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.
Boyfriends of Christmas Past
2021
Action / Comedy / Fantasy / Romance
Boyfriends of Christmas Past
2021
Action / Comedy / Fantasy / Romance
Keywords: based on novel or bookchristmas
Plot summary
It's the Christmas season, which marketing executive Lauren Kim usually spends happily with her divorced father Leo and her stepmother Yung, her mother largely out of the picture after she abandoned the family just before Christmas years ago to travel the world unencumbered as was her want. Who has a standing invitation to spend Christmas with them is Lauren's BFF Nate Sagar, a social worker who went into the profession to pay it forward in having been brought up in the foster care system. Nate accepts the invitation whenever he and Lauren are not in respective relationships, this year being the case in neither having been in such for over a year. Nate has temporarily taken himself off the dating market in focusing on setting up a community center, which he has completed just in time for the foster kids to celebrate Christmas there this year. Late one night as Lauren dozes off working on a last minute work project due in one week on Christmas Eve, she is visited by who she finally comes to understand is the spirit of her first ever boyfriend, a forever fifteen year old Tyler Mirsky, who informs her that she in turn will be visited over the next week by the spirits of three other past boyfriends hoping to show her the errors in her pattern of behavior. While those three boyfriends - Jake, Henry and Logan - are able to show Lauren some of those errors, most specifically her seeming fear of commitment, and the constant of Nate always in the picture, she may not fully realize all the patterns and the consequences of her behavior until she sees the result of both in her and Nate's future.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.WEB 1080p.WEBMovie Reviews
Better than expected
Some fresh new faces in this one...
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.
Needs a Different Title
This movie had WAY too many storylines and put literally the main part of the movie on the back burner.
Every scene mentions that Lauren is in love with Nate, to her face, in some way, so what was the point of the movie? She made it clear she didn't want to tell him her feelings.
The ex-boyfriends maybe get 3 minutes of screen time each, again, so what was the point in the movie? They spent so much more time focused on her job project.
This doesn't even hit the Hallmark warm fuzzies. Just skip it.