Prime Time: Christmas Mingle AKA Christian Mingle (2014)

Although it may seem surprising to some of you who know me, I try not to actively dislike people, or things, just because they are based in any faith. I like the idea of personal faith, and I don't mind if some people read a book, take various lessons from it, and apply those lessons to their everyday life. I dislike the situation when it affects others, usually from people who decide things should be read literally on one page and just acknowledged on the next.

This is my way of saying that I know I was not the target audience member for Christmas Mingle AKA Christian Mingle (AKA Christian Mingle: The Movie). But I went into it with an open mind, an unwavering love for Lacey Chabert, and the knowledge that it would be another Christmas movie to mark off my list.

Written and directed by Corbin Bernsen, who also gives himself a cameo role for one scene, Christian Mingle is the story of Gwyneth Hayden (Chabert), a marketing executive who thinks she has everything she needs in life, except for a man. Her friends keep telling her that she will be the last to settle down, and they complain that they, and their husbands, are running out of men to put forward. After seeing the advert on TV, Gwyneth creates a profile on Christian Mingle. She ends up dating the lovely Paul Wood (Jonathan Patrick Moore). It all starts off as something she views as nice, if odd, but soon becomes something more. Which may lead to a problem when people realise that Gwyneth isn't actually an active Christian.

There's nothing REALLY that wrong with Christian Mingle, in terms of it being a TV movie that uses Christmas as a backdrop for a blossoming romance. I mean, despite my ignorance of most faiths, Christians tend to view Christmas as a time of year for more than just hoping some jolly fat guy doesn't forget to break into your home and leave some toys. The technical side of things is perfectly okay, and the cast also includes Stephen Tobolowsky, David Keith, and Morgan Fairchild. There's also a potentially fun sub-plot about Chabert trying to market a pill that the maker (John O'Hurley) claims can cure baldness. Saidah Arrika Ekulona also does a good job of being a Christian who doesn't interfere until she is asked for help.

There is, however, also something really wrong with Christian Mingle. A number of things, actually. The positive depiction of people living by their faith is not one of them. The fact that the film is one big advert for Christian Mingle, and for the way in which Christianity can fill any gap in your life, is. The makers of the movie are quite entitled to do that, which isn't the point I am making. It just sets the whole film up as something even blander and uninvolving than most of these kinds of movies, because you know that they're not going to make the characters suffer too much, and Chabert will find happiness in some form as long as she finds her faith. Another big problem with the movie is not unique, it's just overdone, and that is how desperate the film makes Chabert. She MUST find a man, her life cannot be complete without one, it's almost shameful as she discusses the situation with her friends at the start of the movie.

You'll be unsurprised to know that I didn't love this one, but you may be surprised to know that I didn't hate it. It gets some bonus points for allowing the character played by Moore to be self-aware in his approach to life, and his old-fashioned attitudes that come from a good place. And if I can let I, Robot off with the Converse product placement then I can't exactly criticise Christian Mingle too much for selling itself in the movie named for it.

Not one I'd recommend, but far from the worst I have seen. I almost docked an extra point for it not being Christmassy enough though, before remembering that the word Christmas literally starts with Christ.

4/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy the movie here.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

Written and directed by Shane Black (the man responsible for the Lethal Weapon movies, The Monster Squad and more), Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is everything that you hope it will be and a little bit more. A couple of things stop it from being perfect, there are some scenes that just feel overly indulgent and the razor-sharp script constantly teeters on the edge of being too smart and smug for its own good, but it's a mix of action, thrills and comedy from a man who has shown mastery of this kind of material.

The plot is as follows - a petty criminal (Harry Lockhart, played by Robert Downey Jr.) ends up accidentally auditioning for a movie role and getting the part. He is then put on assignment with a detective (Gay Perry, played by Val Kilmer) and quickly finds out that being a detective isn't all that it's shown to be in the movies. Things soon move from the mundane to the intriguing, however, when the two men see a woman's body being dumped in a lake. The plot quickly thickens, Harry also tries to impress a girl that he's held a candle for all his life (Harmony, played by the beautiful Michelle Monaghan) and bullets start to fly, fingers are removed from hands and dead bodies start to pile up around the two main characters.

Although it's a small movie that more and more people need introduced to every week, I count Kiss Kiss Bang Bang as one of the big contributing factors in the grand resurrection of Robert Downey Jr's career. There had been other roles, of course, but 2005 was the year that showed he could still mix it up in a number of different genres and he still had bucketloads of charisma to spare. Am I overestimating the appeal of the movie? Watch it and then tell me.

Of course, the film isn't just the Downey Jr. show and everyone else puts in equally good performances. Val Kilmer is at his very best in the role of Gay Perry and Michelle Monaghan is absolutely adorable. Solid support comes from a mix of people: Corbin Bernsen, Larry Miller, Shanny Sossamon, Angela Lindvall and more.

It's not action-packed from start to finish so if you're after a new Die Hard or Lethal Weapon movie to love then this won't be it. If, however, you're after even more brilliance from the man who helped create some of the best, and coolest, action films of the last few decades (including the brilliance of The Last Boy Scout and The Long Kiss Goodnight) then this is the film that you must watch, purchase and then watch again and again. It's up there with the very best of Black's writing and he proves himself to be no slouch in the directing department either, putting it all together perfectly and moving from start to finish with a constant supply of his usual wit, insults and zippy plotting.

If you've somehow missed this movie so far then do yourself a favour and get to it ASAP.

9/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kiss-Bang-Blu-ray-Region-Free/dp/B000KC86JK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357051470&sr=8-1