I love Christmas. It’s my favorite time of the year, even with the sometimes-but-not-always awful Minnesota weather. The music, the food, the atmosphere, I love it. And I especially love the movies. And something I’ve come to especially look forward to each Christmas season is the Netflix slate of original Christmas movies. Now it must be clear, these are bad movies. But damn it if I don’t love them anyway.
I’ve written before about the weird, hilarious extended Christmas universe they’ve been building, and those movies – the Christmas Prince and Princess Switch trilogies making up the bulk of it – are the cream of the crop. They have others, too – you can read quick hits on some of last year’s additions here – though they don’t quite match the quasi-connected offerings.
So when I saw that Lindsay Lohan was the lead in Falling for Christmas, the kickoff to the Netflix Christmas season, I was beyond ecstatic. It’s match made in heaven, literally perfect. I was hoping it would tie into the larger world they’ve been building (spoiler: it doesn’t, unless I missed something), but a Lindsay Lohan-starring Christmas movie is still incredibly up my alley.
The fact that I ended up disappointed is a real bummer. I never expected it to be good, and it’s not. But I at least thought it would be fun. And there are some flashes here and there, but nothing like the Prince and Princess trilogies that came before. And that’s the big difference. Those movie know exactly what they are and lean into it. They embrace the silliness and the camp, and everyone – or at least the main characters – fully buy into the ridiculous dog and pony show. And it works. Falling for Christmas, however, seemed unwilling to go all the way in.
Lohan is Sierra, a spoiled daughter of hotel magnate Beauregard Belmont. After years of doing nothing, he thinks it’s finally time she joins the family business, as Vice President of Atmosphere. It’s a clearly made up position, and even Sierra knows it. But it doesn’t matter to her, as she’s never been interested in the hotel and resort business anyway. Now she only has to find a way to tell him. Supporting her is her stereotypical douchey boyfriend, Tad. He’s an influencer (we don’t get anything more than that). And he plays into several of those stereotypes. He has a few funny moments, but is mostly a nothing character. Tad takes Sierra on a snowmobile trip, with plans to propose on top of a mountain. He does, and she accepts. But then, obviously, some sort of tragedy has to strike.
While Belmont runs luxury resorts, Jake (Chord Overstreet) runs the more basic North Star Lodge. The lodge is having a rough year, and if he doesn’t find some new investors, he may have to close down. His last meeting is with Belmont, who likes Jake and is nice enough about it all, but passes.
Back home, Jake is clearly downtrodden, and his daughter Avy (his wife passed away almost two years ago) notices. At a town Christmas market, she makes a wish. As is the rule with all wishes, she keeps it a secret, but it’s pretty obvious what it is. Anyway, some old guy who is clearly supposed to be a Santa stand-in sees this and…puts a magic spell on the wish? Yeah, this is a thing that happened. And then is never discussed or alluded to again. It’s wildly baffling. As soon as he does, a storm with heavy winds starts on the mountaintop where Tad has just proposed. They both fall down the mountain, and are separated. Sierra bashes her head on a tree, where she’s knocked unconscious. It’s not too long before Jake finds her while giving a sleigh ride tour to a couple of his few guests.
Jake takes her to the hospital, and luckily she’s physically okay. But she has amnesia. As is the custom in movies (and thankfully not real life) the hospital employs the “Finders Keepers” rule, where Sierra gets to go stay with Jake with zero follow-up from any doctors or other medical staff. Through doing “normal” things like cooking and learning how to do laundry, they hope Sierra will regain her memory.
There was so much potential here, and it’s almost all wasted with a mostly by the book story. It ends up feeling like any of the million Lifetime movies that come out each Christmas. And yeah, those are super popular and wholesome and all that, but that’s already Lifetime’s thing. I want something different out of Netflix.
But worst of all, it’s just so utterly predictable. And I get it. That’s part of the charm of these movies. You know Jake isn’t going to go destitute and be living on the street at the end of this movie. You know exactly where the characters are going to end up. Christmas movies, particular Christmas romantic comedies, are comfort movies. You want to watch nice things happen to nice people. So if that’s what you’re looking for, Falling for Christmas hits the mark, and then some. There’s barely even any real conflict. Which, again, is fine. But even the Princess Switch and Christmas Prince movies at least go for some real conflict.
The cast is fine, if nothing special. Lohan and Overstreet don’t have any real chemistry. But they’re good looking, charming people falling in love during Christmas-time. The setting is the chemistry, and somewhat makes up for the lack of it between the two leads.
It feels a little unfair to go in too hard on this movie. If you’re watching it, you know exactly what you’re expecting. And you’re watching it because what you’re expecting is what you want. If this kind of movie is your jam, Falling for Christmas should make for a fine addition to the Christmas watch list.
Score: 32/100
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