By Geno McGahee
Hallmark holiday movies always have a city person moving to a small town or moving back to a small town and the new CHRISTMAS EVERLASTING is no different. I was sort of nervous going into this one. The writer and director, Ron Oliver, is the man behind BIGGER FATTER LIAR, but he redeems himself a little here.
Lucy Toomey (Tatyana Ali) works in New York City as a corporate lawyer and is drawn back to her old small town when her mentally challenged sister, Alice, dies. It hits her hard and she goes back with the plans to get her deceased sister’s things in order and then come back to her life, but this is a Hallmark movie and we know better than that.
Upon her return, Lucy meets up with an old flame, Peter (Dondre Whitfield), and he doesn’t hide his intentions very well. He was the lawyer for Alice and that immediately connects him with Lucy, but he lays it on thick with her. It’s been 20 years and he hasn’t found another girl since then? There has to be something wrong with him. He is obsessed with Christmas, ice fishes and decorates his shack heavily for the holiday, and does not date often. He mentions that he went out with a girl from high school and it did not go well. When asked where she is now, he notes that she has two kids, meaning that it’s been years and years since he’s been with a woman. He has either been holding a torch for Lucy all these years, or he is incredibly desperate, has a bad reputation with local women, and sees Lucy as his last chance to get with a woman.
Lucy starts living in the house owned by her deceased sister and she is trying to get things in order, but that is difficult. The trio of friends that Alice had are now clinging onto Lucy. They must have had no other place to hang out if they are bugging a total stranger. Granted, the house that Lucy now owns is a very nice one and she seems to have a hard time saying no. You’d think that a cut throat corporate lawyer would easily say no to three chicks that want to stay at her house and make quilts.
Peter starts lingering around and desperately tries to get Lucy to like him, focusing mostly on nostalgia. He insists that she go with him to a cookie fest called “cookiemas” that his mom (Patti LaBelle) runs and she has a new attitude. I love that song. It was nice to see Patti LaBelle. I also liked her title song from BEVERLY HILLS COP. She was tremendous!
At Cookiemas, everyone is wearing bad sweaters, which is a holiday tradition that many partake in. Peter’s family is really into it and Lucy is having one hell of a time before he tells her a secret he’s been keeping to himself. Lucy had been hearing the name “Maeve” for a while and when she asked Peter about it, he played dumb, but he finally came clean and let her know (spoiler) that Maeve (Jaida-Iman Benjamin) is her niece that was put up for adoption when her sister Alice had her head injury and was unable to care for her.
Maeve now wants to meet Lucy, which is fine, but Peter is left off the hook pretty easily here. Lucy holds a lot of guilt because she holds herself responsible for her dead sister’s condition, but that has blinded her to the fact that she is falling for a potential creep. All the signs are there! Single, weird sweaters, clinginess to his mother, obsession with a girl that he hasn’t seen for 20 years, deceptive and obsessed with Christmas…screams weird pervert guy. I hope they don’t make a sequel where my fears are realized.
As Peter and Lucy get close, they go to a coffee shop and discover that it is closing down because the mean big business people are buying the property and are tearing it down because they are mean. What’s odd is that the server bitches so much about losing her job. I know she is out of a job, but you still have to keep a level of professionalism and that was out the window as she bitched the whole time about her being out on her ass. I can’t imagine that job paying a great deal. What the hell is she so upset about? She can get another job that easily matches that pay. Maybe she’s just a person that likes to complain. If I was Lucy or Peter, I would have complained and got her ass fired before they could close down.
So, Lucy meets Maeve, hooks up with Peter, saves the coffee shop and moves to the small town. It’s predictable, but CHRISTMAS EVERLASTING is worth a watch. It has its moments and there is enough here to be amused by. I recommend it.
