A Christmas Masquerade (2022) -

David Lafontaine In the leading role of Michael was highly unappealing from the outset and not that nice to look at either. I found it very hard to believe that he would ever change, even after his "Redemption Arc" brought about by Erin Agostino who played Julianne and/or Lara, as she pretended to be her boss.

It was a farcical concept right from the start and nothing that followed was how a professional should act and although I realised that it was all meant to be lighthearted, this film seemed to throw a lot of the rules of that idea away.

Yes, Julianne did seem to mellow Michael out and make him a more responsible prospect to take over his Father's legacy, but the whole basis of their relationship was a lie, compounded by her boss, the real Lara (Cory Lee), who was just desperate to get Michael and his family as clients.

What then followed was a series of festive bits and bobs to ground the immature man-child Michael in the world of business, but mostly seemed like the standard cookie making, with Julianne's sensible Daughter Nora (Maya Misaljevic) thrown in to the mix to contrast his overgrown teenage behaviour.

I did like the Polish references dotted throughout, as something new to learn, but writing this a few weeks later I'm actually struggling to remember most of the film as a whole. The only other note that I made whilst watching was that Julianne's dress, you know the typical red one that they all wear to the Ball/Event/Opening/Party/Delete As Applicable, was horrible and cheap looking.

I won't come back to this one, that much I know for sure.

4.7/10.

I had to give up quite quickly this because the sibling pairs were so annoying - the female lead's sister put her under pressure in front of the daughter and the male lead was inconsiderate to his pregnant sister. I'm sure they probably all came good in the end, but with so many other Christmas movies available, I wasn't staying tuned to find out. I see all this enough working with families, so points for accuracy, but it just isn't relaxing to watch, for me at least. These characters may have done well in their work, but their basic life skills are not inspiring, in the early scenes at least, if not the rest.