Boyfriends of Christmas Past

This is another Hallmark cinematic take on Charles Dickens's 'A Christmas Carol'. Last year, it was 'A Nashville Christmas Carol'. This year, drawing inspiration from Erika Marks's book, it is 'Boyfriends of Christmas Past'. Overall, it is an entertaining Christmas movie: not one of Hallmark's best nor one of their worse. It is also, I believe, a first for Hallmark: the celebration of the Korean-American culture in their Christmas movie series. The storyline centers on Lauren Kim (played by Catherine H. Kim), a driven marketing executive tasked with pitching a baking company account days before Christmas. Years ago, Lauren's birth mother abandoned her and her father on Christmas Eve, which, as we find out, has left its scars when it comes to Lauren's love life. It is through visits from boyfriends of Christmas past that she begins to realize that she has commitment issues, and that, it is Nate (played by Raymond Ablack), her long-time best friend, who she truly loves. The script is unoriginal, of course, but it does have its funny moments. Though the story was entertaining, there were several shortcomings with the script. For example, the writers could have done a better job of setting up and developing backstories for Lauren's relationships (or lack thereof) with Nate and her mother. This would have allowed the audience to develop more of a connection with Lauren. As it was, I did find it hard to connect with the Lauren character. The acting, overall, I thought was very strong. Like many reviewers, I was impressed with Ablack's performance. Simply put, it was convincing. Kim too had a decent performance. There was, however, something missing in their relationship, namely chemistry. It was not terrible, but I was not completely convinced by Kim's performance here. As another reviewer observed, 'her character never changes'. Good friends yes. In love, hmm, I am not sure. Worth mentioning is the casting in general: it was refreshing to see so many new faces on screen. Hallmark clearly has some talent to work with in the future. Finally, though there were plenty of Christmas decorations and festive scenes, I did not get that warm Christmas vibe that I usually get from Hallmark movies, which was somewhat of a disappointment. If you are a fan of Hallmark movies or the Christmas movie genre more broadly, 'Boyfriends of Christmas Past' is worth checking out. Though unoriginal and flawed, it is a cute, fun, and entertaining movie nonetheless.

It's interesting that a lot of the bad reviews are comparing this movie to Dickens' A Christmas Carol, which it is loosely based on, when truthfully it should be compared to the Matthew McConaughey movie 'Ghosts of girlfriends past', of which it is very alike. Whilst this isn't quite as good, it's more than acceptable.

I don't know if marketing people themselves are actually the ones writing these stories or what, but if I have to see one more Hallmark movie about a marketer I'm going to throw my hot chocolate at the screen. I'm sick of movies about people trying to reform workaholics in general. "Oh my gosh y'all look how busy I am!" Too busy to watch Hallmark movies I bet, so have mercy on the rest of us. Just once I want to see some chill people falling in love and enjoying their lives. I would ask what the selfless social worker even saw in her but he was one of those dudes who waits around forever to date a woman by being her "friend," so never mind they deserve each other. Kind of a toxic story, the emotional parts weren't emotional, and the funny parts weren't funny.

This story is a mix of two movies, Christmas Carol and Ghost of Girlfriends Past. The problem with this movie is the lead actors had no chemistry whatsoever. Throughout the entire movie, you see no transition from her end, while his character transitions. The storyline was good, but the actors were wrong. You need actors with on-screen chemistry. Plus, I don't understand how the story can be so long, yet the ending culminates in under 2 minutes.

The lead actress Catherine Kim is too old for the part and is a fairly modest actor to make up for it. Not a good combo. Great acting could've saved the obvious age difference between the two leads especially up against the vibrant leading man.

The leading man, Raymond Ablack, was unhelpful by being a first rate actor and made the disconnect between the two even more distinct.

The story was benign and writing was fair but uninspired. This all kept it from being a "watch again" for me. Do more with Mr. Ablack, tho, please. He has real star quality and acting chops. Agree with others that he needs a shave, tho.

All in all, blah.