CHRISTMAS MOVIE REVIEW: Falling For Christmas (2022)

Lindsay Lohan's Return To Rom-Coms Is a Winner

I watched “Falling For Christmas” on Netflix. It’s a new Christmas movie, released roughly just a week ago and stars Lindsay Lohan, a huge star in the early 2000s but quite frankly someone I personally haven’t seen or heard from in several years. The plot revolves around a completely spoiled heiress who gets into a skiing accident while being proposed to, loses her memory and is nursed back to health by a good looking lodge owner with---well predictable plot points throughout. I mean, aren’t all Christmas movies that way?

Anyway, here’s my take and grade for Falling for Christmas and BE WARNED---THERE ARE SPOILERS HERE.  So if you want to watch this movie but don’t want anything spoiled, scroll on past the rest of this until you’ve watched.

HIGHLIGHTS: Nothing about it breaks the Christmas movie mode but it has contains the elements that made it enjoyable. There’s chemistry between the cast, the plot feels heartfelt, utterly festive visually and gives you all the feels—at least if your approach is open minded and not looking to shit on it before things get cooking. I thought this was a triumphant return to rom-coms for Lindsay Lohan and while she’s not winning any Oscars for her portrayal of Sierra Belmont, her charm and engaging energy was on full display.

I don’t need a Christmas movie to be unique and original to enjoy it but I do need to feel the holiday spirit and boy does this gives you that. Some movies use Christmas as a secondary theme or prop and thankfully this ain’t one of those.

By the way, it’s not just Lohan that makes Falling for Christmas stand out for me—I think the young girl (Avy) is effortlessly loveable and her grandmother (Alejandra) was convincing as well. I’m not ashamed to admit my eyes were a bit watery a few times near the end.

LOWLIGHTS: OK, I get to a certain extent you need to suspend reality when it comes to these types of movies. But for the love of God, how does Jake not instantly recognize Sierra when he finds her knocked cold in the snow, or at the very least in the hospital when she starts speaking and can’t remember who the hell she is? I mean, he literally spilled cocoa all over her and her snap at him in return THAT SAME DAY? It’s borderline insulting to expect Jake to be smart enough to run a lodge and teach people to ski but not remember a hot chick he spilled shit on and got insulted by earlier that same day. Also and again  admittedly nitpicking a movie that intentionally has an element of silliness to it, but it only took roughly four days for them to completely fall for each other? The pulse of this movie is indisputably predictable—the rich heiress is wowed by simple country life, falls in love with the widowed man and his daughter, breaks off the engagement to the creep to ultimately become the person she’s longed to be—all in a little less than a week’s time.

VERDICT/GRADE: I struggle to get past Jake not recognizing Sierra was in the hospital right away.  They could’ve done without him spilling the cocoa on her clothes earlier. It brought no value to other than establishing Sierra as a spoiled brat before the skiing accident and that could’ve been done by having someone, literally anyone else spill the cocoa on her. It would’ve made Jake not knowing her far more believable. Other than that I’m not going to lie—I greatly enjoyed this new Netflix offering. At the risk of sounding corny (actually I don’t give a shit what you think) I found it charming, genuine, cozy and heartfelt. I can’t get over her adorable Avy is and that’s no small element of the film, as her interactions with Sierra really drive her to become a better person. In all this has its share of laughs but it’s the sincerity of the entire town rallying for a struggling Jake, thanks in large part to Sierra that gave me the feels.

If you’re looking for a Hallmark Channel style movie that’s comedic, romantic and offers the holiday hope we all crave—at least those of us that aren’t monsters. I think Falling for Christmas gets the job done in a big way.  GRADE: B