Champagne Problems (2025) [TV-14] ***/****

A film review by Brian Orndorf for blu-ray.com on Nov. 19, 2025.

Once the director of Daredevil and Ghost Rider, Mark Steven Johnson is on a different career path these days. He’s in the business of making romantic comedies for streaming services, trying his luck with Hallmark Channel-style offerings of mild drama and feels that provide viewers with a sense of escapism as beautiful performers work with a screenplay of no particular emotional emphasis. It’s vanilla stuff, but Johnson locates a degree of charm in Champagne Problems, hitting all the highlights of fantasy as the main character faces a crisis of the heart and business ties during a holiday work trip to France. Johnson (who is also the writer) has no love for originality, but he finds some help from the actors, who maintain mild warmth and a sense of humor while the feature strives to conjure as much coziness as possible.

Sydney (Minka Kelly) is an employee at The Roth Group, working on acquisitions for the corporation, often competing with colleague Ryan (Xavier Samuel). Impressing her boss with her diligence, Sydney is sent to Paris to help negotiate a deal with Chateau Cassell, a champagne house looking to sell to a prepared buyer. Only in the country for a few days, Sydney is encouraged by her sister (Maeve Courtier-Lilley) to experience a little French magic, inspiring her to visit a bookstore, where she meets Henri (Tom Wozniczka), who’s happy to show the American a different side of Paris. Flirtations turn into a night of passion, but Sydney has a job to do, meeting Chateau Cassell owner Hugo (Thibault De Montalembert), and facing competition from business rivals Roberto (Sean Amsing), Otto (Flula Borg), and Brigitte (Astrid Whettnall). Prepared to make her best impression, endeavoring to win over Hugo and his demands for his business, Sydney is hit with a dose of reality when she learns Henri is actually Hugo’s son, and he has no patience for corporate predators.

Sydney isn’t an office terminator. She’s attempting to impress her boss and carefully handle acquisitions for the company, keeping her an approachable character. She’s also a supportive sister and continues to mourn the loss of her mother, who had her share of unrealized dreams. Kelly is particularly good at projecting warmth, and offers steady, reasonably sensitive work in Champagne Problems, which soon sends Sydney to France to prove her negotiation abilities, though she’s entering a country where she doesn’t even speak the language. The central meet cute in Champagne Problems occurs in a quaint bookstore, finding Sydney and Henri sparking immediate attraction, which turns into a night on the town, fueled by cups of hot wine and bonding over deceased mothers. Talk evolves into sex, but Johnson is sticking with his rom-com playbook, quickly disrupting post-coital bliss with business reality, sending Sydney to the glorious Chateau Cassell, where she’s forced to figure out what’s coming for her in terms of competition.

Comedic support is provided by other business reps, finding Roberto a fun-loving, flamboyant man who loves to drink and connect with others. Brigitte is serious about the mission, locating a bond with Hugo she tries to turn into a deal. And Otto is a nervous German sharing tales from his dark childhood, which gives Borg, a gifted comedian, chances to shine, especially when the character shares the legend of Krampus with the group. Champagne Problems sets up conflict between Sydney and Henri, who can’t trust the American once he learns who she is, and a challenge is supplied in presentations, putting the buyers in pitch positions that bring great stress to them. High jinks are minimal, extending to Brigitte pushing a cheese dinner on Sydney, who’s lactose intolerant. Winery challenges are more enjoyable, watching the gang compete in games of vine pruning and riddling, and there’s a debate about Die Hard to really sell the holiday spirit of the picture.

There’s a romance to sell in Champagne Problems, and Kelly and Wozniczka have decent chemistry, generating tenderness that’s challenged by outside interests. Johnson also works in father and son issues between Henri and Hugo, which helps to expand gentleness and concern. There’s seasonal immersion as well, following the characters as they visit Christmas markets and devour treats. Champagne Problems is easy on the senses and nicely acted, but Johnson can’t resist formulaic happenings, dragging the feature to a close with the same old moves seen in hundreds, if not thousands of these pictures. He goes for plasticized fantasy instead of trusting the moderate intimacy and light humor that’s worked for the first two acts of the movie. [Orndorf's rating: 6 stars out of 10]

Blogger's comment: A "champagne problem" describes a minor, trivial issue arising from affluence, privilege, or good fortune, like choosing between luxury cars or too many vacation options, contrasting with significant "real world problems". It's a problem where all choices are positive or desirable, often an annoyance of abundance rather than a genuine hardship, though sometimes these problems can feel more significant to the person experiencing them, as highlighted in Taylor Swift's song 'Champagne Problems'.

Labels: Christmas, comedy, Paris, romance
IMDb 60/100
MetaCritic (critics=50, viewers=tbd) 
RottenTomatoes (critics=72, viewers=65)
Orndorf's original review with pictures

Christmas in Vienna (2020) [PG] ***

A film review by Esme Mazzeo for telltaletv.co on Nov. 14, 2020.

 

Christmas In Vienna: A Sweet Enough Heart Song

As perhaps is expected, Hallmark’s Christmas In Vienna borrows its basic premise from 1965’s classic film The Sound Of Music, which was also set (and partially filmed) in Austria.

Jess is supposed to be a violinist struggling to find her love for music, and preparing to say goodbye to it, with a visiting performance on Christmas Eve at the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. But within the first two minutes of the film, she has a line that tells us that she doesn’t have much of a journey to go on at all. When asked if music is her life she says: It's hard for me to describe what music means to me. It allows me to live in this magical world of my creation that exists beyond my own. Of course, she’s not going to tell anyone at the orchestra that she’s thinking of retiring, but she’s not being facetious when speaking about her passion for the violin.

We know that every holiday movie ever made has a happy ending with minimal angst. However, to capture our hearts the lead character has to go through a significant change. Jess saying she loves music is a signal to us, even unconsciously, that Jess’s journey is not as prominent as Mark (Brennan Elliott) and his kids. It’s a shame because part of the magic of Hallmark Christmas movies is watching a female-focused journey.

That’s not to say that Christmas In Vienna isn’t a female-led film. Sarah Drew is a necessary component in turning mundane moments magical where possible. Jess’s individual connections with each of the three kids she plays nanny to for a week are special in their own way. It’s particularly touching to watch her help Julian find a sense of home.

There is something sad about watching a young man study a language so intently in a desperate attempt to belong somewhere. It’s sweet to watch Jess try to understand Julian and make sure he always has a place to hang his hat. His dad, Mark, definitely doesn’t for most of the movie. Mark may be a good father, but he’s also incredibly self-centered and annoying. It’s fun to watch Jess put him in his place, especially during the passive-aggressive scene at the breakfast table the morning after he explicitly solicits her opinion, and dares get angry when she gives it.

Also, it’s 2020, can we do away with the plot where the white male must consider leaving a very impressive job for an extremely impressive one, and a woman has to remind him that his kids are humans with feelings he should consider?

As a matter of fact, Christmas In Vienna might benefit if the lead roles were gender-swapped. As it stands, Jess would be a good best friend to have. I particularly relate to her line about just living her life and hoping a man will magically appear. Plus, we share an insatiable sweet tooth. Plus, her talent for finding the perfect meaningful gift for everyone is also impressive and endearing.

Opposites might attract, but Jess deserves someone more exciting than Mark. Sarah Drew and Brennan Elliott have just enough chemistry to carry the film, but it’s nothing we can feel through the screen. The scene where Jess and Mark dance to Silent Night in plain clothes at night because Mark gets over his aversion to dancing for her is as close to perfect as Christmas In Vienna gets. I also like that they subtly break the fourth wall a couple of times by telling us, and each other, that they should kiss after a couple of their romantic moments. But gender-swapping would be interesting where their emotional intimacy is concerned, too. Jess would have a richer journey if she were the one who had walls that needed breaking down. Instead, Mark has a more intense promotion drama and emotional journey. (It barely exists but it’s there).

Jess even shares the only big concert moment we see on-screen with the Olson family. It’s very sweet. But even though Jess’s love magically appears in her life and she also magically gets a dream job at the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; the best thing Vienna offers her is the chocolate cake and the Olson kids.

Christmas In Vienna airs throughout the holiday season on Hallmark Channel.

Labels: Christmas, drama, family, Hallmark, romance
IMDb 64/100 
RottenTomatoes (critics=tbd, viewers=25)
Amazon DVD
Esme Mazzeo full review

Northern Lights of Christmas (2018) [TV-G] ***

Zoey Hathaway (Ashley Williams) had wanted to fly ever since she was a little girl so, when she and her parents lived in Aurora, Alaska she was trained by an old family friend Gus, and received her pilot’s license at the tender age of fourteen. Now Zoey lives in Seattle, is a chief airline pilot (four stripes – left-hand cockpit seat) and dreams of owning her own private plane.

Then Gus passes away, and his attorney informs Zoey that he has left his ranch to her. Zoey realizes that her dream of owning her own airplane is within reach, and her plan is to travel to Aurora and put the ranch up for sale.

However, when Zoey arrives in Aurora she reconnects with old friends and school teachers and discovers she still has a strong connection to the town. Then she meets Alec Wynn (Corey Sevier), the ranch caretaker whom Gus had hired and advanced his salary for the winter. But when Alec realizes that Zoey plans to sell the ranch he gives her Gus’s advance and plans to leave.

In the meantime, Zoey has decided to recreate the ranch’s annual Christmas Festival that Gus and his wife Ida had hosted for many years, and she wants Alec to stay and help her. Alec however is convinced that any new owner will not love and care for the ranch the way Gus and Ida did, and it is only after Zoey offers him ten percent of the ranch sale price and gives him the right to reject a potential buyer that Alec agrees to stay and help her put on the Festival.

In typical Hallmark movie fashion, this G-rated romantic drama contains little romance and drama. Williams is not very convincing as an airline pilot and there is no romantic chemistry between the leads. The outcome is totally predictable and the final fade-out kiss feels forced and unnatural.

However, Ashley Williams is capable of great romantic chemistry with a male lead. For an example, google: “YouTube Ted and Victoria HIMYM” for videos of Ted (Josh Radnor) and Victoria (Ashley Williams) falling in love on How I Met Your Mother. Why these two did not end up together is a good question for the producers and script writers.

Labels: Christmas, drama, Hallmark, romance

Internet Movie Database 67 

RottenTomatoes Averages (critics=NA, viewers=NA) 

The Christmas Train (2017) [TV-G] ***

Journalist Tom Langdon (Dermot Mulroney) used to be a war correspondent, but now he writes fluff pieces for coffee-table magazines. He’s taking the train cross-country from D.C. to L.A. because he’s going to break up with his girlfriend Lelia (Holly Elissa) and doesn’t want to get there too quickly, and because he promised his late father he’d travel by train so that he could write about the journey.

Tom is not the only passenger on the train, and he soon meets several intriguing characters including spinster Agnes (Joan Cusack), widower John Kelly, (John Innes), psychic Misty (Karen Holness), young lovers Julie and Steve, (Kirsten Prout and Anthony Konechny), Hollywood film director Max Powers (Danny Glover) and his script doctor Eleanor Ellie Carter (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) whom, it turns out, was Tom’s former girlfriend of six years, and the real love of his life.

The Christmas Train is a Hallmark Christmas season movie, and the plot is basically a watered-down, G-rated version of Murder on the Orient Express. Nobody is who they seem to be, there’s a thief (rather than a psychopath) on board the train, the objective is not committing murder but bringing two former lovers back together, and the third act involves the train being stranded in the Rocky Mountains between two avalanches.

While production values, especially costumes and set decoration, are good, the over-acting is embarrassing, especially on the part of Joan Cusack and Danny Glover, the script is banal and there is little character development or drama depth. But this is what you get with Hallmark movies, so if you have realistic expectations, you won’t be too disappointed.

SPOILER ALERT: I will say that, by the end of the film, I felt totally manipulated, and had I been Tom Langdon (Dermot Mulroney’s character), I would have looked at Max Powers (Danny Glover’s character) and the people gathered around him and said simply: I don’t care if I ever meet any of you people again, for the rest of my life!

Labels: Christmas, drama, Hallmark, romance

Internet Movie Database 65 

RottenTomatoes Averages (critics=NA, viewers=56) 

The Hallmark Channel

Operation Christmas Drop (2020) [TV-G] ***

A film review by Richard Roeper on Nov. 5, 2020.

Netflix presents a film directed by Martin Wood and written by Gregg Rossen and Brian Sawyer. This is a film so sweet it might give you a contact sugar rush, but it features two inherently likable, great-looking romantic leads, a fine supporting performance by the always reliable Virginia Madsen, a timeless true-meaning-of-Christmas message, and a genuinely cinematic style, mostly because the movie was actually filmed on Andersen Air Force Base on Guam and the surrounding beaches and jungles and islands. This gives Operation Christmas Drop a feature-film look on a relatively limited budget.

Although the storyline is pure fiction, the film is inspired by the real Operation Christmas Drop, the longest running humanitarian airlift in the world. Every year since 1952, U.S. Air Force personnel at Andersen AFB deliver toys, food, medicine and much-needed supplies to residents of dozens of tiny islands in Micronesia. It’s a wonderful but also essential mission, and it also serves as a training exercise. But in the world of Operation Christmas Drop the movie, the tradition and the base itself might become history, as Virginia Madsen’s hard-ass congresswoman Angie Bradford is under enormous pressure to slash military spending and has Andersen circled on her map. If we’re looking to close down bases, this one’s flashing red and green, says Bradford, who sees the mission as nothing more than using military equipment to drop Christmas presents.

Bradford sends her eager and ambitious aide Erica Miller (Kat Graham) to Guam and tells her to write up a report on all the seemingly frivolous spending on the base. Next thing you know, Erica is on the beach (in business attire and heels, of course) when she meets-cute with one Capt. Andrew Jantz (Alexander Ludwig), the handsome and charming officer who has been assigned to show Erica around and try to dissuade her from writing up a negative report.

The two of them immediately click and become great friends — ah, just kidding, you know what happens. They instantly clash and there’s a lot of bickering and bantering and mild double-crossing in the early going, but there’s a chance, just a Christmas miracle kind of a chance, these two might learn they have more in common than they could possibly have imagined, and how knows, we might even see a magical romance in the making!

Operation Christmas Drop piles on the clichés, from the obligatory FaceTime conversations in which tech-challenged oldsters can’t get the computer thingy to work right, to a romantic interlude of Andrew and Erica snorkeling in crystal blue waters, to Erica having to choose between career and caring, to the advent of a major storm that could sideline the mission before a single plane takes off. The comedy is light and the drama is predictable and the romance is inevitable, but Erica and Andrew deserve their happily ever after, as does the Operation Christmas Drop endeavor. Mission accomplished. [Roeper’s rating: 3 stars out of 4 = 75%]

Blogger's notes: As a former USAF officer (1964-1970) I really enjoyed the military flavor of the film. The drops are conducted by cargo aircraft from the Air Mobility Command. When I was in USAF it was called the Military Air Transport Service (MATS) (1948-66) and then the Military Airlift Command (MAC) (1966-92), before it became the Air Mobility Command. The film was shot on Guam and it was fascinating to see the base and the aircraft.

I should also mention that while the possible closing of Andersen AFB forms the basis of the film's plot, it is hard to imagine a military installation of greater strategic importance. Andersen AFB allows the U.S. to project military power across the Western Pacific as this map shows (Guam is the red dot). It has been called an unsinkable aircraft carrier. 

Labels: Christmas, comedy, family, romance, Virginia Madsen
IMDb 58/100 
MetaScore (critics=47, viewers=40) 
RottenTomatoes Averages (critics=56, viewers=58) 

Andersen AFB Guam 
Wikipedia Operation Christmas Drop (humanitarian operation) 

 

Journey Back to Christmas (2016) [NR] ****

Since the loss of her husband in France during WWII, Hanna (Candace Cameron Bure), a nurse, has devoted herself to helping those at the small town hospital in Central Falls, Vermont. One evening, having spent time with Toby, a young orphan child, talking about the Christmas comet, Hanna leaves the hospital and returns to her empty home. Finding a stray dog on her doorstep, she sets out to return it to its owners only to end up driving her Hudson into a snowbank and spending the night in a small shed, sheltered from a major snowstorm. As the Christmas comet passes overhead, there’s a loud thunderclap and Hanna hits the wall of the shed, falling unconscious.

The following morning, Hanna awakens and manages to climb out of the window of the locked shed, leaving her purse behind in the process. She finds herself in Central Falls, but not the one she recognizes. It’s 2016, 71 years later, and Hanna is completely disoriented by the strangeness of her new world. Some townspeople think she has amnesia, while others suspect her of being a con artist, running a scam. Fortunately, a local police officer, Jake (Oliver Hudson) has an open mind and takes a personal interest in her, convincing the police chief to let him invite Hanna into his parents' family home for Christmas, while Jake’s partner Sarah (Brooke Nevin) is suspicious of Hanna’s motives and jealous of Jake’s interest in her. As Jake learns more about Hanna, he becomes convinced that she could, somehow, have actually traveled through time from 1945, but it’s only when Hanna meets Tobias (Toby) Cook (Tom Skerritt) a town elder in his 80s, who converted the 1940s hospital into a library, that the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place.

Since this is a Hallmark film, 1940s period costumes and sets are beautiful, and while the acting performances are adequate, there isn’t the quality of character development, drama depth, dialogue or musical score that you’d expect to find in a time-travel romantic drama from a major studio, some examples being: Somewhere in Time (1980), Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), Forever Young (1992), Pleasantville (1998), Kate & Leopold (2001) and Midnight in Paris (2011).

Journey Back to Christmas does, of course, have lessons to teach about how times have changed, how people have changed with it, and how traditions such as Christmas caroling and lighting public buildings have been lost along with our sense of innocence and willingness to believe in the goodness of others.

As is typical of a Hallmark film, there isn’t really any evil, and the ending is positive and uplifting, with a strong feeling of completeness and satisfaction. While you may not experience the nail-biting tension of one of the major studio films noted above, if you are fascinated by the concept of time travel and you enjoy seeing how people respond when put in that situation, you’ll likely enjoy Journey Back to Christmas.

Labels: Christmas, drama, Hallmark, romance, space-time

Internet Movie Database 71 

RottenTomatoes Averages (critics=NA, viewers=62) 

Crown for Christmas (2015) [TV-G] ***/****

A film review by Rissi JC for silverpetticoatreview.com on Nov. 28, 2015. Click this link for the on-line version of the review.

Crown for Christmas, is more than a little bit cute, primarily because a familiar British face shows up in the role of leading man – and he’s a king, no less!

Life for the Evans family has never been easy. But this Christmas, life for them is going to get a little tougher. The eldest sister, Allie (Danica McKellar) and her sister both lose their jobs as hotel maids following Allie’s disagreement with their boss.

Fortunately for Allie, Fergus (Pavel Douglas), impressed by her prompt return of a valuable lost watch, and in need of a temporary governess, overhears her dismissal. This prompts a job offer as a governess working for royalty. King Maximillian (Persuasion‘s Rupert Penry-Jones) is in need of yet another nanny to corral his precocious daughter, Theodora (Ellie Botterill). Allie seems the ideal choice, at least to get the king through the holiday season. But the more Allie gets to know him and Theodora, the more comfortable she becomes in this life with a red-headed princess and her widower father.

As adorable as Crown for Christmas is, however, the fact that the entire story takes place over a matter of a few days will leave some viewers feeling uncomfortable. I personally feel this adorable, contemporary fairy tale film could have been strengthened if there had been a longer space of time between Allie’s arrival and the eventual conclusion. True, this is a fairy tale and as such starts out reaching for the stars as is, however, selling the angst and character emotions would have been more believable had the timeline been altered just a little.

With that out of the way, this new film is as smashing as any of its Hallmark peers. The Cinderella fairy tale storyline is something I never tire of whether it’s set in the contemporary or historical world. For the most part, the cast of Crown for Christmas is fantastic, and in particular, the young actress who plays the princess was delightful. This says nothing of the addition of British star Rupert Penry-Jones as the leading man. Seeing him in this will be great fun for those of you fellow period drama aficionados who will recognize Rupert as Wentworth from Persuasion and also the adaptation of The 39 Steps.

Even these many years later, one of my most favored TV Christmas movies (or one of them, for there are many) is A Princess for Christmas (starring Outlander’s Sam Heughan and Merlin’s Katie McGrath). This one doesn’t quite take its place but as with anything you sit down to watch this time of year, this is full of twinkle lights and fabulous holiday cheer. One thing I am sure of, no matter where this one falls in your personal rankings of Hallmark’s originals, this is sure to leave you with a smile.

[Blogger’s comment: Crown for Christmas is a typical Hallmark reworking of the story of wealthy/titled/royalty falling for commoner/nanny/governess, which we’ve seen countless times, from Roman Holiday (1953), The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) and The Sound of Music (1965), to Pretty Woman (1990), Titanic (1997), Notting Hill (1999), Maid in Manhattan (2002), What a Girl Wants (2003), The Notebook (2004) and The Prince and Me (2004), to name just a few. This Hallmark version washes all the tension out of the story and we’re left with a sweet fantasy, which rarely reflects what happens in real life (example: Charles and Diana). Is Allie (Danica McKellar) really going to leave her younger sister and brother, move from New York City to the tiny Western European principality of Winshire, marry its widowed monarch and live happily ever after in a huge fairy-tale castle? Oh, sure!]

Labels: Christmas, Cinderella-story, comedy, Hallmark, romance

IMDb 69/100 

RottenTomatoes Averages (critics=NA, viewers=68) 

The Holiday (2006) [PG-13] ****

A film review by James Berardinelli for ReelViews.net.

The Holiday is no vacation. Sloppy writing, an overindulgent editor, and poor casting have taken an intriguing premise and transformed it into an uneven mess. The movie follows the lives of two women at Christmastime who trade houses. One story, while neither surprising nor groundbreaking, is moderately entertaining. The other feels like filler and ends up consuming about 45 minutes of the film's bloated 135-minute running time. The theory, I suppose, is that viewers get two romances for the price of one. In reality, one isn't always the loneliest number - sometimes it's the best fit.

With films like What Women Want and Something's Gotta Give, [and more recently It’s Complicated (2009) and The Intern (2015)] director Nancy Meyers has established herself as a filmmaker who aims squarely at the adult female demographic. In the past, however, her films have possessed a broad enough entertainment base to appeal to members of both sexes. The Holiday, however, is an inferior product. Sure, it addresses some interesting female issues, but it's way too long and plodding, the dialogue is a string of clichés, and the term overly familiar would be a kind way to describe the narrative. Thirty minutes into the movie (it takes that long to wade through the setup and figure out who all the characters are), you know with absolute certainty how things are going to end.

Although the premise is simple, it takes forever to get going. The movie spins its wheels for a half-hour establishing that British newspaper writer Iris (Kate Winslet) has been struck down with a bad case of unrequited love and that American movie marketer Amanda (Cameron Diaz) has lost part of her soul. Both need to get away for Christmas so, via a house-swap site on the Internet, they agree to switch domiciles for two weeks. Iris gets a swanky Beverly Hills pad, complete with a pool and eccentric neighbors like composer Miles (Jack Black) and Hollywood writing legend Arthur Abbott (Eli Wallach). Amanda ends up with a picturesque Surrey cottage whose sole benefit is a nighttime visit by Iris' drunk brother, Graham (Jude Law). Of course, Iris is paired with Miles and Amanda hooks up with Graham.

The movie is free of anything resembling a surprise, which would be okay if the romances were appealing enough to captivate an audience. After all, some of the best romantic comedies are entirely predictable. Unfortunately, there are issues in The Holiday. The Cameron Diaz/Jude Law pairing is fine. There's a light connection between these two and we don't mind watching them fall in love while pretending they're not. Unfortunately, Kate Winslet doesn't fare as well. Her story appears to have been included as an afterthought. It lacks direction and cohesion. Jack Black is a disaster as a leading man; one can't take him seriously in a romance, and he includes off-the-wall moments of Black humor (humming theme songs at the top of his lungs in a video store) that take him completely out of character. As for Winslet's love affair, suffice it to say there's more chemistry between her and Eli Wallach than between her and Black. Viewers end up hoping for a May/December romance if only to spare her from having to melt into Black's embrace.

One of the biggest flaws with the movie is its failed attempt to interweave Iris' story with Amanda's. For those who aren't overly cynical, the latter tale exhibits a certain level of low-key magic. We care about the characters and would like to see them end up together. However, the constant cuts to Iris' Los Angeles experiences leave us stranded in a plot we couldn't care less about. Much as I like Winslet (and her acting in this film is of the highest caliber), she is let down by the writing here. Meyers is evidently a lot more interested in Amanda than Iris, and it shows in the screenplay. (Maybe this has something to do with identifying with Amanda, who is escaping from the Hollywood rat-race.)

The Holiday doesn't contain a lot of laugh-out-loud moments, although there is a hilarious sequence in which Iris conducts a three-way call (via call waiting) with Amanda and Graham. Jack Black's antics, although kept mostly in check, may cause a few of his fans to giggle, but I found them to be both out of place and unfunny. At this stage of his career, Black does not have the acting chops to play a straight role as his occasional slips into broad comedy prove. One can't help wonder how much more compelling Iris' story might have been with a different male lead.

The best that can be said about The Holiday is that it's the best of 2006's crop of Christmas-themed movies, but that's not high praise considering that the other contenders are The Santa Clause 3 and Deck the Halls. There are some good ideas here and some worthwhile scenes, but Meyers can't figure out how to streamline her chick-flick version of The Prince and the Pauper and the result is frustrating (because it could have been better) and annoying (because it isn't). For the most part, women will like The Holiday better than men, but it's hard to imagine anyone thinking of this as more than a romantic misfire. [Berardinelli’s rating: ** out of 4 stars]

Labels: christmas, comedy, cross-cultural, romance

IMDb 69/100

MetaScore (critics=52, viewers=85)

RottenTomatoes Averages (critics=57, viewers=80) 

Blu-ray 

The Family Stone (2005) [PG-13] ***/****

A film review by James Berardinelli for ReelViews.net.

It's a tough thing for a dysfunctional-family-at-Christmas movie to avoid doses of melodrama, and it's fair to say that The Family Stone contains its share. But the nice thing about the movie is that it avoids overt manipulation. There's some - it's virtually impossible for a movie of this sort to generate an emotional response without any - but it's kept to a minimum and doesn't come at the viewer like a sledgehammer. Instead of having to sit through a Terms of Endearment scene, we are offered something more tasteful.

Meeting one's prospective in-laws is always a daunting prospect, but combine the following factors - you're going to meet them all at once, you're not comfortable with large family gatherings, and it's Christmas - and you have a recipe for a really bad holiday. For Meredith Morton (Sarah Jessica Parker), this is a nightmare come to life. Meredith is a repressed, buttoned down type with impeccable manners. People warm to her like they do to a glacier. She has accompanied her boyfriend, Everett Stone (Dermot Mulroney), home for the holidays. In addition to introducing her to his family, he's thinking of proposing marriage.

The Stone family reacts to Meredith's arrival like a pack of wolves, and they pounce with fangs bared. The worst of the lot is Everett's youngest sister, Amy (Rachel McAdams), who has a barbed comment for every occasion. Sybil (Diane Keaton), Everett's mother, isn't much better - she instantly recognizes that Meredith isn't right for her son. Everett's dad, Kelly (Craig T. Nelson); deaf brother, Thad (Tyrone Giordano); and pregnant sister, Susannah (Elizabeth Reaser), take a wait-and-see approach. Only Ben (Luke Wilson), the black sheep of the Stone clan, seems willing to cut Meredith a break. After less than a day with the Stones, the frazzled outsider, feeling the pressure, checks out of the house and into a nearby inn. She also calls in reinforcements in the person of her sister, Julie (Claire Danes). What proceeds to complicate matters is that Everett finds himself attracted to Julie, while Ben and Meredith discover a connection when they attempt to fly her freak flag.

I have seen The Family Stone categorized in some places as a screwball comedy, but this is an inappropriate label. There are a few mildly comedic moments sprinkled throughout the production, but this belongs in the drama category. Laughter, although it may occur (and hopefully in all the right places), is not the primary goal of writer/director Thomas Bezucha. He wants The Family Stone to touch a deeper chord. For the most part, he succeeds. There's nothing extraordinary or groundbreaking about the film, but it understands what it's doing, and does it effectively. The key for a movie like this is getting the characters to seem more like people than caricatures, and Bezucha accomplishes that.

The film comes with an epilogue, and it is needed because not all the subplots can be wrapped up in the three-day span that restricts the primary action. This five-minute sequence, which offers closure to almost everything, has an underlying sense of poignancy that the director could have mishandled. The atmosphere is ripe for manipulation of the kind that will ensure there's not a dry eye in the house. But Bezucha is restrained. He's smart, recognizing that we don't need violins to feel the undercurrent.

The talented cast helps. Sarah Jessica Parker, finding that there is life after Sex in the City, has no difficulty with Meredith's arc. Of all the characters in the movie, she undergoes the biggest transformation, and Parker aces it. Diane Keaton and Craig T. Nelson settle comfortably into the matriarch / patriarch roles, and there is one especially touching scene between the two of them. Luke Wilson brings his special brand of relaxed, don't worry, be happy performance to the proceedings. Rachel McAdams, 2005's it girl (see also Wedding Crashers and Red Eye), imparts a dose of charisma. Claire Danes, on the comeback trail, is appealing. And Dermot Mulroney needs little more to get by than his good looks.

It's worth mentioning that this is the best adult holiday film in a while. (Of course, competition has been thin - Christmas with the Kranks, Surviving Christmas, etc.) The box office life of The Family Stone will be short. The movie is so drenched in Christmas spirit that it will seem a little stale once the holidays are past. Even taking this into consideration, it's worth two hours for those who appreciate this kind of workmanlike, low-risk drama.

Labels: Christmas, comedy, drama, reunion, rom-drama-faves, romance

Internet Movie Database 63/100

MetaScore (critics=56, viewers=53)

RottenTomatoes Averages (critics=59, viewers=70)
Blu-ray

Love Actually (2003) [R] ****

A film review by James Berardinelli.

Love Actually doesn't have a cynical frame in its celluloid. It's for all those romantics who think there aren't enough happy endings. Richard Curtis' movie dips so deep into the well of feel-good sentiment that it will threaten to send some audience members into sugar shock. There are times when all of this goodwill feels a tad forced and artificial (such as at the ending), but, on balance, Love Actually is appealing and genial with plenty of solid laughs, and worthy of a recommendation for those who appreciate this kind of thing. Just don't expect material that's edgy, dark, or challenging. Consider Love Actually the antidote to Mystic River.

Love Actually has about a half-dozen happy endings, some of which are more deserved than others. One in particular, featuring an airport chase, is so over-the-top that it feels like an exercise in absurdist fantasy. Curtis is trying for that inner glow that accompanies a really magical motion picture. He wants people exiting the theater to be walking on air, thinking of romance. I don't think he quite hits the mark, but most people (including me) were at least smiling, and that's something. And no one seemed to be muttering about wanting to kill the filmmakers. The film is about love in its many forms and guises: love between siblings, love between parents and children, love between spouses, puppy love, platonic love, unrequited love, and (of course) sexual/romantic love. The last, unsurprisingly, gets the most screen time as Curtis delights in pairing off a number of his characters. The central romance, if there can be considered to be one, is between the British Prime Minister (Hugh Grant) and a shapely assistant, Natalie (former U.K. soap star Martine McCutcheon). Other couplings involve writer Jamie (Colin Firth) and his Portuguese maid, Aurelia (Lucina Moniz); widower Daniel (Liam Neeson) and the mother of his stepson's classmate [Claudia Schiffer]; Daniel's stepson Sam (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) and his classmate Joanna (Olivia Olson); the PM's sister, Karen (Emma Thomspon), and her husband, Harry (Alan Rickman); and Harry's subordinate, Susan (Laura Linney), and a younger co-worker, Karl (Rodrigo Santoro). Meanwhile, people like aging pop star Billy Mac (Bill Nighy) and a details-oriented department store clerk (Rowan Atkinson) are around to provide comic relief.

The problem with Love Actually, as is often the case with large ensembles, is that we don't spend nearly enough time with the interesting characters. Half of the stories presented in the film are sufficiently engaging that they could warrant their own feature, and it becomes a little frustrating to get only the Cliff Notes version. Character development is spotty, which pretty much goes with the territory when you divide 129 minutes by about 18 significant parts. How much can a writer do when he has an average of about 7 minutes to work with for each individual? One often gets the sense that the state of love is more important to Curtis than the people he uses to examine it. (Rumor has it that more than 60 minutes of cuts were necessary to get the movie down to an acceptable release length, and these may re-appear for the DVD version.)

Solid acting covers up some of the writer's limitations. The cast is a who's who of U.K. actors, with notables such as Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Keira Knightley, Alan Rickman, Billy Nighy, Liam Neeson, and Rowan Atkinson having significant roles. They are joined by Billy Bob Thornton as an American president who's half Bill Clinton and half George W. Bush, and Laura Linney. (Linney has the interesting distinction of having appeared in one of 2003's heaviest films, Mystic River, and one of the year's lightest, Love Actually.)

I suppose one could consider Love Actually as a holiday motion picture, since there's a heavy does of Christmastime atmosphere. However, the movie isn't so intimately wed to the time of year that it can't exist without it (and viewers who sit down to watch it in the middle of summer won't find themselves longing for December). This is one of those times when a film's goodwill allows critics and viewers alike to overlook its most egregious flaws and enjoy it for what it's trying to be. This is Curtis' first outing behind a camera, but many potential movie-goers will be familiar with his work as a screenwriter, which includes Bridget Jones' Diary, Notting Hill, Four Weddings and Funeral, and The Tall Guy (as well as the Mr. Bean and Blackadder TV series). Love Actually fits very well into that group, and anyone who has enjoyed Curtis' past projects will probably like his latest one. [Berardinelli's rating: 3 stars out of 4]

Labels: Christmas, comedy, drama, Keira Knightley, reunion, rom-com-faves, romance, satire  
IMDb 76/100
MetaScore (critics=55, viewers=85)
RottenTomatoes Averages (critics=64, viewers=62)
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Behind the scenes

The Family Man (2000) [PG-13] ****

Jack Campbell has the perfect life - playboy and millionaire New York investment banker, with beautiful, expensive women from an escort service and fast cars. But something is missing... love. Thirteen years earlier Jack had left his girlfriend Kate at JFK airport when he departed for a one-year banking internship in England. He didn't come back and they split up and lost contact.

Then Jack has a rare opportunity. He goes to sleep on Christmas Eve, slips through a crack in the space-time continuum and wakes up on Christmas morning in suburban New Jersey, married to Kate for thirteen years, with a family and a completely different history. There's just one problem - he remembers his millionaire investment banker life and not his thirteen years with Kate. In the ultimate what-if scenario, Jack experiences the path not taken as a glimpse, a temporary life, and a divine gift. He begins to understand what he has done by choosing money over love and how this choice has stunted his emotional and spiritual growth. The wisdom he gains and his reawakened love for Kate cause him to reevaluate his life and understand what he has missed.

This is a wonderful movie about giving love a second chance. Nicolas Cage and Tea Leoni have incredible chemistry together. You won't want the story to end. Don Cheadle plays Cash Money, the angel who gives Jack his second chance. And, as an added bit of humor, Jeremy Piven plays Arnie, Jack's suburban neighbor and bowling buddy. When Jack briefly contemplates cheating on Kate with Evelyn Thompson (Lisa Thornhill) an attractive neighbor, Arnie reminds him, in a hushed, intense whisper: Fidelity Bank and Trust is a tough creditor. You make a deposit someplace else and they close your account - forever! If you like second-chance romances, I highly recommend The Family Man. 

Jack's Ferrari is a 1999 550 Maranello. Apparently Nicolas Cage actually owned the vehicle prior to filming, but he didn't own it at the time the movie was filmed. I can just imagine Cage calling up the new owner and asking him if he'd like to see his Ferrari used in a romantic comedy.

Labels: Christmas, comedy, drama, fantasy, Ferrari, reunion, rom-drama-faves, romance, space-time     
Internet Movie Database 68/100
MetaScore (critics=42, viewers=81)   
RottenTomatoes Averages (critics=55, viewers=74)     
Blu-ray
James Berardinelli's review (3 out of 4 stars)

For Love of the Game (1999) [PG-13] ****

Billy Chapel (Kevin Costner) has been a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers for his entire pro baseball career. Now after nineteen years, in the twilight of his great, hall-of-fame career, he learns from Mr. Wheeler (Brian Cox) the team's owner that his team has been sold to a corporate group, that the first business of the new owners will be to trade Billy to another team, and his girlfriend Jane Aubrey (Kelly Preston) is leaving him to take a job in London.

As Billy's friend and favorite catcher Gus Sinski (John C. Reilly) observes: Billy, this ain't your day! But what happens to Billy and Gus, Detroit manager Frank Perry (J.K. Simmons) and the rest of the Tigers on that fateful day in Yankee Stadium at the end of a long season is truly magical. This is a great baseball-themed romantic drama. Costner and Preston have terrific romantic chemistry; there's a great screenplay with some memorable dialogue, a beautiful soundtrack, excellent supporting work from Jane's daughter Heather (Jena Malone) and eye-popping cinematography. If you enjoyed films like Field of Dreams, The Natural and The Rookie, you won't want to miss For Love of the Game.

Labels: baseball, Christmas, drama, romance, rom-drama-faves
Internet Movie Database 6.6/10
MetaCritic (critics=43, viewers=59)
RottenTomatoes (critics=47, viewers=75)
Blu-ray
James Berardinelli's review (3 stars out of 4)

You've Got Mail (1998) [PG] **** (updated Jan. 25th, 2023)

A film review by Roger Ebert, December 18, 1998.

The appeal of You've Got Mail is as old as love and as new as the Web. It stars Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan as immensely lovable people whose purpose it is to display their lovability for two hours, while we desperately yearn for them to solve their problems, fall into each other's arms and get down to the old rumpy-pumpy.

They meet in a chat room on AOL, and soon they're revealing deep secrets (but no personal facts) in daily and even hourly e-mail sessions. The movie's call to arms is the inane chirp of the maddening You've Got Mail! Voice (which prompts me to growl, Yes, and I'm gonna stick it up your modem!). But the e-mail is really just the MacGuffin -- the device necessary to keep two people who fall in love online from finding out that they already know and hate each other in real life.

The plot surrounds Hanks and Ryan not only with e-mail lore, but with the Yuppie Urban Lifestyle. It's the kind of movie where the characters walk into Starbucks and we never for a moment think product placement! because, frankly, we can't imagine them anywhere else. Where the generations are so confused by modern mating appetites that Joe Fox (the Hanks character) can walk into a bookstore with two young children and introduce them as his brother and his aunt (Matt is my father's son, and Annabel is my grandfather's daughter).

Kathleen, the Meg Ryan character, runs the children's book shop she inherited from her mother. She and her loyal staff read all the books, know all the customers, and provide full service and love. Joe Fox is the third generation to run a chain of gigantic book megastores. When the new Fox Books opens around the corner from Kathleen's shop, it's only a matter of time until the little store is forced out of business. Kathleen turns for advice and solace to her anonymous online friend -- who is, of course, Joe.

And yet this is not quite an Idiot Plot, so called because a word from either party would instantly end the confusion. It maintains the confusion only up to a point, and then does an interesting thing: allows Joe to find out Kathleen's real identity while still keeping her quite reasonably in the dark. And, oh, the poignant irony, as Joe has to stand there and be insulted by the woman he loves. You're nothing but a suit! she says. That's my cue, he says. Goodnight. And as he nobly conceals his pain, we are solaced only by the knowledge that sooner or later the scales will fall from her eyes.

The movie was directed by Nora Ephron, who also paired Hanks and Ryan in Sleepless in Seattle (1993), and has made an emotional, if not a literal, sequel. That earlier film was partly inspired by An Affair to Remember, and this one is inspired by The Shop Around the Corner, but both are really inspired by the appeal of Ryan and Hanks, who have more winning smiles than most people have expressions.

Ephron and her co-writer, her sister Delia Ephron, have surrounded the characters with cultural references that we can congratulate ourselves on recognizing: not only Jane Austen, but also the love affair carried on by correspondence between George Bernard Shaw and Mrs. Patrick Campbell. Not only The Godfather (which contains the answers to all of life's questions), but also Anthony Powell and Generalissimo Franco. (It is one of the movie's quietly hilarious conceits that the little store's elderly bookkeeper, played by Jean Stapleton, was in love years ago with a man who couldn't marry her because he had to run Spain.) The plot I shall not describe, because it consists of nothing but itself, so any description would make it redundant. What you have are two people the audience desires to see together, and a lot of devices to keep them apart. There is the added complication that both Hanks and Ryan begin the movie with other partners (Parker Posey and Greg Kinnear -- respectively, of course). The partners get dumped without much fuss, and then we're left with these two lonely single people, who have neat jobs but no one to rub toes with, and who are trapped by fate in a situation where he is destroying her dream, and she is turning to him (without knowing it is him) for consolation. Perfect.

The movie is sophisticated enough not to make the megastore into the villain. Say what you will, those giant stores are fun to spend time in, and there is a scene where Kathleen ventures anonymously into Joe's big store for the first time and looks around, at the magazine racks and the cafe and all the books -- and then there's the heartbreaking moment when she overhears a question in the children's section, and she knows the answer but of course the clerk doesn't, and so she supplies the answer but it makes her cry, and Joe overhears everything. Whoa.

Blogger's comment:

And for You've Got Mail, the emotional, if not a literal, sequel to Sleepless in Seattle, as film critic Roger Ebert writes in his review, I don't have a sequel, but I do have a one-scene epilogue, a few months later, after Joe and Kathleen are married and living in Joe's apartment with his golden retriever Brinkley:

JOE: Sweetheart, I've been thinking about your old bookstore The Shop Around The Corner.

KATHLEEN: What about it, Joe?

JOE: Well, what if we recreate it inside Fox Books? What if we rename the children's department The Shop Around The Corner Children's Books? We could start with the Fox Books around the corner from where your bookstore was and see what the response is.

KATHLEEN: [TEARFULLY] You'd really do that? For me?

JOE: Yes, sweetheart, for you and for your mother.

KATHLEEN: Oh, Joe, that is so sweet of you. I don't know what to say.

JOE: Say 'yes'.

KATHLEEN: Yes, of course, yes. I love you, Joe.

Labels: christmas, comedy, rom-com-faves, romance, Tom Hanks
Internet Movie Database 6.7/10
MetaScore (critics=57, viewers=76)
RottenTomatoes Averages (critics=63, viewers=76)
Blu-ray