12 Dates of Christmas (2011)

Really Good watch, could watch again, and can recommend. This is about as close as I can find to a gender flipped "Groundhog's Day", granted it's not as good as Bill Murray, but Amy Smart carries this movie really well, even with Mark-Paul Gosselaar giving a great performance, there is only so much you can do with an opposing romance role if you're not in most of the scenes. We get to see a great growth of character, exploration of herself and her world as she repeats days, looking for a way out. The message is a little blatant, "Get over the ex", but the reality of struggling with such a thing is exampled plenty well, and surprisingly similar to "While You Were Sleeping" is very much about togetherness and family (born to or made), especially around the holidays. This is a fun holiday time-shift loop to add to your marathon of time-loop movies.

Just when I think Inhave seen all of the “Groundhog Day” movie clones, I stumble over another one. And this one has been around for a while, but surfaced when we were cruising holiday films on Prime Video. The script isn’t at all daring or memorable, and I don’t recall many laugh out loud moments. But it is amusing in places and the chemistry between the various characters is strong. I liked how most of the characters were fleshed out some rather than left as two dimensional extras. (Well, except for the poor shop clerk who spritzes our heroine in each day’s reincarnation and only gets the same lame line.) And of course there is character of growth accomplishing our selfish lead character. She shares with Bill Murray’s charactr in the original the growing knowledge that she needs to try to have a perfect day. And she improves the day gradually by building on what she did during previous versions of the day. But the story doesn’t try to copy Groundhog Day by being over the top with what she will do to get out of her repeating day, and it is harmless fun that I don’t regret spending time on.