design: Abby Robinson
In the 2018 Hallmark film, “Christmas Perfection”, Caitlyn Thompson, Robbie Silverman and James Henri-Thomas are in a love triangle of confusion while stuck in an alternate reality all while trying to understand the true meaning of Christmas.
The root of the plot begins with Caitlyn Thompson, as Darcy, having to face the stress and sadness that comes with parents who can’t get along for a single moment. Luckily, she had her best friend, Brandon, played by James Henri- Thomas, who has been by her side since the very beginning.
Darcy shared with Brandon how, when she was young, she longed for the perfect holiday with no fighting, only cheer. Brandon shared the dream only for her sake.
As an adult, Darcy carries that sadness and stress from her childhood with her, especially around the holidays. After having to undergo a terrible Thanksgiving, she had high hopes for Christmas. She set up her Christmas village and later went to sleep dreaming of a perfect Christmas. When she awoke, suddenly all was perfect, good and cheerful just as she had dreamt. Her parents had never divorced, never fought. Tom, her crush at work, was her boyfriend.
In the normal world, Darcy was missing in her Christmas village. When she bought her Christmas village, she also bought a tiny village folk, that coincidently looked like her. Once she fell asleep that night, she had been magically put into that village as the little person she bought hours before. When Brandon goes to check on her, he placed his small person in the village, unaware of the magic. He awoke to discover the alternative reality and joined her.
Darcy’s perfect world had finally come to life, only small. Only Darcy and Brandon were swept from reality and out of place; the others were all fictional characters in her perfect world.
While all was cheerful at first, they days began to long, and everything repeated itself: no change in routine, just the same order of events, encountering the same people.
After spending all that time with Tom, her work crush and actor Robbie Silverman, but in the new world as his girlfriend, she realized how much she loves Brandon as more than a childhood best friend although the happiness remains short when Brandon gets swept back into reality.
As she struggles to find her way out, she realizes that Christmas doesn’t always have to be perfect and that’s not what makes Christmas enjoyable. Brandon said at the end of the movie, “Christmas is special because it happens once a year. If it’s every day, then where’s the excitement in that?” and Brandon was right.
Darcy had to face the hardship of parents fighting when she was little, and it led her to have this extreme need for perfection not only during the holidays but also with the little things in life like coloring a picture.
The proof is the positive change in her personality her first few days in the village. She was happy and joyful. Caitlyn Thompson did a really good job in the beginning to show the effect her fighting parents have on her overall happiness and if they were happier, she would be happier. It’s an obvious change that allows the viewers to feel along with her and understand why she let the days go on in the Christmas village. She did soon realize happiness doesn’t come from everything being perfect; it’s what someone makes of it: compromising and coming together, friends and family enjoying each other’s company. While they gradually showed this change, I did sort of feel the urge to look at my phone or do something else because I started to get bored. Once Brandon and Darcy realized their feelings I became more interested in their love story. I like that unlike most Hallmark cheesy movies, they added the alternate reality so it made it thrilling in a way. The acting was good for a movie meant to be a little cheesy and I liked that aspect. I also really liked how they had the Thanksgiving dinner back in the real world at the end. I liked the dinner because they didn’t have any of the regular traditions, they made it their own and instead of holding grudges and being angry at one another they embraced everything and focused on the love and relationships they have.
I rate this 8/10 because I loved all the actors as well as the plot and the twist of another world. I disliked the length of how many days they showed repeating.
