Beanbioca
As Good As It Gets
Suman Roberson
It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.
Kirpianuscus
like many films from the same genre, it is a surrogate. romance, crumbs from classic comedies, pieces from Jane Austen, actors in skin of legends - Kristin Chenoweth as a version of Eve Marie Saint, Josh Hopkins as a form of Cary Grant. sure, very far by original, not realistic, with a story who seems far to be coherent. but nice. and this is the most important thing in this case. because it is the only thing who could be expected. the subject is so old, the performances are far to be bad and the idea has the chance to seduce. the war between E. J. and Will is fake but the aspects from a small community from Montana looking the work for a noble cause is not real awful but could be useful. so, a film for Christmas. and it is enough !
SanteeFats
Okay this is a typical Christmas time movie. It is cutesie of course but still good. A New York super advertising woman finds her man going to town with the boss. At least the boss is a female. So she quits her job, can't find another one for months. Then a small time job opens up in a small town in Montana. Her job is to put this small town on the corporate map as a destination place for retreats. To get this done she hits on the tried and true semi-nude calendar using the regular everyday men of the local search and rescue squad. She calls in a big time photographer and the shoot takes place. It turns out very well, sales take off and so the squad gets its new equipment. A side light of this film is the relationship between the New Yorker and the local stud. It is detestation at first meeting that eventually develops into the inevitable, tis' the season, love affair. Like I said it is cutesie but I liked it.
wes-connors
Petite blonde public relations expert Kristin Chenoweth (as Emma Jane "E.J." Baxter) catches her boyfriend in the bathroom stall with her boss. Deciding to give them both more space, Ms. Chenoweth leaves the hustle-bustle of New York City and moves to a smallish-looking town in Montana. She doesn't become a dental floss tycoon; that's already been invented. Instead, she works for the mayor. Chenoweth becomes acquainted with the volunteer men of the search and rescue squad. They have a lot of fund-raisers and do good work – like rescuing petite blonde mountain climbers. Chenoweth decides to contribute by creating a calendar featuring "12 Men of Christmas" and sell it for the holidays. The problem becomes how to get the local men to take off their shirts for sexy poses. Somebody must be pulling our legs because a few of the coy, well-built men look shaved, waxed, plucked and/or ready for action. One of the many handsome men in this movie, Josh Hopkins (as Will Albrecht), gives Chenoweth an especially hard time. Photography by Peter Benison is an asset.**** 12 Men of Christmas (12/5/09) Arlene Sanford ~ Kristin Chenoweth, Josh Hopkins, Anna Chlumsky, Jefferson Brown
Paul Magne Haakonsen
This movie had sassy written all over it, but yet I sat through it till the very end.The story told in "Twelve Men of Christmas" is right out of the academy of clichés; a corporate high-end New York woman going to a small town in Montana to get away, and here she ends up taking advantage of all her skill she acquired in New York, in order to raise funds for the local search and rescue crew. Alrighty then, not really believable, but still a movie came from it. The story is, of course, the type of story that you have figured out the course it will take and how it will end right from the beginning. So no big surprise there!As for the cast and acting, well I can't really say that it was bad. I found the cast to actually be good enough, though I haven't really seen any of the faces before (and the head of Kristin Chenoweth is kind of hard to get around), though I seem to recall having seen Josh Hopkins somewhere before, though I can't recall where exactly. Josh was actually the most memorable of all people in the movie here.The setting of the movie was fantastic. Really nice and beautiful scenery, nature, and an idyllic town setting. That was so nice to look at.There were a couple of times throughout the movie where the movie might have actually become funny, but it never shined through. It was always just brooding beneath the surface. But of course, this wasn't really a comedy.Despite it being a super predictable movie, I still found "Twelve Men of Christmas" to be good enough entertainment, though you have to fight your way through a tsunami of sassyness along the way. But ultimately, I was entertained, but I doubt that I will be returning to the movie for a second watching, ever. This is the type of movie that will go well with women with big romantic hearts and suckers for sassy movies.Oh, and before I forgot. I noticed the coolest blooper ever in this movie. If you manage to sit through the movie, take a good look at the drummer in the background at the pre-launch party for the calender. He goes crazy at the drums at a certain time, and it doesn't even match the drumming sounds from the actual music playing. But wait, it gets better. The guy isn't even hitting the drums, hi-hats or cymbals, he is just drumming in midair, and it is so obviously clear to see. I had to go back in the movie to watch it a second time, it was just that priceless. Hilarious stuff right there.
