By Geno McGahee
Christmas films always present situations that are not very likely. You can’t sit back and say “that’s impossible” because it’s Christmas and when it comes to movies celebrating this holiday, we get all sorts of strange stuff. Santa can be real, Elves as well, Otters can have a jug band and unlikely relations can be present as they were in the 2017 film CHRISTMAS IN THE HEARTLAND.
Jessie (Brighton Sharbino) and Kara (Sierra McCormick) are strangers, but they meet up on an airplane and they are both in the same situation. They are going to Oklahoma to meet up with family members that they have never known. Kara is wealthy and Jessie is average and they decide to swap places…for some reason. So, Kara assumes the identity of Jessie and vice versa.
Kara is picked up by Judy (Shelley Long), the grandmother of Jessie, and I didn’t recognize Shelly Long right away. She had a southern accent and it’s been years since CHEERS, but after a few minutes it clicked. Kara is nervous and is playing by ear, but the anxiety rises when a surprise unfolds. Judy picks up Jessie’s father, Jim (JoeDon Rooney), but, thankfully, he hasn’t seen his daughter ever, making the charade work. When they get home, Kara meets the family, which is your typical Oklahoma family. I guess it is. I only know one person from Oklahoma. So, I’m not really the guy to gauge whether it’s really the way it or not, but when I think about that state, I think of cowboy hats and flannel shirts and those Canadian tuxedos that cowboys wear. That’s what you call them right? Denim coat and jeans collectively are known as a Canadian tuxedo. If I have offended any Canadians, I apologize. After re-reading what I just wrote, it does sound offensive. If I ever amend this review, I may just cut it out.
Jessie finds herself in mansion. She hit the goldmine. Kara’s family has the green, but it comes with bullshit too. Kara’s grandmother, Elsa (Bo Derek) is a real bitch and wants to mold her into a clone of herself. She enters Jessie into a pageant that she had won years ago and begins dressing her up in gowns and such. Elsa also has her husband, Bob’s (Christopher Rich) balls in her purse, but he’s starting to have enough with the bullshit. At one point, she mentions breaking her hubby up with a woman in the past and also fucking the relationship with their son, Jeff (Christian Kane), Kara’s dad.
What started out as a fun situation becomes complicated when the girls get close with the families that they’ve been duping. They start trying to find ways to break it to them, but it gets tough. It’s gets even tougher when Jeff and his soon to be wife come down to surprise Kara, only to see her at the pageant and being announced as Jessie. The game is up and it leads to a few surprises, even though it was rather predictable.
CHRISTMAS IN THE HEARTLAND is a decent film that follows the Christmas formula. The “be grateful for what you have” approach works well and as far-fetched as the story is, it worked if you just allow yourself to believe anything is possible. It’s not the first time this has happened. THE PARENT TRAP did the same thing and that was very unbelievable. I guess for those of you that have seen this and THE PARENT TRAP and have bitched because it’s not a likely scenario…you need to shut the fuck up. I never hear complaints about THE AVENGERS not being real enough and that has a green huge monster running around kicking ass.
I recommend CHRISTMAS IN THE HEARTLAND. The cast was very good and you can see the fun that they had making this film. I wouldn’t put it in my must see holiday movie list, but it’s worth a watch.
Rating: 6.5/10
