Director: Justin G. Dyck
Writers: Keith Cooper
Starring: Kaitlyn Leeb, Nick Hounslow, Josh Dean, and Melinda Shankar
Kaitlyn Leeb must be a terrible person; at least, that’s
what I assume. Maybe she kicks dogs, or accidentally ran over a child with her
car while drunk several years back. Or shot a cop. I don’t know, but she must
have done something, and it must have
been so heinously bad that it justifies keeping a naturally attractive and
talented actress confined to a lifetime of short-term TV jobs and holiday
movies.
She’s that rare type of actress—at least within the realm of
cheesy holiday movies—that can just brighten a scene up with just her smile.
But she’s a true double threat, because beyond that, she can actually act; that's a rare commodity in this subgenre, where the actors are either good-looking, or can act. There aren't many actresses that I can't take my eyes off of when they're on screen, but she is one of them (although, as much as I'd like to say I want to see her in more of these for my own personal benefit, I wouldn't wish that upon anyone's career).
Here she plays Dr. Tasha, a pediatrician whose main concern
in life are the kids under her care (and, in true Hallmark form, to a
completely annoying degree). But through a random series of events, she finds
herself taking care of Prince Alexander, a prince (surprise!) who breaks his
leg in a ski accident. Rather than take him to a typical hospital, which will
be swarming with paparazzi, the royal family decides to send him to Dr. Tasha’s
establishment, as the two of them were childhood friends who went their own
separate ways after a disagreement. Uh oh, no way this well thought out plan could spell trouble!
Despite some good chemistry between the leads, this one is a
dud for a rather surprising reason: everyone else is a piece of shit in one way
or another. Seriously, I don’t recall another cast of characters that frequently
pissed me off so much. Yes, of course the mean ones all do a complete 180 and change
their tunes around by the end of the movie, but that still means about
three-quarters of the movie are filled with people that you don’t really even
want to see.
There’s Dr. Tasha’s boss, a black woman (because there’s an
unwritten rule that you must specify race if not white) who clearly puts
profits above the lives of children in her care; she’s terrible for obvious
reasons already, but is actually so heartless and evil that she would be better
suited as an action movie villain. Then, there’s the prince’s dad, who of
course is an entitled piece of crap who uses his pull to basically force Dr. Tasha into caring for his son. Even the characters that aren’t mean are nearly unbearable:
Jeff, Dr. Tasha’s best friend, is the obligatory over-the-top comedian who
forcefully jabs jokes in your face until you just want to smash his against a
wall. His eventual love interest is Bella, an always-angry young woman who
basically functions as the prince’s spokesperson/bodyguard, and who spends half
the movie in hysterics wondering where the prince has gone, or getting jealous
that Dr. Tasha is getting close with him. It’s like a collection of characters
that you would never want to spend even a minute with, and the filmmakers
thought you would want to have as your best friends.
It's the chemistry between the two leads that carry this one
as far as it goes; unfortunately, it’s the writing that ultimately prevents it from spreading its wings,
keeping it grounded and never giving it even the remotest of chances to take
off. At least the romance is largely the main focus, which isn’t the case with
a lot of holiday movies we’ve seen recently, so if you’re part of the
old-fashioned crowd who just wants to see two people fall in love, this would
be a good option for you. If, however, you actually want to enjoy the time you
spend watching two people fall in love, look somewhere else, in a land far, far away.
STRAY OBSERVATIONS
- Kaitlyn Leeb just might be the most attractive Lifetime/Hallmark actress in existence; she also might be the most talented.
- She goes from being inconsolably angry to forgivable pretty quick.
- Why does the "sudden fiancé" have to be a plot point at all and, in this case, why is she so unattractive?
- This one gives us not only one example of the “pretend to hate this man but secretly am attracted to him” trope, but two! (Bella also does the same with Jeff).
- One formula that doesn’t typically work for movies in general, but especially not holiday ones: Having an entire cast of unlikable characters (outside of the two leads).
RATING: 4/10
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