Christmas 2020 Reviews: Day 17 - Christmas Ever After (2020)

What I've learned this Christmas is that America has three production studios that specialise in made-for-TV films: Hallmark, Marvista and Lifetime. From what I've seen their films, none of them bring us particularly exceptional or frequently, even memorable movies. However, Lifetime is clearly the superior studio and channel.

This is simply because they are producing more relevant content for a modern audience than the other two do. Marvista and Hallmark seem happy to churn out all the white, straight love stories they like. Lifetime is making the effort to show us real people though.

From the first Christmas film focused solely on a male-male romance, to a Christmas film with an all-Asian cast (both of which shall be reviewed shortly) Lifetime is really making some great progress with the content its putting on the small screen in 2020. Christmas Ever After is no exception, as it is the first film -and no, not just Christmas film, but film of any kind that I know of, or have seen at least- to star an actress who is a wheelchair user.

Tony winning actress Ali Stroker plays Izzi Simmons, a bestselling romance author who writes books about a dashing male lead named Desmond. Izzi happens to be a wheelchair user, but this is only addressed once in the film, without words such as "disabled" or "wheelchair" being used.

Every Christmas, Izzi goes to spend Christmas in her favourite hotel "Reindeer Lodge", which is in the most festive town she knows. This year though, she plans to cut down on the festivities a little bit in order to focus on rewriting her latest Desmond book, which she's struggling with. Izzi's own romantic life is non-existent, so she has started to put all her personal romantic desires into her character, which doesn't make him feel like an authentic person anymore, and instead a fantasy - the inaccessible, not-so-good kind.

When Izzi arrives at Reindeer Lodge, she finds it has undergone many changes, including its new name "Reindeer Chalet". Izzi is deeply unhappy with these changes to her favourite Christmas destination, even when she finds out that they were made by the son of the hotel's owner, who she is good friends with. The hotel owner's son is Matt (played by Daniel di Tomasso), who bears a striking resemblance to the paintings of Desmond on the front covers of her books. Is it coincidence, or is fate bringing Izzi and Matt together somehow?

The highlight of this film, by far and away is the disability representation. How truly desperate we are in need of more of it. Ali Stroker was paralysed after she was in a car accident when she was just two years old. This isn't a tragic story though, because Stroker has gone on to make history in the acting world, in several ways. In 2009, she was the first wheelchair-using actress to graduate with an arts degree from New York University. She went on to be the first wheelchair-using actor to appear on Glee, after she was a runner up on the reality show The Glee Project. After Glee, she became the first actress who uses a wheelchair to be in a Broadway show, Deaf West's 2015 production of Spring Awakening. Finally, she became the disabled actress to be nominated for -and win- a Tony award for her featured role in the 2019 revival of Oklahoma!

Stroker's talent and perseverance are to be admired, and I definitely respect her work as a performer. As for her portrayal of Izzi?

It was fine. She wasn't bad, but she didn't particularly move me either, and Izzi won't be my most memorable heroine upon reflecting on these films at a later date. I like the character in concept: a successful author who happens to be a wheelchair user, who is better at writing romance than creating it for herself.

Izzi comes across as immature and petty at times though. When Matt is making changes to the lodge she loves staying in, she complains about all of them. I understand that she loves the place, but she complains about things that don't matter, like how he's changed the doorknobs and gotten rid of a squeak from the floorboards in her room. These are pointless complaints, not genuine concern that the lodge is changing for the worse, which would be an understandable plot point. That's not how they handle it though, as everyone else thinks Matt is doing a great job and all of his changes are kept (even though I will admit that "Reindeer Lodge" does sound better than "Reindeer Chalet"). I don't want to get into spoiler territory, but at the end of the film, Izzi misunderstands a situation she sees Matt in, and her reaction to it is startlingly cold. Not just cold towards him, but also to his dad and daughter, who had nothing to do with it. Matt is greatly distressed by her actions, and I didn't blame him when he questioned if he should be with her.

I do think that Stroker has potential as a leading lady in other projects, and I think she would pull off a feistier character much better, as there's an energy to her that I don't think was used to its full potential.

Izzi is one of those characters who gets on with everyone and has no enemies. Again, nice in theory, but when everyone likes this character, there's no conflict, and without conflict, there's no passion from these characters about anything meaningful, which makes for rather dull viewing.

On a smaller note, Izzi is supposed to be a bestselling author, and yet from what we see of her work in this film, (which is creatively shown to us onscreen as she types, while her voiceover reads over them) I have to say, she is a terrible writer. All of her written work is all tell, no show and it's remarkably bland. I'm glad they do show her writing a few times, and she does frequently excuse herself to go away and write in her room, although I have to admit, she does always seem to be doing other things

This film doesn't really have a plot, and instead focuses more on the relationship between Izzi and Matt. They have good chemistry together, and Tomasso is a very attractive leading man. They make a good pairing. However, it is worth noting that this film was filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and so kissing scenes were shot with plexiglass between the two leads. Therefore, the shots where the two actors mouths appear to meet are very brief, and it's more back of the head shots as they kiss than anything else. I think things like that will be common in TV for a little while now, although I did feel it was worth mentioning because it's a good effort, but still noticeable.

I did also work out how Matt and Izzi's character Desmond were connected quite quickly. It's a bit cheesy, but not the worst idea I've seen explored in a Christmas film this winter, and I think some people might enjoy the reveal of it.

Honestly, this film is a very standard quality Christmas romance. However, Ali Stroker in the leading role brings us disability representation that we sorely need, and I encourage you to watch it for that reason alone. Maybe you'll like the festive town, the cast of characters and the leading lady's Christmas spirit, but for me, it was just a bit mediocre unfortunately.

THE SCOREBOARD

Would I recommend this film? Yes

Christmas quote of the film: "You're going to make me work through Christmas? That's so Ebenezer of you." - Izzi

Film rating: 5/10