Christmas Draws Nothing Special
Single mother, Holly Ceroni (Elizabeth Berkley - Black Widow) could do with some luck, she wants to run her own restaurant but is struggling to make ends meet doing various jobs and then one night her car is stolen. To make matters worse her numbers have come up on the Christmas lottery except her winning ticket is in her stolen car. That car happens to have been taken by Joe (Mike Bell) who took it to drive his friend, Mike Ronowski (Jason Gray-Stanford - Enemy Within), home when he started to feel ill. When Mike hears on the news about Holly's misfortune he wants to return the ticket but desperately wants to avoid getting in to trouble with the law. The trouble is that after meeting Holly he starts to fall for her and she starts to fall for him but there is the lottery ticket which could scupper their romance.
"Lucky Christmas" is one of those Christmas movies where the producers have brought together a lot of familiar pieces. So to start with we have that familiar story of two people falling for each other but with one of them having a secret which could put a spanner in the works, the whole lottery ticket thing itself isn't that original either. Alongside this cliche romance we have some other cliches such as Holly being a single mum with a son who could really do with a father figure in his life, especially as he is getting bullied at school.
Then of course we have the look of "Lucky Christmas" and whilst we are not talking winter wonderland there are a few Christmassy scenes with Christmas trees, tinsel and lights often in the background behind the actors. And on that subject we have Elizabeth Berkley who is pleasant as Holly, Jason Gray-Stanford as the slightly handsome Mike plus of course Mitchell Kummen who as Holly's son does the good kid thing. It is all typical and director Gary Yates uses a lot of soft focus to give everything a romanticized look, not always Christmassy but sweetly beautiful.
So as I said "Lucky Christmas" has all the pieces of a nice Christmas movie which of course with Holly wanting to own her own restaurant we also have a few foody scenes thrown in to the mix. But the trouble is that all it is, is a nice Christmas movie with the pieces that don't quite come together to deliver the sweet romantic comedy which it is trying to be. It means that it lacks the laughs and the spark to make it memorable leaving it floating in the quietly sweet but forgettable zone.
What this all boils down to is that "Lucky Christmas" isn't bad, just ordinary and the sort of Christmas movie you could put on whilst doing other things and not miss a great deal if you went out to make a cup of coffee.
Tags: TV Christmas Movies, Christmas Movies
