Cracker comedy full of chemistry
Sure it’s hammier than Christmas dinner, but Lindsay Lohan willingly and winningly sends up her own image and knowingly nods to her past movies, writes
Move over Mariah Carey, 2022 might just have a new queen of Christmas.
Around a decade-and-a-half after falling from grace spectacularly, former Disney teen star Lindsay Lohan is back to her charismatic best in the new Netflix festive movie Falling For Christmas.
Sure the premise is overwhelmingly saccharine, cloyingly schmaltzy and so predictable most viewers will foresee all the tale’s twists and turns within the opening five minutes, but there’s something about the chemistry between Lohan’s hotel heiress Sierra Belmont and Chord Overstreet’s (Glee) struggling businessman and solo dad that will win you over, despite the story’s obvious shortcomings.
Maybe it’s just that this is the feel-good – and fun – flick we need at the end of yet another challenging year.
Or perhaps it’s the way Lohan willingly and winningly sends up her own image as the self-obsessed Sierra and knowingly nods to her movies past (fans of Mean Girls and Just My Luck will find something to smile about).
When we meet Sierra, she is actively trying to avoid her father (Jack Wagner) and boyfriend Tad (George Young). The former wants her to take up a position within his empire and Tad is more concerned with his social media status than their relationship.
‘‘I just want people to remember me for more than my name,’’ Sierra states, while admittedly unsure as to how she can make her own mark on the world.
However, an unexpected mountain-top proposal sees her fall head over heels – and straight into a tree, her life only saved by the quick actions of North Star Lodge owner Jake (Overstreet), who happens to be in the right place at the right time.
After she comes to in the local hospital, with no recollection of the incident, or who she is, Jake offers to have her stay with him while she recuperates.
Cue hilarity as the formerly domestic duties-averse Sierra tries to attach a fitted sheet, make breakfast and do a load of washing, all while warming to the homespun charms of
Jake, his adorable moppet-inneed-of-a-mom Avy (Olivia Perez) and welcoming matriarch Alejandra (Alejandra Flores).
If screenwriters Jeff Bonnett (Love by the Book) and Ron Oliver’s premise sounds familiar, that’s because it is essentially a snowbound and tinsel-tinged version of Goldie Hawn’s 1987 ‘‘amnesia’’ comedy Overboard.
But while that was remade to dull and pointless effect in 2018, this at least embraces its own absurdities, leans into the unreality of the whole shebang and simply lets Lohan remind us of the star power that once made films like Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, Freaky Friday and Herbie: Fully Loaded such entertaining fare.
Falling for Christmas is now available to stream on Netflix.