A Lot Like Christmas

I guess this is just the sort of day today is proving to be, and I won’t lie, like Terri Hatcher before her, Maggie Lawson’s name was in no small way a magnetic draw (some criteria must be used when trying to select among such a prolific genre, and getting to see a Psych alumni recommends the film in bold letters). And I’m extremely pleased to report that she does not disappoint. She is charming and vulnerable in a very endearing way that carries a great deal of the movie’s weight. 

Again the force of the plot is driven by the threat of the loss of a business that is personally valuable to the protagonist. In this case the loss would be to the corporate big box company which has set down roots in Hudson Springs, New York, the image of a small town personified. 

The first half of this movie really should be commended for the skill with which it builds the connection between Jessica and Clay and the circumstances that allow for the building of tension toward his revelation that he in fact works for the company threatening to put her family farm out of business. On this front, the movie really punches above its weight. In another movie, this tension would be the entire thrust of the film and the climax would be the revelation, falling-out, and eventual reconciliation (i.e. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days). Here the revelation happens at about the halfway point as the remainder focuses on Clay’s(Christopher Russell) attempts to get back into Jessica’s good graces. 

Clay, as a character, does good service both as a motivated marketer in his own right with a competitive streak that gives him a little flavor beyond what could otherwise have devolved into the charming, pretty, good-guy type. The script walks a very fine line with his unwillingness to tell Jessica the truth of his position, but is careful to make sure that he avoids having to outright lie to her. This may have been an attempt to keep the Christmas movie audience from having their expectations of a leading man defeated, but I do think it was at the expense of giving the character a chance at a proper arc.

Because of this gun-shy attitude toward villainy, here, as in “How to Fall in Love by Christmas”, the story is left without a proper antagonist. This casts the situation itself into the role of the antagonist along with a half-hearted complaint about how big box stores are impacting small town life. I say half-hearted because Xavier and Clay are the most prominent face of the business, and they are in every instance painted in favorable colors. The movie even takes time to highlight some of the economic benefits it brings to Hudson Springs. On several occasions the script reminds the viewer that Xavier had struggled for months to find work before HGR came to town, and this constantly adds a very interesting layer to the Roberts family antagonism to the corporation. 

In fact, all of the side characters, particularly Scott(Matt Visser), Delany(Marlie Collins), and Xavier(Ian Collins), are all more competently drawn than one might expect. Luvia Petersen has the unenviable task of playing Marcia Chase, a bit of a one note corporate steamroller who acts as external motivation for Clay as he becomes more and more reluctant to succeed at his task. There is nothing particularly weak in her performance, but the script, owing to its previously mentioned featherweight villainy, doesn’t give her much in the way of anything to do. With this one exception, the peripheral characters find themselves both necessary and competently rendered. 

Everything about the setting and costuming from my previous entry holds here as well save for the fact that the New York City skyline has been replaced by Rockwell-esque establishing shots of a quaint snow covered upstate town, so I’ll not retread the ground except to say that it very much invokes the same sensory responses as the previous film. I want to say that this piece is slightly less well lit than the previous work, but that may just be an impression in the moment. 

The movie leans heavily into sentiment and the idealized portrait of the small town utopia, and it perhaps unfairly wraps its stakes in the tried and true cliche of a week’s worth of business being the difference between advancement and unemployment, survival and homelessness. However, some method of adding consequence to the countdown to Christmas does seem quite necessary as the plot ticks toward Christmas, so I suppose allowances should be made. 

Playfully, the ending could have used a little more love(pun intended). The fade out follows so hard upon the ceremonial kiss of reunion that one wonders if the editor was double parked. And the kiss itself…

In seriousness though, pleasant, charming and fun. It was better than it should have been.