“EXmas”

Those seeking something new and exciting in their Hallmark-style Christmas movies are out of luck with “EXmas,” a tired, by-the-book movie that is light on both laughs and charm. It’s disappointing that there’s a perceived lack of quality when it comes to holiday movies, with the general assumption being that if it’s about the yuletide season, it’s not going to be any good. It’s always a treat when one actually does turn out to be decent, but this film is more of the same old, dull routine.

Graham (Robbie Amell) has been dumped by his fiancée Ali (Leighton Meester) and is being forced to work over the holidays. Fed up with everything in his life, he decides to surprise his family and travel back home for Christmas. When he arrives, Graham gets a lot more than he bargains for when he comes face to face with the unexpected guest of honor: Ali. Explaining that just because she dumped Graham doesn’t mean she has to also dump his amazing family (Michael Hitchcock, Kathryn Greenwood, Veronika Slowikowska), chaos ensues. Ali and Graham figure there’s not enough room for both of them, so the former couple battle it out to see who will get to stay through Christmas day.

The film features a terrible script and equally bad writing, and feels like it was made solely to get audiences with little to no standards in the holiday mood. I guess that’s almost always the point of movies like this, but here it’s just so lazy. The characters are placed in ridiculous and petty situations as they try to one-up each other a’la “Meet the Parents” style, and there’s a forced near-tragedy late in the script that’s a blatant attempt to manufacture false drama. There are a couple of funny sight gags (and a silly running joke about a missing baby Jesus statue on the front lawn), but the film isn’t self aware enough to be a goofy spoof (which perhaps could’ve worked here).

The performances are laughably bad, with labored line delivery and strained attempts at being funny. Meester and Amell have decent chemistry, but this is probably one film they’d rather forget being a part of.

I don’t want to be too hard on a movie like this because in a way, it probably delivers what its audience craves. But for the rest of us, the best thing “EXmas” has going for it is its clever title.

By: Louisa Moore