By Geno McGahee
I like Lindsay Lohan. That’s a big reason for her overall success I think. She’s just likable and you want to root for her and I was rooting for her here when I began watching the Netflix movie “FALLING FOR CHRISTMAS”.
Sierra (Lohan) is a spoiled woman that has a rich father and a pampered life. Her husband to be, Tad (George Young), is a social media-obsessed wealthy snob. They have the life that you’d assume most rich out of touch people have. They are going through the motions, but Sierra isn’t really happy. She hasn’t lived and she hasn’t been out on her own.
On a skiing trip, Sierra and Tad get lost in the icy woods and separated. Sierra hits her head and is knocked out and Tad is just lost. Jake (Chord Overstreet), an owner of a lodge, rides by on his sleigh and rescues her, but she has amnesia. Why not? Hallmark and Lifetime have used amnesia in the past I’m sure. Why not Netflix? It probably happens more than you think.
At the hospital, Sierra has no idea who she is, but she’s a pain in the ass and the staff wants to lose her. Jake is willing to bring her to his lodge and they are all for it, including the police. I know that Jake might be well known to the community and to the police force, but if I was the sheriff, I’d have reservations about sending a woman with amnesia to a lodge with a guy she doesn’t know. The hospital seemed like the better place to keep her.
I immediately began comparing this film to OVERBOARD. There is a comparison to be made, but it’s not a rip off. I also like the movie OVERBOARD and I might be drawing comparisons that aren’t there. Now that I’m thinking about it, I might watch OVERBOARD after I’m done writing this review.
At the lodge, Sierra takes the name “Sara” because she doesn’t know her name and befriends Jake’s young daughter, Avy (Olivia Perez). Because the lodge is short-handed, Sierra decides to help but she has never worked before and this leads to some blunders that aren’t very funny but Lohan puts so much into them that they are sort of funny. It’s that whole likable thing. I want to laugh because I’m supporting Lohan. I don’t give two shits if you don’t like my blind support of Lohan. Eat it. If you don’t support Lohan 100% after watching FREAKY FRIDAY and PARENT TRAP, you got issues.
As Sierra gets close to Jake and the lodge, Tad struggles to survive in the wilderness and comes across Ralph (Sean Dillingham), a guy that does that ice fishing thing. The interactions between Tad and Ralph are pretty funny and adds to the film.
Jake and Sierra become a near thing and she begins to help him save the lodge. A lot of holiday movies have to do with saving a lodge. I wish I owned a lodge. My family would never leave me a lodge. They don’t have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of. I like that saying.
The set design and décor in this film is fantastic. They understood that a Christmas film should look like a Christmas film and they loaded the hell out of this film with lights and other decorations. I loved it. I was in the Christmas spirit once they got to the lodge.
The one thing that sucked reindeer balls in this film was the inclusion of Santa Claus. I am not a huge fan of Santa Claus movies and every time I see some dude playing an actual Santa Claus, I usually lose interest. In FALLING FOR CHRISTMAS, it’s out of place. Sierra and Jake were falling in love. They didn’t need some creep in a red suit smiling at them and using magic to make sure it happened.
FALLING FOR CHRISTMAS is a film from Netflix that is an answer to most Hallmark Christmas movies, but they did it better. Even though this story could have easily been added to the Hallmark conveyor belt of movies they put out, there was more focus on the story and the screenplay. In the defense of Hallmark, Netflix isn’t making 58 million holiday films a year.
I liked this FALLING FOR CHRISTMAS. I am happy to see Lohan back too. Fuck the Lohan haters and if Jamie Lee Curtis can return for ten dozen HALLOWEEN movies, we can get FREAKY FRIDAY 2. Right?
