‘Tis the Season for Love

This is a really confusing movie on a number of levels.

In A Nutshell

Beth is a struggling actress in New York who lives on her friend’s couch.  Her friend is rich because she is a Broadway actress, or is a Broadway actress because she is rich.  Kind of unclear.  The friend buys Beth a ticket to go home for Christmas, because she doesn’t want Beth to be alone while she is in the Hamptons.  Beth apparently hasn’t been home in an indeterminate number of years.  I’m really not clear on how old anyone in this movie is supposed to be. The actress who plays Beth was 35 when this movie was made, but I assume she is supposed to be playing younger because she’s been trying to make it in New York for five years.  This would put her in her late 20s, assuming she went to college first.  However, her friends all have important jobs in her small hometown, like pharmacy owner or newspaper editor-in-chief or fire chief.  These are not jobs for people in their late 20s.  So maybe Beth didn’t go to New York until she was 30?  Could that be why she is not getting work?

Anyway, Beth goes home to surprise her bonkers mom, who immediately insists that they have to go see Santa at the Christmas tree lot.  Everyone acts like this is the real Santa, as though this a totally normal thing for adults to think.  Beth runs into her ex, Barry.  For a split second I thought that Barry had gotten together with his best friend Dean who is with him at the tree lot.  They have some banter back and forth about who is the better wrestler or more athletic where the sparks are really flying. However, Barry’s wife then shows up on the scene, as well as their adorable blonde daughter.  Beth evidently lives in a world where Facebook doesn’t exist, and her bonkers mom failed to tell Beth that her ex got married even though her bonkers mom attended the wedding (“You never asked!”), so Beth is blindsided by this news.  The happy trio convinces Beth to come to the pub with them later that night.  Beth talks to Santa on her way out and wishes to get the part she recently auditioned for in a David Mamet play (super specific reference, writers).  Santa makes it sound like he doesn’t think she’s getting the part.

At the pub later, everyone keeps asking Beth about her glamorous New York life as a Broadway star, making it clear that no one in the universe of this move has Facebook.   Beth and Barry have one awkward interaction, but we mostly see Beth talking to Dean. We find out that Dean got married to his high school sweetheart, but she left him, making him a Tragic Nice Guy.  Beth gets a call from her agent saying she did not get the part in the play, and P.S. he does not want to be her agent anymore.  Beth is very sad, and Dean walks her home.  On the way, they stop back at the Christmas tree lot so Beth can talk to Santa (because the tree lot is still open at like 10pm?  Santa, you better talk to your union rep about the length of your shift).  Beth wonders if leaving Barry to go to New York was the right choice.  Santa gives Beth a magic key so she can see what she truly wants in her dreams, or some such nonsense.  Beth confesses to Dean that her life in New York is not so glamorous, and they bond even further.

Dean gets Beth to help with the school Christmas pageant, and conveniently there is a part-time drama teacher position available that everyone tries to get Beth to take.  Beth keeps continually dreaming about marrying Dean with the help of the key, which we later find out is just something Santa picked up at a thrift store.  That is not the real Santa.  I am 99 percent sure.  Beth and Dean fall in love while teaching a bunch of children who are not great at singing how to box step, and we drop the whole deal with Barry except when Barry and Dean have a heart to heart about whether Dean can date Barry’s ex (Barry does not find this to be a violation of bro code).

Are There Obstacles To Their Love/Christmas Spirit??

David Mamet. Beth ends up getting the part in the play after the first choice breaks her arm or leg or something. Not only is this my description because I wasn’t paying very close attention, but it is how the director of the play describes it as well.  Beth has to fly back to New York with virtually no notice and disappoints all the children and Dean.  However, Beth realizes that this isn’t what she wants after learning she is just expected to be the understudy who sits around and watches the real actress.  Even though an understudy could probably expect to go on a few times during a six month Broadway run, which could lead to further opportunities, Beth is having none of this.  So the moral of this movie is to give up on your dreams if your dreams are hard or require you to do something unpleasant in order to attain them.

Back in the hometown, the sprinklers go off in the town hall and thus Christmas is cancelled.

But Do They Find The Meaning of Christmas???

Beth and Dean and Beth’s bonkers mom do so many Christmas-y things, it would be impossible to list all of them.  Beth and Dean kiss in an ice rink that he is able to fully rent out on surprisingly short notice.  Gingerbread is made, lights are hung, weirdly aggressive carolers make an appearance…lots of Christmas cheer involved.

But Do They Fall In Love At The End?

They do, after Beth comes back from New York and saves the Christmas pageant.  I just don’t love these two together.  Honestly, I’m kind of shipping Barry and Dean.

Is It Worth The Effort It Will Take Me To Fast Forward Through All The Prolia Ads To Watch This?

This is not one of my favorites.  There’s a note on the IMDB forum for this movie comparing Hallmark movies to Disney movies that kind of sums up the issue (the spelling errors here are all jonathanrspalding’s):

In disney movies the young adult herione moves away from her rural small town roots to achieve success in the big city. In Hallmark movies the young adult herione relizes that is not all it is cracked up to be and moves back to the sticks to marry the handsome and sensitive fireman, cowboy, or artistic person they met in their brief time in town.

I get that the message is supposed to be that people change, and that your dreams can change, and life doesn’t always turn out the way that you plan.  However, I think it’s odd that girlfriend is going from living in New York to moving back in with her mom and being underemployed in a part-time gig, but it’s supposed to be ok because she will probably find a way to make it work with that guy she’s been dating for four days.