Christmas 2020 Reviews: Day 24 - A Christmas Movie Christmas (2019)
Happy Christmas Eve! Tomorrow will be the last day of this Christmas series for the year, and I hope you have enjoyed it so far, if you've been following. Before I conclude with our final film on Christmas day, I thought I would take a look at a film that might sum up this entire experience so far: A Christmas Movie Christmas.
This 2019 made-for-TV film follows Eve (played by Lana McKissack) and her sister Lacy (Kimberly Daugherty, who also co-wrote the script). The two share a flat, and are both quietly frustrated at how the other lives their life: Eve is great at her job, but doesn't push herself to get further in her career, or to try anything new. Instead, she enjoys the comfort of watching her favourite Christmas romance films on repeat. As for Lacy, she's tougher and more realistic, but can't keep boyfriends or a job, largely due to her trust issues.
One evening, while out for a walk, they come across a volunteer dressed as Father Christmas, who is collecting money for his charity. He asks the women what their Christmas wishes are. Eve wishes to live in a Christmas movie, but we don't know what Lacy wished for. She says that if he's the real Santa, he'll know what it is that she truly wants.
That night, Lacy and Eve fall asleep in front of the TV as one of Eve's beloved Christmas romances plays. When they wake up though, they find themselves in a strange place, in matching Christmas onesies. There's snow outside, everyone is cheerful and festive. The two women now even have a sweet elderly grandmother, who owns the house they've found themselves in and bakes them delicious Christmassy treats all the time. The pair realise they are in a Christmas film, further confirmed when Eve learns she is dating Russell, a character identical to Chad Matthew Monroe, an actor who plays the romantic leads in her favourite Christmas films. Eve also learns that she has to save the town's Christmas festival with the help of a charming, caring man named Dustin (Ryan Merriman) who loves this holiday as much as she does.
Eve is thrilled with this new life, but Lacy doesn't understand why she's there too, or what she's supposed to do. Perhaps the handsome village baker, Paul (Brant Daugherty) can help her work it out...
So, that's the longest synopsis I've written so far for any of these Christmas films, but I think it's warranted. This script was written by Brant and Kimberly Daugherty, a couple who got married the same year as this film was released. The fact that they are also playing each other's love interests is a sweet touch as well. If you have happened to follow these December reviews so far, you may recognise Brant Daugherty's name from yesterday's review of Merry Kissmas, a terrible film, in which he was the saving grace. Knowing that he has been in two TV Christmas romance films (he was in another called Mingle All the Way in 2018) makes knowing that he co-wrote this parody of the genre more amusing to me.
This film has a really promising premise, but is a bit hit and miss in it's delivery at certain points. However, when it hits something, it generally gets it very right. Let's look at the two different plots of the sisters, starting with Lacy.
Lacy is the realist, who doesn't want to be in the Christmas Movie town, and wants to find a way home. She meets Paul, an attractive baker who immediately becomes infatuated with her after they meet. These two together were personally my favourite part.
The fact that a real life husband and wife played them isn't surprising, as the pair have wonderful chemistry together. It's also great seeing the dynamic between a no-nonsense, world-wise woman and a joyful, pure-hearted, well-intentioned man. These two are also the strongest in terms of acting skills in this film.
Brant Daugherty plays Paul with sincerity, without patronising this character at all. He is genuinely excited about things like baking Christmas cookies, or getting into snowball fights with children. He's very simple, but feels authentically sweet and happy, you can't be bored watching him. His infatuation with Lacy is immediate, and could seem creepy, but you know his intentions are so honestly meant with kindness that you have to forgive him. However, I admit this may not be as easy to do so with a man who didn't quite match up to Brant's physical appearance.
There's a really good scene, where Lacy is furious with Paul after he leaves a trail of Christmas cards he's made for her from her bedroom window, meaning that he knows where she lives and saw her sleeping. She confronts him and tells him to stop making her cards, but is encouraged to forgive him by London, a little girl who likes to help out with Paul in his bakery. This leads to her receiving one more card from him, which I won't spoil here, but the reveal of this card actually made me laugh out loud in the way a film intended for the first time this December. Some of the jokes in this film are genuinely too good for it at times.
Lucy and Paul's parts are the best in this film, because these two work really well together, both as actors and as their characters. You want things to work out for them.
Eve, on the other hand, is a bit trickier. This character is just too naïve, and too unrealistic in her hopes - she literally had to be transported to a fantasy world to be happy.
I simply didn't care about her love triangle with Russell and Dustin, and at first, I couldn't quite work out why. You can be innocent and overly joyful and still feel sincere - just look at Will Ferrell in Elf. These actors, while not terrible, just don't feel authentic (Randy Wayne as Chad Matthew Monroe as Russell is the strongest out of these three).
Then I realised - I had no idea why I should be rooting for Eve.
In the first scene we see her in, she's watching a Christmas film on her computer in the booth at work, and is pretending to kiss the actor onscreen, which is really uncomfortable to watch, while other people are doing actual work around her. Yet Lacy insists that she's a hard worker who deserves a promotion. Things like that happen for Eve. She doesn't do anything to help herself, yet good things come her way and everyone thinks it's right. She's just too whimsical, and rather bland to enjoy as a main heroine.
Something that bothered me was that these characters knew -or believed themselves to be, at least- in a film. You know how I said that the sisters were transported to a "fantasy world"? I won't give away what happens exactly, but let's just say that the ending of this film couldn't have happened unless the Christmas Movie town was a real place. That means that these women have someone out there who believes herself to be their grandmother, even though they don't know her, along with other plot-holes. For example, Eve acknowledges that Russell is a Chad Matthew Monroe character, but if that's the case, then Russell is actually real and is a doppelganger to this famous actor, although that's never acknowledged. It's very bizarre.
Also, if you think you're in a film, wouldn't you be concerned that people might be watching you? There's a condition for that.
How the town itself works, in terms of the people who live there, is bizarre and rather non-sensical. Most of the people are all exclusive to the town, without any connections to the main women to start with, which makes sense because it allows them to make acquaintances and form bonds with new people, like Dustin and Paul. The film doesn't stick to this though. You already have the grandmother character, who insists she is a relative of the two main lady's and Russell, who I discussed issues with previously.
The one that really doesn't make sense to me Mr Peterson, played by Terrence Clowe. Mr Peterson, in the real world, is Eve's boss. He is a cynical, unkind old man who seems bitter with the world. Yet he also appears in the Christmas world as a Scrooge type of character, in an arc that has minimal screen-time and is resolved in about five seconds in the last few minutes of the film. You could have cut all of this character's scenes in the Christmas Movie world, and nothing would change about the story. I don't know what they were trying to achieve with this character in that world. Any change to the real Mr Peterson doesn't make any sense, because he's supposed to be someone else in the other world, yet he does seem impacted when we see him in the real world. I have no idea what I'm supposed to take from this.
Some elements in terms of the production were lazy too. There's a scene where Lacy and Eve go out for hot chocolate, and this literally results in them walking the streets, holding ceramic mugs (not travelling mugs - actual mugs with a handle and no cap) drinking hot chocolate. It's a really odd choice. The props team couldn't get these characters festive travel mugs? There's also a scene where a situation arises that results in the town losing its giant outdoor Christmas tree, which is where children are supposed to collect their presents on Christmas Day, as part of a charity event. Dustin and Eve, as the Christmas party organisers, are devastated. However, in the following scene which is with Lacy and Paul, they're walking down a street where there's a massive, decorated Christmas tree behind them. So... why not use that one? Or why didn't they choose a part of the set for Lacy and Paul to walk where there wasn't a tree?
There are also some things that aren't lazy, but just sad because the budget is too low. When the women look outside their window and see snow, it's very obviously white fluff like you would stuff in a toy. If that's how it has to work, why couldn't the script have been tweaked to acknowledge and poke fun at the budget, saying how they know it's a Christmas movie because snow never looks real in films, or something like that?
This film has potential in its script, but would have been stronger with a bigger budget and some better actors. I think this could be a fun watch for a lot of people, who will appreciate the irony of it parodying Christmas film clichés while taking on several itself. Some may find it too cheesy (probably more so in the scenes before they actually reach the Christmas Movie world) but hopefully its heart will win most people over.
THE SCOREBOARD
Would I recommend this film? Yes.
Christmas quote of the film: "We're in a Christmas movie!" - Lacy and Eve
Film rating: 5/10
