A New Orleans Noel | Blogmas Day 23

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It's Blogmas Day 23!

Old school friends Grace (Keshia Knight Pulliam) and Anthony (Brad James) work together to redesign a home while spending Christmas with his family in New Orleans.

I picked this one solely because of the actors involved. The story itself seemed okay, a bit generic, but I was interested enough in the cast that I wanted to see it no matter how generic the story was.

As well as Pulliam and James, the film also stars Patti LaBelle and Tim Reid, and that second love story in particular was one I really wanted to see.

This could have, and should have, been a lot more festive. Yes we're told that it's Christmas and we see people putting decorations up, but nothing in the plot suggested it was Christmas, and the events of the film could have happened at any time of year.

I didn't know before I picked the film that Pulliam and James are married in real life, but it made complete sense because their characters had really good chemistry. It was really nice watching them together and seeing the relationship develop.

And speaking of which, I cared so much more about the couple than the renovation storyline. It made the story uninteresting.

With that, the conflict came out of nowhere and felt out of place. Considering it only came up when there were 10 minutes to go, it would probably have been better to just cut 5 minutes, have them kiss and call it a day. It really wasn't necessary to force it for no reason as there was no time for it to properly affect the plot.

I really liked New Orleans as a setting, there aren't even enough films or TV shows in general set there, let alone Christmas movies. But it's a city with so much character and uniqueness, every time I see something set there, I always fall in love with it all over again.

My favourite thing about the film is that the entire cast were obviously having a really good time making it, and that made it so much more fun as a viewer.

So overall there were things I really liked about this, and things I didn't. A real mixed bag, but I'm glad I've seen it!


Title - 6/10

Originality - 5/10

Christmas Spirit - 4/10

Christmas Music - 2/10


It's 2 days until Christmas!

Come back tomorrow for Christmas Eve, Blogmas day 24!



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