Before we get going, I have to apologise for the poor quality of photographs that come with this post and future made-for-TV Christmas movie reviews. Rather unsurprisingly, there’s not exactly much promotional material for movies that aren’t released in cinemas, so we’re just going to have to work with what we have, unfortunately.
Holly’s Holiday (also known as A Perfect Christmas) is exactly what you’d expect. Absolutely unsurprisingly, I’m already forgetting the difference between these Christmas B movies and had to double check the synopsis for this one. When you find out what it’s about, you won’t be surprised either. In true Christmas rom-com style, Holly’s Holiday is all about the fact that Holly (Claire Coffee) is looking for the perfect man, hence the alternative naff title, A Perfect Christmas. One day, she passes out whilst looking at a male mannequin in a store front, and he comes to life. However, she quickly realises that ‘the perfect man’ isn’t always as great as he seems.
And that, ladies and gents, is exactly why I forgot what the hell this was about. What is this even supposed to be? Not only did it take me about 20 minutes to figure out what on earth the plot was, but then… it became blindingly obvious where it’s going consistently until the very end. There’s nothing worse than figuring out a plot only 30 minutes in and then having to torture yourself by watching the remainder of it.
Terrible camerawork, boring story line, and really questionable acting is what any viewer will remember the most about this movie. Claire Coffee is okay (and I use ‘okay’ lightly) as the lead, and the guy who plays Milo is good, but the rest? Christ. Help. Particularly excruciating is Ryan McPartlin, who’ll have you tearing your hair out after three minutes of screen time.
Does this even count as a Christmas movie? Sure it’s set around the holiday season… and that’s literally it. Some of the music is Christmassy, I suppose? But no, this is as much of a Christmas film as Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – it doesn’t make it a Christmas film just because there’s one Christmas scene within it, I’m afraid.
With a movie this bad, I like to peruse other opinions around it. Rather dramatically, one of the sweet, possibly blind folks on IMDb gave this 9 out of 10, stating that it was “better than most Hallmark movies.” 1) This is not a Hallmark movie. 2) NINE? Are you sure this is the movie you watched? You must be mistaken.
Thankfully there’s one saving grace (other than the fact that it ended eventually) and that’s that there are some pretty funny moments. The sequence with the mannequin’s parents particularly stood out, and saved this entire car crash from becoming my first zero Q rating at The Quayside Review.
If you want to know what movies they play in hell, this is certainly one of them.
Holly’s Holiday is available to stream on 5 On Demand in the UK.
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The Quayside Review 
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