- Release year: 2024
- Director: Max McGuire.
- Producer: Josie Fitzgerald.
- Screenplay by: Bryar Freed.
- Cinematography by: Michael Tien.
- Music by: Russ Howard III and Emir Merzeci.
Synopsis: a photographer of a small town likes to take pictures of snowflakes, she will have to find a very rare one with her childhood boyfriend in order to repair her community centre.
Shotgun Commentary: it is what you expect from a Hallmark Christmas movie: gorgeous people who live in AD sets, and no logic whatsoever.
Review
Did you think it was too early for a Hallmark Christmas movie? Well, it pains me to say that you thought wrong. For most of us average citizens of the world, Christmas in July means absolutely nothing.
However, there are those with enough money and time on their hands to celebrate a second Christmas. Is it to actually celebrate it when Jesus was supposed to be born? Hell no! It’s mostly so you can… celebrate Christmas in shorts? Maybe to not be judged for not taking out your Christmas decorations six months too late? That, or you really, REALLY, love Christmas?
If there are any other reasons, this author remains in the dark about them, but would very much appreciate any explanations from Christmas in July lovers. Anywho, you are not here to talk about Christmas in July, but about Falling like Snowflakes, the Hallmark film that will make you feel like you’re drowning in Christmas before you’ve got to Halloween. A ‘Nightmare before Halloween’, if you will.
Outlandish, but hilarious, premise
First things first, the film is bad, like, horrible. BUT it delivers exactly what you want from a Christmas Hallmark film. The story makes absolutely no sense. Surprisingly, both the main character and her love interest live in the same town. In fact, they were together when they were younger, before life separated them.
Source: Falling Like Snowflakes (Max McGuire, 2024).
Curiously enough, they had never run into each other despite having the same interests, his daughter going to her classes, and doing the exact same thing on Christmas: walk around the main street to see the lights. How two people in a town of two hundred manage to never run across each other is an absolute mystery, and it probably would have made for a way more interesting plot.
Despite one of the two, or both, being very good at avoiding each other, they meet again when she drives his daughter home, something he couldn’t do because the roads were too bad to drive. Sure, because they are a lot less dangerous if you do the same trip in reverse…? After their meet-cute, a billionaire with a strange snowflake fixation happens to get wind of the snowflake photography exhibition our protagonist is displaying in her BBF’s gallery and offers all the money they could possibly want if she manages to get a picture of a very rare snowflake that is missing from the collection.
The Hallmark we know and love
How people just know things in these films is incredible, no networking or publicity needed. It would be the fakest detail about the film had the snow not have been thrown from the side in uniform batches at the couple. One might have assumed that in 2024 they would have found a better way to make snow during a summer production. Well, they would be wrong. The ‘horrible storm’ has the exact same amount of snow as the romantic snowy scenes, the separation between batches of snow that fall are hilariously obvious, and the snowflakes don’t seem to stay anywhere that is not aesthetically necessary.
Source: Falling Like Snowflakes (Max McGuire, 2024).
Speaking of which, saying “no snowflake falls in the wrong place”, while getting a snowflake out of your love interest’s face is a bit of a contradiction, no? Maybe choose a different time to tell him all about your mother’s cliché Christmas saying?
Then again, all the conversations are pretty nonsensical, so getting something to stand out is quite a remarkable feat. Almost as remarkable as the case of the missing child. A daughter that appears and disappears whenever the script needs it, who can’t be left alone yet somehow spends most of the film roaming around by herself, and who spends days doing a crafts project that could have been done in an afternoon by a toddler. To top it all up, this adorable pre-teen is portrayed by someone who will hopefully soon admit defeat in the realm of acting to pursue a more viable career.
All in all, Falling Like Snowflakes is as ridiculous as it is heart-warming. Perfect for a chill afternoon or some fun hate-watching. Either way, it will provide a cosy background to brighten your day and make you forget about reality for a bit.
Advice to take from this movie:
- Cameras are expensive, people. Don’t buy a camera just to take ONE picture, and DON’T leave it around in the middle of a snow storm!
- Maybe it’s time to spend some budget on fake food so that two grown adults don’t have to pretend to be full after each four mini cubes of cheese?
- If you promise to take care of a child, maybe don’t leave said child alone while to roam around your gallery waiting for gossip-worthy things to happen?
Source: Falling Like Snowflakes (Max McGuire, 2024).
What’s your take? Have you watched Falling Like Snowflakes?… Why? Are you more of a Christmas fan or a Hallmark fan?
Don’t hesitate to let me know your thoughts in the comments section below, or leave a message in my contact page! For more reviews and cinema-related articles, check out the rest of my blog! 😀