Netflix's Too Close For Christmas had the potential for a really fun concept but falls flat thanks to its not-so-crisp screenplay!

Too Close For Christmas starring Chad Michael Murray and Jessica Lowndes is a cliché rom-com that misses the holiday season magic!

Hayley Parker (Jessica Lowndes) is a perfectionist when it comes to organization. So much so that her career is literally to organize events. She is way too much in love with her job to the point where she’s been working at the same place without a promotion even though, for her exemplary skills, she really deserves one. She decides to take a short holiday from her work to spend Christmas with her sister, Amy (Vanessa Sears), and her in-laws. But there’s one big annoyance in her way. Amy’s brother-in-law, aka Paul (Chad Michael Murray) aka the guy who is pretty much responsible for her previous relationship ending, is gonna be there spending the holidays with the family too. This is where Hayley’s adventure begins.

Also Read: Christmas With You will reignite your faith in Christmas miracles and make you realize that we always find love when we’re least expecting it!

Hayley is shown as this uptight, organization freak, creature of habit who needs to live a little, whereas Paul is a free-spirited globe trotter who is pretty straightforward about his opinions. So it goes without saying that when the two are forced to spend time together under unforeseen circumstances, there will be clashes, but there’ll also be the birth of a new friendship that will slowly turn into love. Now I really love a good opposites attract or enemies to lovers situation. It’s my favorite sub-genre in the school of romance but Too Close For Christmas only gives me that excitement I’m looking for in the last 15 minutes of the movie. The rest of it just feels like many slow and sometimes even unnecessary scenes put together with not-so-great dialogue delivery and some awkward silences. Also, the number of times the incident between Paul and Hayley at her sister’s wedding which eventually led to her break up is brought up makes you feel like the movie very much needed a flashback scene of what exactly happened. 

But I will say this, the story and especially the way it's shot and edited many times did remind me of those early 2000s American dramas we were all obsessed with like the Gilmore Girls or The OC. It definitely does have the potential to be a web series; let’s say if Too Close For Christmas was a show, then this movie would be episode one. If nothing else, just watch the movie if you love seeing two extremely good-looking characters fall in love with each other. This one definitely won’t disappoint you on that front!

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