Where I Watched It: Netflix

Audio Description Provided By: Descriptive Video Works

I admit that I don’t really know what to do with this film. I know that this type of film is big money, and an entire economy for hallmark, but I don’t watch these low-budget holiday romcoms that seem to all be cut and paste from some list of tropes used to make these movies work, whether it’s on Hallmark, Lifetime, or Candice Cameron Burre’s Network Of Bigotry.

None of that really matters. you’re not here right now reading this review because you want to know how cute and fluffy this Netflix snow-com is, but rather you are screaming at me…

HOW IS LINDSAY LOHAN?

And I hear you. It’s the same reason I watched this film. It proves that you can make a random piece of whatever, but if you take someone we all want to see return to acting, and use it as their baby step platform, you’ll find more than a normal amount of people interested in this. Add to that any Glee fans that have been wondering where the hell Chord Overstreet went, and you have a solid combination for success.

Lohan is stuck in a film that is beneath her. It just is. I don’t know the spectrum to which this film actually is good based on these holiday things we keep getting hundreds of every year, because I don’t watch them. So I d this is like a best case scenario for her, and this is on the higher end of holiday porn, but I just know that Lohan manages to bring back all the reasons we liked her to begin with. She’s charming, she’s a bit much, she’s sassy, she’s endearing, and she is acting far more than this film requires. Normally, this film would be given to someone who did an episode or two of a CW show from 10 years ago, but instead Lohan, who has worked with some real talent, is feeling compelled to show potential casting directors that she’s ready for her spotlight once again.

There has always been a section of her fanbase that never really left her side, just like any celebrity with a rocky past. I’m a huge Mean Girls fan, and I also deeply love Freaky Friday and The Parent Trap. So, for me, I’d like nothing more than to see Lohan get a second chance. As a note to Netflix, if you announce a very similar movie next year with Amanda Bynes, I won’t be mad either.

I don’t know what to do with this movie. I’m not really the guy who firebombs a movie because it’s not Citizen Kane. I don’t think there was ever a conversation while making this film about whether or not this could hold up against The Godfather, so trying to grade it on the same level is rather silly. Of course this won’t win any Oscars, it’s not trying to. It’s part of a very specific mold, that has a lot of fans, and a formula that has been working for years now. I just don’t watch enough of those films to be able to put it on a spectrum, and I often grade based on how successful a film was for what it was trying to accomplish.

I can’t tell if the make up of this story is better or worse than comparable titles, because I don’t watch comparable titles, or at least enough of them to do so.

The audio description here unfortunately did not credit the narrator. Depending on how you like your narration, this guy will either be “a bit much”, or “just what the doctor ordered”. He’s like the actualization of eternal optimism, describing a film that is largely about an heiress getting amnesia, becoming a better person, falling in love, and then getting her memory back and having to choose between what was and what could be. He would be great for kids projects. And I do mean, kids. Like, I deeply hope he’s the narrator for shows like Blue’s Clues.

But, I think about the target audience for a holiday romcom, and why so many of them air on Lifetime, and I can’t imagine that women (who I assume are the target demo), look for a somewhat goofy voice in their will they or won’t they find out what’s under their trees type of films. For those looking to find out if Lohan finds Overstreet’s candy canes, is this the voice you want to narrate those romantic moments?

I don’t know, it’s not my genre. I’m just glad Lohan did another film, and i hope she continues to do more films in the future. Is this film good? Compared to something like Everything Everywhere All At Once, no. But compared to something like A Prince For Christmas, I have no idea. I didn’t see that.

Final Grade: C. Average.