The Couch Critics
The Couch Critics is your laid-back guide to movies and TV shows that deserve your attention—or maybe don’t. Nathan, along with a rotating door of eclectic co-hosts, dives deep into storytelling, character development, and cinematic style with a sharp eye and a wry sense of humor. Whether it’s a blockbuster hit, a hidden gem, or a cult classic, Nathan’s relatable approach ensures every episode feels like a cozy chat with a friend who just happens to love film. Perfect for casual watchers and cinephiles alike, The Couch Critics bring thoughtful critique without the fluff. Grab your favorite snack, settle in, and let Nathan and friends guide you through the world of screen entertainment.
The Couch Critics
12 Dates of Christmas: Groundhog Day Gone Wrong
Ever wondered what would happen if Groundhog Day had a festive makeover but lost all its charm in the process? That's exactly what we tackle in our latest episode as we dissect the ABC Family holiday film "12 Dates of Christmas."
This romantic comedy stars Amy Smart as Kate, a woman who mysteriously gets stuck in a Christmas Eve time loop after being spritzed with perfume at a department store. Forced to relive the same blind date with Mark-Paul Gosselaar's impossibly perfect character Miles—a widower who coaches hockey, helps foster children, and creates public art installations—Kate supposedly learns valuable life lessons with each repeated day.
The conversation quickly turns critical as we compare this failed attempt to the gold standard of time-loop films. While Groundhog Day succeeded because Bill Murray's character had established relationships before his loop began, Kate's interactions feel shallow and one-sided. We break down why the protagonist remains fundamentally unlikable despite her supposed transformation, and how the film squanders potentially interesting plot threads while dragging viewers through all twelve repetitive days.
Between analyzing bizarre plot holes (why does everyone at the final Christmas party act like lifelong friends when they've just met?) and questioning the film's questionable romantic messaging, we don't hold back our true feelings. Katy surprisingly gives the movie credit for its Christmas elements while Nathan refuses to award any points whatsoever.
Whether you've seen this holiday misfire or just enjoy hearing passionate movie criticism, this episode delivers plenty of laughs and heated debate. Listen now, and be sure to tune in for our upcoming reviews of the Naked Gun reboot and the animated Christmas classic "Annabelle's Wish"!
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On the couch. We're laughing, crying, feeling it all, Breaking down the big screen, the hits and the flaws. Grab your seat, press play, let's take the pic. Lights, camera action, it's the Couch. Critic Crittick.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome to a brand new episode of the Couch Critic. I'm your host, Nathan, and on today's episode I'm joined by my good friend Katie. Hi Katie, how are you?
Speaker 3:I am doing well because I'm getting to talk to you. It's been a while. I am still a little bit sick. I've had a cough for like three weeks. It's the worst, and you're going back to school soon.
Speaker 2:I am, I am. By the time this episode drops, I'll have one more week of freedom until our first of two weeks of teacher work days.
Speaker 4:So yeah, Of two weeks of teacher work days.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I'm trying to mentally prepare myself, but also trying to enjoy the little bits of summer that are left.
Speaker 3:And you know, get excited for the school year. That means this next week we have to watch a bunch of these Christmas movies Back to back, to back, to back to back, before you get busy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I was watching stuff when I was still in school, so I'll make time, obviously, obviously still make time for the family.
Speaker 3:They come first well, you know, what you didn't make time for and everyone needs to hear this is we're going through a christmas list for those who have not been on the season with us. We're going through a christmas list that nathan was given for his birthday. It's a list of christmas movies. Some of them are questionably Christmas movies, and I just realized that Nathan skipped one of my favorite Christmas movies. Now we have already reviewed it, but if you would like to know on this list, which we did not review, is Bad Santa that came right before Joyful, was it Joy Noel? And so go back and listen to our Bad Santa episode. It's worth watching. You should watch. Go back and listen to our bad santa episode. It's worth watching. You should watch the movie.
Speaker 2:Listen to the podcast no, don't watch the movie. Don't watch the movie. See, and, katie, you're giving away the secret. This is why remember that one time when I posted on our social media accounts all the movies we were going to watch, and you're like, hey, we shouldn't do that because we shouldn't give away everything. And then then, who knows, things might change and stuff like that. And that's why I didn't do that with this list, because I was like maybe things will change. And that's exactly why I didn't announce that Bad Santa was on the list, because I was planning on skipping it.
Speaker 3:Yes, but I think people need to know. People need to know that you're prejudiced. Don't watch it.
Speaker 2:But if you do want to hear my thoughts on it, we did review it. I think it was past Christmas episode last year I believe that's when I watched it and then you watched it's a Wonderful Life and you can remember the people that play the characters.
Speaker 3:Yes, totally, totally different. Let's move on. This one is quite a Christmas classic. Oh, yeah, yeah, and I, so let's move on. This one is quite a Christmas classic to review today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I originally thought it was a Hallmark movie, but it wasn't. It was on ABC Family when it was still ABC Family. Now it's like Freeform or something and so it's like kind of Hallmark-esque.
Speaker 4:But let's dive right into 12 Dates of Christmas and before, as always, I have to do the synopsis a story that follows kate, a young woman who, after a horrible blind date on christmas eve, wakes up to find she is reliving that same day and date all over again 12 dates of christmas.
Speaker 2:Really, the only two people that you need to know that star in this movie are the only two people that are actually still kind of famous. Amy Smart plays Kate, and Mark Paul Gosselaar also known as Zach Morris' Trash plays Miles.
Speaker 2:So let's just get right into this. I did not like it. I did not like it at all. The script was bad, the acting was bad. The acting was bad. It was obvious.
Speaker 2:I mean, this has been done multiple times before, like Happy Death Day and, of course, the original Groundhog Day with Bill Murray. That's what this movie was trying to be. And I don't know if you've ever seen Groundhog Day, katie. Have you ever seen that movie with Bill Murray? It's classic. It's been a while. It's been a while. It's been a while. Well, it's classic and I couldn't like the whole time.
Speaker 2:I couldn't help but compare and contrast that movie with this movie. So if you've never seen Groundhog Day, it's about Bill Murray's character, and he relives Groundhog Day over and over and over again because he has to figure out what. Why he doing this, what's the reason that he's having to relive this day? And it's basically to change the way he sees life and change the person that he is and fall in love with the girl that he's supposed to fall in love with. That's the whole premise of that movie. Obviously, there's more to it. Go watch it. It's a much better version of this type of movie than what we're talking about today.
Speaker 2:So the reason I didn't like it the most is because, obviously, the character of Kate is the one that is reliving this day, so to her it's the same day over and over again, but to everyone else it's the first time they're living this day, right, okay? So everyone she comes in contact with she has no connection with prior to everything happening. The reason Groundhog Day works is because Bill Murray's character has had a connection with these people prior to having to relive Groundhog Day over and over again, so they already know him, they know him as a person, they know his personality and all this stuff. In this movie, again, she has no connection with any of the people that she interacts with None.
Speaker 2:She interacts with her dad and her stepmother, Okay but I'm talking about the majority of the people that she interacts with.
Speaker 3:Yes, like her neighbor, the guy that's putting lights up, the guy on the blind date yeah but she never really talked to them before she passed by them no, that's what I'm saying. Yeah, she doesn't know, know them at all yeah.
Speaker 2:So this movie is trying to make you feel that she's having connections with these people, but they're very one-sided because, again, she's never met them before. And though, and now, oh, oh yeah, oh yeah, that guy who does lights, I never noticed you before. Let's have a, let's have a automatic friendship out of this for like one day, and then the next day she relives that moment. She doesn't talk to him again, so like she doesn't even try to like. It's just I have so many thoughts in my head. Articulate them, katie, what did you think?
Speaker 3:yeah, that's a lot. That's a lot of thoughts, nathan, and I agree with all of them. Actually, this is a horrible movie. I do have to laugh.
Speaker 3:I wanted to look up some information about the movie because I was. I already knew I didn't like it no matter what, but I thought maybe I could be convinced, and I found found two guys. I mean, they're not professional reviewers like we are, but both of these like young 20 something guys, I assume are single said they liked the movie, and I'm shocked, I'm blown away. I don't understand, because I do think it's a it's not an opinion. This is a bad movie. It's just not a good movie. It's not an opinion. This is a bad movie. This is just not a good movie. As you said already, I think the script was terrible, the lines were awful, and I don't know if you could say that's the only reason the acting was bad, because I do think the acting showed through that it's not good either. It was awful. I didn't like the character either, the main character, kate, I think one of the reviewer guys said oh, I like that you see her story arc, that she changes her heart. Not really, though. So they kind of try to convince you in this movie that after living this day 12 different times which, by the way, you have to do all 12. I thought for sure when the movie started I thought, okay, this is going to be kind of a gimmick and then they'll kind of skip through some of them. No, the movie makes you do all 12, all 12 times, which I was surprised that they fit all that in.
Speaker 3:But she doesn't, to me, change to become this amazing person. She's still just like. What she wants in the end is love. She wants to not be alone, she wants to have somebody to settle down with, and so all the changes she makes are sort of just what leads her to the guy. Every motivation of what she's doing still comes with this purpose of love and true love and being with the person you love. She doesn't go after her ex-boyfriend, so you kind of think maybe she's going to use this time to try to get her ex-boyfriend back. And she doesn't. And I guess we're supposed to be lauding her for that, like wow, good, she wanted him to just be happy, but I just thought it was ridiculous.
Speaker 3:And also, Hallmark would never make a movie this bad. I mean Hallmark's corny, but this is just. She's not a likable character, like she was bratty and rude and selfish, and I don't feel like at the end that she's turned me into thinking like, wow, she has truly changed her heart. And please don't tell me that you think the man that they created which, by the way, is also ridiculous it's like next-level Hallmark. He's like a widower who plays hockey on the side, who also helps kids with foster care. You're just like no. And who's also very attractive and available. And they're like no, that's not realistic. But, secondarily, that guy is never going to go after Kate. In what world would he be like? Yeah, she's's. I see the the good. She seems like just as charitable of a person as me. This is the.
Speaker 2:This is the girl I want to be with. Yeah, the whole movie, I mean obviously the whole premise, is not supposed to be realistic at all. But one thing, okay, speaking of that, they don't want you to connect like the dots and everything like, oh, how does this happen? How does this happen? But one thing that really was like what? Like the whole start of this movie didn't make any sense.
Speaker 2:She goes to the mall and gets spritzed in the face with this perfume and all of a sudden she just gets woozy and she collapses in the middle of the mall, like I, I didn't. I mean, obviously somebody spritzed you in the face. Yeah, that was gross. But like, why did she get woozy? I'm thinking, did some like, was this like a guardian angel who spritzed her in the face and letting her relive this day or whatever, didn't make any sense?
Speaker 2:And then one, one of the days I don't know I'm putting quotations, people can't see me but one of the days she basically tells Mark Paul Gosler's character that she loves him.
Speaker 2:And again it goes back to the fact that, yes, ok, she's lived this day over and over again, but she's only lived it like two or three times at this point, right and she's already telling the guy I think I'm falling in love with you and stuff, and I think you're falling in love with me too, and obviously he reacts in a way that's like that's kind of creepy, I don't know you, because again, in his mind this is the first time he's met her and so he's like that's kind of weird.
Speaker 2:But then, like the last time that they meet for the first time for him but like the 12th time for her, he says this is really weird, but I feel like I've known you forever. So I don't, I don't understand the logic of of one moment, one of the days he's freaked out that she says she loves him, but then another one of the days he's like I feel like I've known you forever because we just hung out with all these rando people, because because again I go back to my first spot this is the first time all of those people have better, okay, somehow as a party with all these rando people.
Speaker 3:The party was. That was going to be my other last big thing. The party at the end is sort of like the bow on top of this pile of crap. It is all the random characters, as Nathan said, that she has just met this day all show up to her mother, not even her house. She's inviting them to her father and stepmother's house for a party. Her best girlfriend she ends up setting up with this guy who she bumps into at the bar, who he's like yeah, I've never met you before, but I'll go shopping with you. And she buys him a whole new wardrobe. The best friend is laying her head on his shoulder as he plays piano as if they've been. She literally just met him and they just met two hours ago and, as far as I know, there's not a lot of alcohol going on. It doesn't look it but it just was. That was just next level, next level, ridiculous. I have to say. Redeeming qualities. I think the concept they had they had something there like the idea of the groundhog day is a good idea, but it was a poor execution of it.
Speaker 3:Secondly, I did like from a character standpoint, I liked the neighbor. So there's one of the day. You know, each day kind of has its different theme right. She sort of bonds with a different person or learned a new lesson each day and one of the days she's kind of a jerk to her neighbor. She's like I don't want your fruitcake. The neighbor comes by hey, I made you a fruitcake and she's like I don't have time for you. But one of the days she's like I'm gonna actually say thank you like a human being would, and the lady invites her into the house and they cook together. And I thought that woman's character was like I loved that day. Of all the 12 days, that one to me was sweet and I feel like she learned a lot from this woman on that one day and this woman on that one on one day and it was really sweet to see and I liked her character. I thought she was very funny. Did you have?
Speaker 2:one of the days that you liked. No, no, this whole movie was a a bucket of stuck. It's not something I would ever watch again on christmas. It's such a waste of time. Like you said, there are other like and, like I said at the beginning, there are other movies who have done this so much better, like even even happy death day. The first one I don't know if you've ever seen that it's like a horror version of groundhog day, but it has some humor in it. So it was. It was interesting. The second one, not so great, but the first one did pretty well.
Speaker 2:This movie was terribly. There was no redeeming factor for me. She didn't really care about these people because, again, they don't know her from day to day to day. But she they play it like she's bonding with these people, but she's really not. And the one moment, the one moment that this movie could have redeemed itself, she goes into the bar again. She sees the guy who's waiting for Phyllis, who ends up with her friend at the end of the movie, and he looks at her and it's like goes in slow motion. He like smirks at her and she's like he knows something he knows. So they're playing with the idea that somehow he knows that she's reliving the day over and over again. I don't know if you caught that I did not, I did not, that's what they were trying to get.
Speaker 2:And then so she like pins them against the wall. It's like how do you know? How do you know what's going on? How do you know me? You know, you know, I'm reliving this day over and over again. He's like what are you talking about?
Speaker 3:and he doesn't know, he doesn't know, maybe I fell asleep in that moment they could have redeemed, they could have been like he was a guardian angel the entire time and he had something to do with what was going on and he was going to explain what she needed to learn.
Speaker 2:But they introduced it and they just said forget that crap. I was about to say another word forget that. We're just going to continue rolling this crap into a big old oh my gosh, which is what this movie was.
Speaker 3:I will say one thing the movie Freaky or Friday is coming out and in all these musical not musical magical type shows where something happens and you have to try to get back to normal life, there's usually something that has to happen. Right, A kiss has to happen or you have to do this thing. I did appreciate that she doesn't realize like she's, it takes her a while, like she does not connect the dots like that. This is going to be 12 days of this, so I kind of did like that, because some shows where they spend the whole time just trying to solve the problem and get back to where they were, that can be annoying. But yeah, this Nathan's movie was bad and from a Hallmark standpoint Hallmark always it's corny, but I want them to end up together. I did still, you know, want to see them kiss at the end. It was still romantic.
Speaker 3:But in the same way that Hallmark is low budget, there was little details that I noticed too. Like for some reason she grabs all these, this ball of Christmas lights from this guy and she's like I'm going to use these and she decorates this huge tree all by herself to show the man she's just met that day. And you know plot hole. Those were white lights, these were green, Like those were white-strung Christmas lights, and the ones around the tree were green.
Speaker 3:And that same scene reminds me this man who's like a widower and hockey player and coach and supports foster care. He's also apparently a local artist who has created this giant sculpture in the downtown, like it's just. It feels like a spoof of a home, like hallmark's already, kind of. Haha. This feels like a spoof of that with his character, like how good they're trying to make him seem, which is what makes kate seem all the more horrible and I don't want her to get him in the end and it's also used as a plot device to give her something to learn about him every day so that she can do something to win him over the very next her whole motivation is just to get him like.
Speaker 3:She's not like I want to be a better person, she's just like I want him and that's my goal and I'm going to do whatever I can to get him. So, anyway, you know what was good about this movie, though it had 12 days of Christmas, so maybe not a good movie, but would you rate it well for the Christmas theme?
Speaker 2:No, it did not give me a warm feeling of Christmas. I don't care. See, I keep on changing my way of how I'm rating Christmas movies, because one time it was, would I watch this at Christmas? And if I didn't, would it not feel like Christmas? I would not watch this movie ever again. Did it make me feel like Christmas? No, it didn't. It made me hate Christmas. It didn't make me hate Christmas, but it did not make me feel any warm feeling inside. It didn't make me hate Christmas, but it did not make me feel any warm feeling inside, except maybe flames on the side of my face because I was getting so angry and if you don't know that reference, then we can't be friends, oh my. But I strongly dislike this movie. So I'm giving this movie a zero out of five stars for Christmas because that's wrong.
Speaker 2:It doesn't deserve. It doesn't deserve to have been made. That's how bad this movie is. That that's wrong it does. It doesn't deserve. It doesn't deserve to have been made. That's how bad this movie is.
Speaker 3:That's just wrong. Well, I'm going to give it a three point five. No, you're not. Yes, because here? And let me back myself up. Number one is because it's it's based on the 12 days of Christmas. Number two there's Christmas music. Number three it is taking place on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Number four, although we didn't think it did a good job, it had the effort, in the same way, of Wonderful Life. It had the effort of someone turning their life around and learning to be a loving person. Nothing.
Speaker 4:And here's the last thing.
Speaker 3:And here's the last thing Even though it's not a Hallmark movie, it is a really bad, poorly done romance movie which does remind me of Christmas because it is a tradition in our house. We watch all these corny Christmas Hallmark movies together in my house. So for that it gets a little bit more points. So three and a half for Christmas for me. But I will say from a rating, from a movie standpoint, this was awful and it was a complete waste of my time. So I'm going to give it a 0.5 because zero. I don't know if I'm allowed to give it a zero I'm giving it a zero for general too.
Speaker 2:See, I I understand what you're saying about the whole christmas side of it. Okay, I get it, I totally get it. But I'm talking about does this movie make me feel good about myself and about christmas time? No, it does, it does not, it does not. And there are, I mean, even movies that have nothing to do with Christmas. Make me feel more like Christmas Lethal Weapon. Made me feel a little bit good about Christmas.
Speaker 2:Oh, my gosh, this movie just has Christmas songs in it, sprinkled in it. That is our thoughts on the 12 dates of Christmas. I'm glad that's over with, because this next weekend I'm talking about the reboot of the naked gun. I've already seen it.
Speaker 4:I have some.
Speaker 2:I have some thoughts about it and I can't wait to talk about it. And then next Tuesday I'm talking about the animated Christmas classic that I've never seen before Annabelle's wish about a talking cow and a mute loop. I can't even say it seriously. I cannot even say it seriously. That's what I'm talking about next Tuesday. Katie, thank you for being here.
Speaker 3:I'm excited. I think I'm looking at the. It came out in 97. I'm looking at the picture. I feel like I may have seen this before. It's ringing a bell a cow cowbell, if you will.
Speaker 2:So, yes, join us either this weekend or tuesday, or both, on the couch critic, where every movie gets its close-up it's not just a movie, it's a way of life.
Speaker 1:We'll watch it together, day or night, so settle in close and don't miss a flick. This is the moment for the couch critic.
