
Not worth the time
banjo-peppers12 July 2020
Warning: Spoilers
This is not a good movie. Now, made-for-tv/dvd Christmas movies are almost never GREAT, but good lord this was terrible. The premise is pretty intriguing, but the result is bad. The characters are flat and unlikable, the chemistry is absent all-around - no romantic chemistry, no PLATONIC chemistry, there's not even any familial chemistry - and the plot ultimately makes no sense.

SPOILER

So we find out that the main love interest is suspected of having a diamond-encrusted reindeer. For some reason, the FBI gets a warrant to fill his house with cameras to try to figure out where it is, but they don't just get a warrant to search his place?? We find out that the FBI actually isn't involved at all, and the reindeer is hidden in an ornament. There's no explanation as to how it got in the ornament - it's too big to fit in through the hole at the time, and the ex-wife didn't break the ornament before, so how did the reindeer get in there??

Most stupidly of all, the ex-wife devised the whole police sting operation to figure out if the guy still had the reindeer, even though 1) her partner is a safe cracker, 2) the guy's house was easy to break into, and 3) she knows when he goes to work. So there's literally no reason why she couldn't have just broken into his house and taken the reindeer while he was at work. The entire plot of this movie is 100% pointless.

The combination of flat, unlikable characters AND a nonsensical plot that makes zero sense makes for a big waste of 90 minutes. You'd probably be better off just browsing Netflix for 90 minutes instead, to be honest.
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1/10
Can't believe I watched it
raronhiarakwas24 December 2018
Poor storyline bad acting, nothing was believiable. Thought maybe it was suppose to be funny didn't crack smile entire time. Expected more from the main character but being so badly written couldn't shine no matter how hard they tried. But hey it was a paycheck.
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1/10
Miss this Catch
hmb-517788 November 2020
I get that it's funny to watch a movie where the female lead is a klutz, and a bit of an idiot. Plus the intended male lead is painted as a criminal.

I honestly wanted these two to wind up in jail.

I couldn't get past the long string of blunders and obvious idiocy.

I can't imagine anyone - outside a serial killer - asking this woman out twice.

PASS THIS like a Rune
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2/10
If I didn't like it......
mortgagewithjencoy19 November 2021
My love for made-for-tv Christmas movies goes beyond what some would say borders sanity. No matter how cheesy, how sickly-sweet, how unearthly romantic...I still LOVE them. So it gives me great pains to write this review.

The writing on this movie is awful. It is so bad, I can't tell whether the acting is poor, or the actors are simply trapped inside this epic disaster with no opportunity to shine. I am not a quitter, but I had to stop watching past the midway point....feeling compelled to write this review....and I am honestly not sure if I can go back to finish it. I think I may need to watch another Christmas movie immediately to cleanse my pallet.

I'm not trying to be mean...I sincerely hope the writers are paying attention...because as I can see, I am not the only one who felt this way watching.
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2/10
Oh dear, don't bother
rosey-141 December 2020
Well this was a fresher idea for a Christmas movie, it could have had potential for a series had there been a decent script and any meaningful chemistry with the leads.

The leading man seems unable to deliver in any other way but monotone, I watched him in a couple of movies and his delivery has always been dire, wooden and contrived. They leading woman was refreshing though, moving away from the Christmas movie stereotypes and a bouncy personality. Lauren Holly however, an actress I have seen deliver when needed in the past, seemed to spend her time gurning and acting like an idiot. The supporting male (police officer) had potential and could act, but oh, the coffee shop owner and Bethany!

This was all in all dreadful, contrived and not worth my time watching, don't waste yours on it. Two stars for the idea and the leading lady.
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8/10
Catch This
statmanjeff27 November 2020
For sure a bit silly, with small town professionals consistently behaving unprofessionally, but for a Christmas rom-com it's better than many of its Christmas rom-com brethren. The story is solid rather than vague, and the direction maintains a light, seasonal breeziness.
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3/10
So Bad It's Kinda Good
ryantwilson13 December 2020
It's really bad. Predictable, slow, and not even remotely plausible. But there are plenty of moments that are so terrible that they're funny on accident. If you're looking for a movie to make fun of, this one is a gold mine.
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3/10
Uggggh .. bah humbug
imdb-6027 November 2020
Terrible movie. The acting was bad .. the lines .. were contrite .. script was terrible.

Not so much a Christmas movie but a bad romcom movie. I do like romcom movies, but this was was just so unbelievably.
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2/10
If the writers didn't spend time writing this, don't waste time watching it
kautiontape5 December 2021
This movie is a frustrating waste of time, that doesn't even fit into the "so bad it's good" category, but moreso "the writers didn't care about you or their movie." It starts to skirt the line of being a parody at points, such as when one of the characters has a room with at least 3 Christmas trees and a wreath over the stove, or the thoroughly and depressing incompetent police, or when the characters have absolutely no chemistry but somehow keep going on dates. They're one-dimensional and shallow, with the mom ranging from creepy to just overbearing, with everyone forgetting the main plot in between caring about the main characters "love" life.

But the worst thing, the thing that drives me to write a review, is about how literally pointless the movie makes itself in the effort to add a twist. The bad guy isn't just as woefully incompetent as the police trying to catch them, they actively make all the decisions to make their situation worse. They claim - in their stunted and poorly timed monologue to the main character - that they had attempted to lie low to succeed in committing a crime; except the entire plot of the movie and the main characters involvement stems from the bad guy doing the complete opposite, as they actively worked (quite hard) to involve as many people as they could. When given multiple opportunities to actually fulfill the mission of doing a bad thing without getting noticed, they made deliberate choices knowing it would get them noticed.

It's a broken and incompetent movie. The actors and actresses might have been capable of doing something watchable with writing that actually concerned itself with the human beings who would waste their time acting or watching this movie, but otherwise, they just seem to be working to turn mediocre background noise into a frustrating and mind-numbing anti-movie.
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1/10
Just a terrible movie
j_co1 December 2020
Stupid story, horrible acting and writing, very misogynistic. Nothing in this movie makes sense, they also treat a grown woman like she is an idiot, which is very annoying, the romantic leads have no chemistry.
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4/10
Good Enough
PennyReviews11 January 2020
The movie had an interesting idea of a story, though it was predictable. There were however, some parts that were idiotic, like the leading lady's mom (too much over the top) and the big twist in the end.
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8/10
Sweet.
treakle_197821 November 2020
What a cute little story about a detective who's not so good when it comes to dating. Definitely worth a watch.

Tim Treakle
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1/10
Christmas Dropped the Ball
kcbhardy2 December 2021
This was a real Amateur operation. Even for a fan of the mindless schmaltzy made-for-TV Christmas movie genre, this was unwatchable. I doubt the writers have ever interacted with a member of law enforcement. The script was laughable, and not in an ironic/meta/lean into the tropes kinda way but in. It sounds like a drunk middle-schooler or a bot wrote the script to poorly imitate how human adults talk. The weird syntax is jarring at points. The actors read some lines straight that may have been intended as jokes, but who knows.
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5/10
Not worth time
rhoda_s_girl14 February 2020
Premise sounded good but honestly chessy acting in especially main girls part, ridiculously bad ending, and obnoxious parts by main girl and her guy best friend makes it not good as hoped it would be- would try for another Christmas flick/girl movie...
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1/10
I don't even know why I finished this
bekyzander9 December 2021
Honestly I love a good cringey Christmas movie. Always fun to sit and laugh at the awful acting and horribly predictable storyline. Even throw a bit of abuse at how terrible it is. By the end of watching this I felt like the movie was abusing me.

It's a no from me.
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1/10
Waste of time
adebeshink5 November 2020
Lead character is the worst kind of cop there is. It's meant to be endearing, but it was just straight up annoying. Whole film is cringe-worthy!! Urgh.
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3/10
Swing and a miss
racheltaylor-782239 November 2020
I love bad cheesy Christmas movies but this one was BAD. If your only personality traits are clumsy, bad fashion sense, loves Christmas, you're probably the female lead in a terrible movie. The only way the Mack became a detective was through nepotism because she is abysmally bad at her job.
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