Starring Natalie Clark, Kenny Boyle, Sylvester McCoy
Directed by Ryan Hendrick
Certificate 12
@RogerCrow
Two strangers stranded in the Scottish Highlands on Christmas Eve team up to try and get home in time for December 25. That’s the idea behind this charming, but strangely inert rom com.
It’s based on acclaimed short 2015 film Perfect Strangers, and it’s weird watching the trailer for that after seeing the feature. Like a photocopy of a photocopy, the overlong revamp loses a little something when stretched. (It needed at least 10 minutes trimming to make the movie snappier).
Kenny Boyle is perfectly fine as the grumpy, spurned Rob (reprising his role from the beta version), while Natalie Clark is charming as the eternal optimist Jen. She’s sweet, a bit ditzy and thinks it’s fine to steal her ex’s supercar. Obviously it’s not but hey, she’s a bit ditzy. Grand theft auto is fine in rom coms, as long as it furthers the story. Those are the rules.
While it’s good to see Claire Grogan and Dr Who veterans Sylvester McCoy and Frazer Hines among the supporting cast, the real stars of the show are the wintry landscapes and those wonderful highlands.
It’s no better or worse than one of those ubiquitous Hallmark movies that dominate the box at this time of year, and while many of the gags fall flat, writer/director Ryan Hendrick does his best with the familiar premise.
Like The Comedian’s Guide to Survival from a few years ago, so many of the right elements are here, but for whatever reason that chemistry which turns formulaic movies into all-time classics fails to gel.
However, if you’re curled up on the sofa with a box of chocs while the weather outside is frightful, this could be just the ticket for easing those winter blues. Expect little and it should sprinkle a bit of festive magic at least.
