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Sunday, December 19, 2010

A Christmas Romance (1994)

A widow (Olivia Newton-John) with two daughters (Chloe Lattanzi, Stephanie Sawyer), who has fallen on hard times, loses her job just before Christmas. When the bank's mortgage collector (Gregory Harrison) drives up to her cabin in the mountains to serve her with an eviction notice, he becomes snowbound and forced to spend Christmas with her and the kids. It's typical Christmas schmaltz. You know right away from the antagonistic relationship (not to mention the film's title) between Newton-John and Harrison where it's all going to end up and it does. Harrison chops down a tree for Christmas, Christmas carols are sung, even a baby lamb gets born. How does one critique a venture like this. Newton-John isn't a strong enough actress to redeem the obviousness of it all and Harrison lacks the charm that might have brought it off. It's successful in what it set out to do but was what it set out to do worth setting out to do? Well, it keeps the spirit of Christmas anyway.

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