Review Shooter: Christmas Cupid

Starring: Christina Milian, Ashley Benson, Chad Michael Murray, Jackée Harry, Ashley Johnson and Burgess Jenkins

Sometimes I enjoy playing Netflix Roulette, you just turn on the insta-streaming service and randomly pick a movie in a genre you want to watch. Being that we are in December, I wanted to check out a Christmas movie. Netflix is kind of dry on traditional Christmas movies, but they sure do seem to have a bunch of ABC Family Original ones on there. Christmas Cupid caught my eye because it really was the name..

Love stories at Christmas time aren’t a new thing in films or any form of entertainment really. What Christmas Cupid doesn’t tell you in the name though is its basically a re-telling of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Sure her name isn’t Ebeneezer (and gawd I’m so happy they didn’t make it some modern.. “black” version of the name), and the focus is more on the love aspect of the story than her ways, but it is the core story.

Actually, while still an adaption of A Christmas Carol, I would say this movie has more in common with SCROOGED. It’s a modern interpretation of the classic that is more focused on the modern business world. Both deal with putting on major productions on Christmas day and how it’s a pretty cut throat world that creates these type of people..

The difference between this film, and SCROOGED, and even the original A Christmas Carol is the focus on the love aspect of the story. Instead of being visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, the main character is visited by Ex-Boyfriends of Ex-Mas (Yes, that’s what they call it!) Past, Present and Future.

Through the lens of her ex-boyfriends, we are able to see the main character’s failings. Instead of trying to find love and happiness, she has decided to use romance as an means to an end. Her boyfriends (Except for one, who will turn out to be her true love!) were all ways to advance her career and personal ambition. While visiting these various eras of her life, Sloane Spencer, is able to see how her actions have effected those around her and the lives she has ruined.

You know the story, you know the beginning and the end. It doesn’t do much to shake up the formula, but it is a solid formula.

The acting in this film for the most part is solid. It gets the job done. No one seems to be phoning it in. Interestingly enough, I found the lead to be mostly likable. Perhaps, I’m accustom to living in this world but I didn’t find her to be as horrible a human being as they wanted you to believe. Except for perhaps two key scenes, one in which she tells a weeping mother who is complaining about not being able to spend Christmas with her son to “Grow a heart”. Then there is a scene when the one who got away, played by Chad Michael Murray, is on a date with Sloane when her ex-boyfriend (of about 6 hours) shows up to propose to her… and she accepts. Then she is shocked to find out that the man is upset with her?

Aside from those two scenes, I found her personality to be pretty mellow for the Scrooge-type lead.

There really isn’t much else to say about this movie. There are better versions of A Christmas Carol out there, and while it is over 20 years old SCROOGED does a better job of modernizing the classic. If you want to check out a more recent version though, you can’t really go wrong with Christmas Cupid. It’s a solid Christmas movie.

 

Earl Rufus

The owner of this little chunk of the internet. Enjoys having a good time and being rather snarky!

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