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healingmirthGrace Garland (yes, really) is a Marine just off active duty in Afghanistan who's going to be an engineer of some sort in Cincinnati. She misses her search-and-rescue (and also explosive detection? sure.) dog. Named Christmas.
Joe Petersen is a small-town judge who lives on a farm with his dog, Justice. She crashes her new-used car into his fence because something on the car broke. Again, sure. Whatever. Non-threateningly handsome.
If this were airing on Lifetime, it would fully be a coin flip whether the dude whose farm she crashes into is going to be the love of her life or a serial killer. I get that you're a badass marine and also have just conked your head, lady, but yikes.
I would have had more to say about movies before actual Christmas if I hadn't been cringe-watching this one in 8 minute increments for the past week. What we have here is two people plus extended family who talk to everyone with depth and openness in a way that is probably great for maintaining healthy relationships, but personally makes me want to flee.
Lotta church, lotta wholesome, lotta earnestness, lotta white people. (There's a black guy that does what I guess is her 10 second separation interview from the Marines, maybe some extras on the military bases, and in town there's a black minister who literally only shows up Sunday at church and is never seen again.)
At least this one has a dog. Two dogs, even!
Seriously though, this is a super earnest very thank-you-for-your-service movie about finding love? and family? after separating from the military, where Grace is a pretty much flawless person who needs to work through her very mild PTSD and find her place in civilian society again. Do I want to watch it again? No. But I would be not at all surprised if there are a lot of people who would.
There is a lot more that makes varying degrees of sense and is also vaguely manipulative, but I will leave it at this: one of the first things Grace says to Joe is that everything about Christmas is really hard for her. And then he sends her to stay in his lawyer man cave cottage that's decorated to embarrassing levels of Christmas for an unoccupied room.
Also, in the church scene, I feel like it's got to be too early in Advent for joy to the world to be the hymn. That one might just be me.
So unlike the movie that I unremittingly hated, this one was at least super consistent, and also didn't bother setting up a conflict until halfway through. Another one that maybe would have been improved by watching it on mute for the first hour.
Everyone is very good-looking. Joe's sister is the one true bright spot of the first half of the film. She owns the beauty parlor in town, and with the actress's enthusiasm, somehow manages to come off as just sincerely liking helping people to dress up, if they want, rather than it being a joke. (The sister in law is also some sort of ex-military. There are a lot of women for Grace to meet in this town, and they've all got a little tiny bit of their own story. Which of course they each spill out to Grace as soon as they meet her, because that's how this movie rolls.)
I fully only stuck with this because once I realized where it was going, I hoped the last 20 minutes would be good. The last 20 minutes were good! I genuinely believe that all these very nice characters will be very happy for the rest of their fictional lives.
Joe Petersen is a small-town judge who lives on a farm with his dog, Justice. She crashes her new-used car into his fence because something on the car broke. Again, sure. Whatever. Non-threateningly handsome.
If this were airing on Lifetime, it would fully be a coin flip whether the dude whose farm she crashes into is going to be the love of her life or a serial killer. I get that you're a badass marine and also have just conked your head, lady, but yikes.
I would have had more to say about movies before actual Christmas if I hadn't been cringe-watching this one in 8 minute increments for the past week. What we have here is two people plus extended family who talk to everyone with depth and openness in a way that is probably great for maintaining healthy relationships, but personally makes me want to flee.
Lotta church, lotta wholesome, lotta earnestness, lotta white people. (There's a black guy that does what I guess is her 10 second separation interview from the Marines, maybe some extras on the military bases, and in town there's a black minister who literally only shows up Sunday at church and is never seen again.)
At least this one has a dog. Two dogs, even!
Seriously though, this is a super earnest very thank-you-for-your-service movie about finding love? and family? after separating from the military, where Grace is a pretty much flawless person who needs to work through her very mild PTSD and find her place in civilian society again. Do I want to watch it again? No. But I would be not at all surprised if there are a lot of people who would.
There is a lot more that makes varying degrees of sense and is also vaguely manipulative, but I will leave it at this: one of the first things Grace says to Joe is that everything about Christmas is really hard for her. And then he sends her to stay in his lawyer man cave cottage that's decorated to embarrassing levels of Christmas for an unoccupied room.
Also, in the church scene, I feel like it's got to be too early in Advent for joy to the world to be the hymn. That one might just be me.
So unlike the movie that I unremittingly hated, this one was at least super consistent, and also didn't bother setting up a conflict until halfway through. Another one that maybe would have been improved by watching it on mute for the first hour.
Everyone is very good-looking. Joe's sister is the one true bright spot of the first half of the film. She owns the beauty parlor in town, and with the actress's enthusiasm, somehow manages to come off as just sincerely liking helping people to dress up, if they want, rather than it being a joke. (The sister in law is also some sort of ex-military. There are a lot of women for Grace to meet in this town, and they've all got a little tiny bit of their own story. Which of course they each spill out to Grace as soon as they meet her, because that's how this movie rolls.)
I fully only stuck with this because once I realized where it was going, I hoped the last 20 minutes would be good. The last 20 minutes were good! I genuinely believe that all these very nice characters will be very happy for the rest of their fictional lives.
