Infamous for predictability, yet loved across America, Hallmark Christmas movies are a classic during the holiday season. Owned by Hallmark Cards, Inc., the Hallmark Channel is a 24-hour cable service of original movies mostly known for their Christmas films.

Some students love them while others feel differently. On an Instagram poll of 56 students, 34% love them, 25% aren’t fans and 41% are indifferent.

“Hallmark Christmas movies are one of the most efficient ways to waste away a winter afternoon,” Senior Philip Callihan said.

On the other hand, some students enjoy these movies, admitting they aren’t anything extraordinary.

“I think Hallmark Christmas movies are correctly rated as they’re super cheesy but fun to watch,” Senior Amy Wood said.

If you think they’re boring to watch, there may be ways to spice up the experience.

“They’re average when watching alone but so much fun to watch with friends,” Senior Audrey White said.

As someone who has never sat down and watched one of these movies, I was intrigued.

Too curious for my own good, I grabbed a notebook and a pen and watched “Christmas Sister Swap”, a 2017 Hallmark film that fits the title一 two identical twin sisters switching places for Christmas.

Starting out, I wasn’t surprised by the two tropes immediately pushed in my face: the single business woman who’s a bit of a grinch and the creative, family-oriented woman who just wants a chance to express herself.

Reading the title of the movie was enough for me to predict most of the plot, and I was correct when I estimated that the sisters would swap places because each thinks their life is harder than the other.

Spoiler alert: they both have hard lives一 what a shocker.

Just the idea of the swap was illogical enough for me to feel no empathy towards the sisters, Kate and Kris, especially since they’re grown adults. It was obvious from the get-go this switch was a flawed plan considering their drastically different lifestyles.

It wasn’t until a little over half-way through the movie I finally started caring about the characters. The same goes for the relationships, which stayed very surface level for the majority of the film.

When the characters first met the two love interests, I could already predict how issues would arise for the sisters later on as they’re falling in love as someone else. Over the course of the movie, I couldn’t care less about the relationships, as they were dull and like I said, extremely surface level.

On the topic of predictability, I could guess most of what would happen throughout the film. I knew the sisters would end up bonding, and they would be reunited with their lovers by the end.

Unnecessary tropes thrown in it such as the dead mom felt forced. The dead mom trope added little to the plot and was only there to evoke pity towards the sisters and provide reasoning behind their decisions.

As the film continued, I started enjoying the cute moments between the love interests. When one of the lovers fixed the lights on one of the sister’s house without her knowing, I felt a little melting of my heart.

While the acting was fine, maybe a little overdone, the writing was unoriginal. The sisters saying the same lines in different contextsー I’ve seen it before. From the perspective of a young viewer, any attempt at humor fell flat, seemingly more targeted towards a middle aged crowd.

Where the characters’ likeability dwindled was their inability to understand different lifestyles. Characters struggled to grasp such a basic concept which lent itself frustrating to the watcher.

Likewise, the debatable logic some characters possessed was just utterly confusing. I was stricken when one of the love interests didn’t care what-so-ever when it was revealed the girl he liked was lying about her identity. Personally, I wouldn’t let that slide.

If I was watching for my own enjoyment and not to write this review, I would’ve switched the channel early on. Quite boring from the start, it took time for me to become even a little invested in the story. Yet despite this, the film had its golden moments such as certain scenes between the lovers.

I enjoyed how the characters were forced out of their comfort zones, and although the ways of doing so were cheesy, it was interesting watching them see life in another light.

“Switched for Christmas” was predictable with a slow start but faster, somewhat intriguing, ending. If you’re into cheesy films, this movie won’t disappoint. If not, I would advise you to stay away for your own sanity.

Would I watch another Hallmark Christmas film? Probably not on my own, but as senior Audrey White said, watching with friends sounds a lot more interesting.