Falling for Christmas review: Heartfelt rom-com sticks the landing

Netflix’s ‘Falling for Christmas’ follows Sierra Belmont (Lindsay Lohan), the spoilt daughter of a rich businessman, who gets amnesia after an accident during a snow storm. She ends up moving into a nearby lodge and tries to recover her memory in the days leading up to Christmas.

Story

The plot of the film is quite straightforward. It follows Sierra Belmont, a rich and entitled daughter of businessman Beauregard Belmont, who suffers amnesia after a skiing accident in the small town of Summit Springs.

Her boyfriend, Tad Fairchild, also gets stranded in the snowy wilderness. Sierra is found by a local lodge owner, Jake Russel, and taken to the hospital.

Unable to remember who she is, Jake offers her a place at his lodge till she recovers. As Sierra tries to fit in, she starts falling for Jake.

She learns that Jake is a single father and his wife passed away two years ago. Furthermore, the lodge is also in financial trouble due to increasing cancellations.

Sierra decides to help save the property and explore her feelings towards Jake as her old life comes calling.

Performances

Lindsay Lohan makes a strong comeback as a leading actress in Falling for Christmas. The Mean Girls alumni owns the role of Sierra and breezes through the film, showcasing her brilliant acting chops. Her transition from a spoilt daughter into a caring and confident woman is effortless.

Chord Overstreet is charming and fits perfectly into the role of Jake. He plays the character with extreme tenderness and is very believable as a single dad, working to make ends meet. His dynamic with Olivia Perez (who plays Avi) is one of the highlights of the film.

George Young as Tad Fairchild is consistently over the top and obnoxious, which can be bothersome. His performance is too caricature and doesn’t fit in with this film’ themes of emotions and connections. He is shown to be the ignorant elite part of the society, but could have been handled much better.

Jack Wagner and Alejandra Flores play Beauregard Belmont and Alejandra Carlisle respectively. They have limited screen time but do not disappoint with what the script demands of them.

Positives

Falling for Christmas excels in many aspects, first of which is the writing. Unlike many other rom-coms that Netflix has produced, it doesn’t try to go overboard with concepts of love and sticks to the basics.

It is a film that oozes the Christmas spirit and makes the most of it. The film is also self aware of its cringy shortcomings and isn’t afraid to include many self deprecating quips in the dialogues.

There is a lot of heart in the narrative. A lot of emotional character driven moments provide just enough exposition and help the audience connect with the people on screen.

Lastly, the cinematography and the locations used in the film are sublime. The state of Utah perfectly captures the snowy wonders of the holiday season.

Negatives

The magical Father Christmas character sort of takes away the relatability from the film. Sure, the idea was to showcase a Christmas miracle, but to do it without the magic would have hit the nail on the head.

Despite its very strong core, the film has some silly moments that hurt the immersion. For eg. Sierra regaining her memory so quickly feels unnatural. Also, the cringy rom-com stuff still exists which is hard to overlook, considering the rest of the film is so wonderful.

Lastly, in some dialogue heavy scenes, there are a lot of cuts that can cause a little distraction.

Verdict

Falling for Christmas is one of the better romantic-comedies Netflix has released in recent years. It is a warm and fuzzy watch, which is the perfect entry into the holiday season. Furthermore, Lohan’s comeback and her chemistry with Overstreet is an added bonus.

Falling for Christmas
Falling for Christmas review: Heartfelt rom-com sticks the landing 1

Director: Janeen Damian

Date Created: 2022-11-11 10:38

Editor's Rating:
3

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