Most Christmas romcoms depict a woman living a gloriously glitzy life in a big city, getting stuck in a small town for the Holidays, and falling in love with it -- and with a working class guy who lives there. Coincidentally, 'tis the season where millions of people who have escaped to the City return to their horrible small towns to sleep in their old beds, spend hours talking to people who love everything they hate, and count the minutes until they can get back on that airplane. Are these movies supposed to convince them to stay?
Falling for Christmas substitutes poor- and -rich ski resorts for the small town and big city (there are poor ski resorts?). It reputedly has a gay character, so I'll check it out.
Scene 1. Lindsay Lohan, who I feel like I should know from something, awakens in her glitzy hotel room in a mountain resort. Lots of other glitterati are arriving, including two hot guys getting out of a Lamborghini -- are they the gay characters? Girls in swimsuits show us their butts in a heated balcony-pool. And there are skiiers.
Scene 2: Lindsay's boyfriend Tad (George Young, top photo), on the way to the resort, tells her to just say no to her dad. Back story: Dad, hotel magnate Beauregard Belmont (1980s soap hunk Jack Wagner), wants her to take a job as Vice President of Atmosphere (involving, I assume, decor, not oxygen). Guest Services Manager Terry and his "Glam Squad" arrive to do her makeup and hand-feed her caviar and wine.
Meanwhile, "poor boy" Jake Russell (Chord Overstreet) asks Dad to invest in his struggling lodge next door. Beginning skiiers choose discount lodges, and then move up to the big time as they improve, so investing in it will actually create some customers for Dad's mega-lodge. He says no anyhow.
Scene 3: Exterior shot past the girl-butts in the balcony-pool to Lindsay and the Glam Squad walking through the lobby in slow motion. Poor Boy Jake, busy on the phone telling someone that Dad didn't buy it, spills his hot chocolate on her for a classic meet-cute. Boyfriend, who has just arrived, complains that her couture is ruined.
Scene 4: Having changed, Lindsay has breakfast with Dad and Boyfriend, whom Dad disapproves of. Well, he works as a social media influencer. Wouldn't you be leery of him dating your heiress daughter?
Meanwhile, Jake returns to the North Star Lodge next door, which looks quite elegant. Back story: He's a widow with a young daughter, and a mother-in-law hanging around to help out, sort of like a 1960s sitcom. And the resort will close after this season, unless they get "a Christmas miracle." He gloomily throws his business plan in the trash and recalls how much he loved his dead wife.
Scene 5: Lindsay tries to tell Dad that she doesn't want the hotel job, but she's distracted by a snow-globe belonging to her mother, Dad's dead wife, who died when she was five years old. They discuss how much they loved her. Dude, it's been at least 20 years, and you haven't dated anyone else?
More after the break
