 |
| Photo by Clement Lepetit |
Dashing Home for Christmas (2020) 🎄🎄🎄
“Hopefully this is the last little hiccup in our trip. I think we’ve hit the misfortune limit.“
A career-focused woman is determined to spend Christmas with her family although everything that could possibly go wrong actually does. Along the way she runs into a fellow traveler who seems like her opposite, but it turns out they make a good team when they bring their skills together.
This is supposed to be a meet-awkward, road trip, holiday romance. The female lead is supposed to be a work-focused, cold-hearted and particular, but she doesn’t quite come off that bad. The male lead is supposed to be sloppy and a real nice guy. The actor pulls it off.
The production value was B-level and the acting was okay. The story wasn’t that original sticking to standard tropes, but something about the story made it endearing. I had other movies with similar storylines on my watch list that I avoided because I didn’t want a repeat.
- Tropes: Opposites attract • Shared goal: Get to the final destination, a place where we can spend Christmas with people we love • On the road • Stranded
- How’d you watch it? UPtv via Amazon Prime
- Fit the theme? Yep.
Snowed-Inn Christmas (2017) 🎄🎄🎄
Two magazines staff writers are sent on assignment to write the article that will save one of their jobs. One of them is a precise planner that plays it safe, the other, a sloppy, last minute adventurer. On the way, they find themselves stranded and snowed in a small town, Santa Claus, Indiana. They decide to try to save the B&B where they’re staying. Sub-plot: The older couple who run Winter’s Inn very closely resemble Santa and Mrs. Claus: Are they the real ones?
Real snow! No romantic chemistry between the two leads. The story is entertaining, but very trope-y. The male lead is played by frequent cheesy romance player, Andrew W. Walker, who I watched in Dashing Through the Snow (2018 marathon) and most likely in other cheesy romances.
- Tropes: Stranded together • Enemies to lovers • Opposites attract • Shared goal: save the inn
- How’d you watch it? Amazon Prime
- Fits the theme? For sure. They’re travel writers who get stranded while traveling.
A Merry Scottish Christmas (2023) 🎄🎄🎄
An American son and daughter visit their mom in Scotland only to learn that she’s inherited a title and estate. She wants them to take over. Will they leave their lives in the US to become the Duke and/or Duchess of the estate?
There are quite a few holes in the plot, but otherwise this was a nice gentle family drama with a cheesy, quick fall-in-romance story. I was a bit disturbed by how hard the male romantic lead was selling the female lead on staying in Scotland.
The son-brother is played by Scott Wolf best known for Party of Five and the daughter-female-romantic-lead is played by Lacey Chabert, a HolRom queen who you might have seen in Hot Frosty (I haven't seen it, yet).
Christmas In Notting Hill (2023) 🎄🎄🎄
A woman on the brink of life changes goes to visit her sister, living in England, for Christmas. The sister’s boyfriend intends to propose, and the visiting sister finds out by accidentally befriending the boyfriend’s brother, who is a famous football player hiding his identity.
Jack In Time for Christmas (2024)🎄🎄🎄
Another movie that’s not a cheesy holiday romance: This comedy special features comedian Jack Whitehall trying to get home for the holidays when his plane gets canceled. He solicits help from a gaggle of celebrities and travels a roundabout way to get home.
I’m surprised how funny I found this since I’m not a huge fan of British humor. The part with rebel Wilson was lost on me.
Lost Holiday (2019) 🎄🎄🎄
Apparently there is a Lifetime movie of the same name from 2007, but I’m writing about the indie movie from 2019. Lost Holiday sounded more like a travel movie from the description but it’s really about a group of high school friends that reunite years after at a holiday party. Sore feelings lead them into shenanigans including driving around the Beltway-DC area suburbs looking for a missing woman. A screwy, offbeats dark comedy set in the holiday season. Of course I liked it.
Features William Jackson Harper (The Good Place and Ant Man and the Wasp) in a supporting role and a cameo by Isiah Whitlock Jr. (so many TV shows and movies, but notably in The Wire, “sheeeeit!”)
Best Christmas. Ever (2023) 🎄🎄
An unhappy wife and mother finds herself and her family snowed in at an old friend’s house. She is envious of her friend’s seemingly perfect life. Hijinks ensue. This movie had star value with Heather Graham, Brandy, and Jason Biggs as leads. And Netflix knows how to make a production look good. Unfortunately, the movie felt long and it turned bad cheesy in the end.
Hotel for the Holidays (2022) 🎄🎄
The story is of Georgia, the manager of an old hotel, who is looking for investors to back her in a new modern hotel venture. There are several side-stories, but the romance is covered by the halfway acknowledged romance between her and the head chef at the hotel. Will her modern hotel dreams come true? Will Georgia and the chef finally admit they’re in love (send me some good chef puns because I can’t think of any right now)?
This isn’t terrible but it’s super, super cheesy and requires a lot of suspension of belief. There’s unfortunately very little to the romance story, although there is a disproportionate amount of support that went into the location and styling of this movie compared to the writing.
- Tropes: Shared goal: save the estate • Destination movie • Location gap • Career vs. Love
- How’d you watch it? Hallmark via Netflix
- Fits the theme… sure. Yeah. Barely. The brother and sister fly to Scotland and the original intention was that they were tourists, but then they inherit.
Christmas In Notting Hill (2023) 🎄🎄🎄
A woman on the brink of life changes goes to visit her sister, living in England, for Christmas. The sister’s boyfriend intends to propose, and the visiting sister finds out by accidentally befriending the boyfriend’s brother, who is a famous football player hiding his identity.
Unnecessarily convoluted and with manufactured conflict. This movie has too many music breaks, not montages, but short music videos, essentially. Nuh uh. Don’t like them, but thankfully they're easy to fast forward through. Sloppy editing, sloppy writing, but the story was still kind of endearing.
The female lead is doing good things in Hollywood: Sarah Ramos can also be seen in Winning Time and The Bear.
The female lead is doing good things in Hollywood: Sarah Ramos can also be seen in Winning Time and The Bear.
- Tropes: Disguised identity • Destination movie
- How’d you watch it? Netflix
- Fits the theme? Yeah. Visiting sister and visiting dad had to travel to get to England.
Jack In Time for Christmas (2024)🎄🎄🎄
Another movie that’s not a cheesy holiday romance: This comedy special features comedian Jack Whitehall trying to get home for the holidays when his plane gets canceled. He solicits help from a gaggle of celebrities and travels a roundabout way to get home.
I’m surprised how funny I found this since I’m not a huge fan of British humor. The part with rebel Wilson was lost on me.
- How’d you watch it? Amazon Prime
- Fits the theme? Totally. Whitehall employs different modes of travel to get home.
Lost Holiday (2019) 🎄🎄🎄
Apparently there is a Lifetime movie of the same name from 2007, but I’m writing about the indie movie from 2019. Lost Holiday sounded more like a travel movie from the description but it’s really about a group of high school friends that reunite years after at a holiday party. Sore feelings lead them into shenanigans including driving around the Beltway-DC area suburbs looking for a missing woman. A screwy, offbeats dark comedy set in the holiday season. Of course I liked it.
Features William Jackson Harper (The Good Place and Ant Man and the Wasp) in a supporting role and a cameo by Isiah Whitlock Jr. (so many TV shows and movies, but notably in The Wire, “sheeeeit!”)
- How’d you watch it? Hoopla
- Fits the theme? Yep. Many scenes while traveling around by car.
Best Christmas. Ever (2023) 🎄🎄
An unhappy wife and mother finds herself and her family snowed in at an old friend’s house. She is envious of her friend’s seemingly perfect life. Hijinks ensue. This movie had star value with Heather Graham, Brandy, and Jason Biggs as leads. And Netflix knows how to make a production look good. Unfortunately, the movie felt long and it turned bad cheesy in the end.
- Tropes: Grass is always greener • Stranded
- How’d you watch it? Netflix
- Fits the theme? Yes. Family snowed in while road tripping.
Hotel for the Holidays (2022) 🎄🎄
The story is of Georgia, the manager of an old hotel, who is looking for investors to back her in a new modern hotel venture. There are several side-stories, but the romance is covered by the halfway acknowledged romance between her and the head chef at the hotel. Will her modern hotel dreams come true? Will Georgia and the chef finally admit they’re in love (send me some good chef puns because I can’t think of any right now)?
This isn’t terrible but it’s super, super cheesy and requires a lot of suspension of belief. There’s unfortunately very little to the romance story, although there is a disproportionate amount of support that went into the location and styling of this movie compared to the writing.
- Tropes: Career vs. love • Friends to lovers • Kept secret • Workplace romance
- How’d you watch it? Amazon Prime
- Fits the theme? Its about a hotel.
A Cozy Christmas Inn (2022) 🎄🎄
Erica, who works at a real estate company, gets the assignment that will make or break her career. Unfortunately, it is to acquire the inn her ex-boyfriend, Andy Holliday, owns and operates in Alaska. Does she buy the inn for her villainous boss, played by Vivica Fox or does she fall in love with her ex again, his family and the town? What do you think?!
The production felt rushed or just plain cheap when they’re acting as if it is night, but out the window you can see full daylight (Midnight sun is a spring-summer thing). It was filmed in real snow which is a plus. The music supervision sucked. The production did a poor job of making the female romantic lead come off as the type of career-focused-person who would consider going against the wishes of her ex, his parents (probably Mr. and Mrs. Claus or related), and the town they live in. Why does she go to Alaska in winter without snow boots and get annoyed when people point out she should get some better boots?
The male lead, David O’Donnell, a HolRom regular, was in a very similar movie A Christmas In Vermont (watched in 2017 marathon).
Christmas Island (2023)🎄🎄
A pilot looking to get hired by a family with a private jet gets forced to land on a small island while en route to Switzerland. She finds herself in contention with the handsome and single air traffic control officer, who is based on the island, about when to take off and continue their journey. There’s also the sub-plot of work-focused parents learning to reconnect to each other and their kids while they’re stranded on Christmas island.
Real snow! A different kind of stranded travel story. The illogical plot points, and the fact that the romantic leads have no chemistry really detract from this movie. This movie also stars Andrew W. Walker as the male lead.
Christmas at the Holly Day Inn (2023) 🎄
The production value was low, the acting was crap, and the writing was terrible. I thought they were faking their British accents. The music sounds like a knock-off version of the Wii waiting room music. I stopped at 15 minutes in. The poster photo editing awkwardly cropped the male lead’s head. It looks weird. Spare no expense! Skip the movie! Just watch the trailer:
The Christmas Cabin (2019) 🎄
Bad production. Taking too long to get to the story. Bad acting, editing, directing. Stopped 10 minutes in. The whole movie is in the trailer:
Erica, who works at a real estate company, gets the assignment that will make or break her career. Unfortunately, it is to acquire the inn her ex-boyfriend, Andy Holliday, owns and operates in Alaska. Does she buy the inn for her villainous boss, played by Vivica Fox or does she fall in love with her ex again, his family and the town? What do you think?!
The production felt rushed or just plain cheap when they’re acting as if it is night, but out the window you can see full daylight (Midnight sun is a spring-summer thing). It was filmed in real snow which is a plus. The music supervision sucked. The production did a poor job of making the female romantic lead come off as the type of career-focused-person who would consider going against the wishes of her ex, his parents (probably Mr. and Mrs. Claus or related), and the town they live in. Why does she go to Alaska in winter without snow boots and get annoyed when people point out she should get some better boots?
The male lead, David O’Donnell, a HolRom regular, was in a very similar movie A Christmas In Vermont (watched in 2017 marathon).
- Tropes: Difficult person • Shared goal: save the inn • Location gap • Career vs. love • Romantic reunion
- How’d you watch it? Hallmark via Hoopla
- Fits the theme? Yes. It starts and end with an inn.
Christmas Island (2023)🎄🎄
A pilot looking to get hired by a family with a private jet gets forced to land on a small island while en route to Switzerland. She finds herself in contention with the handsome and single air traffic control officer, who is based on the island, about when to take off and continue their journey. There’s also the sub-plot of work-focused parents learning to reconnect to each other and their kids while they’re stranded on Christmas island.
Real snow! A different kind of stranded travel story. The illogical plot points, and the fact that the romantic leads have no chemistry really detract from this movie. This movie also stars Andrew W. Walker as the male lead.
- Tropes: Enemies to lovers • Stranded • Location gap • Alpha heroine
- How’d you watch it? Hallmark via Netflix
- Fits the theme? Yes. Travel and travel mishaps are the main plot points.
Christmas at the Holly Day Inn (2023) 🎄
The production value was low, the acting was crap, and the writing was terrible. I thought they were faking their British accents. The music sounds like a knock-off version of the Wii waiting room music. I stopped at 15 minutes in. The poster photo editing awkwardly cropped the male lead’s head. It looks weird. Spare no expense! Skip the movie! Just watch the trailer:
- How’d you watch it? Amazon Prime
The Christmas Cabin (2019) 🎄
Bad production. Taking too long to get to the story. Bad acting, editing, directing. Stopped 10 minutes in. The whole movie is in the trailer:
- How’d you watch it? Amazon Prime
That's it, folks. Until next year: May the road rise to meet you and may the wind be at your back.
No comments:
Post a Comment
All comments are moderated. Even my own.