movie review falling for christmas

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‘Falling for Christmas’ Review: Lindsay Lohan Sleighs in Netflix-mas Rom-Com

A pampered Daddy’s princess and a financially frazzled single father find themselves in a fix in this heartwarming holiday film.

By Courtney Howard

Courtney Howard

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Audiences who click play on Netflix’s “Falling for Christmas” will be the ones doing most of the falling over Lindsay Lohan ’s much-anticipated comeback vehicle. Director Janeen Damian’s light-hearted feature, centered on a spoiled hotel heiress tumbling into a character-enriching circumstance, isn’t necessarily served up as the average cup of holiday cheer and rom-com charm. There’s a lot more to it than that. Its subversive spirit, female-forward smarts and sweet sentimentality remix the formulaic and festive, making all things merry and bright.

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Despite its first act telegraphing too much via expository dialogue, the rest of the script weaves together subtleties that light up magically throughout. Sierra’s journey from selfish to selfless takes poignant turns. From the start, she exhibits a modicum of humanity and self-awareness — though not entirely, so we sense her ensuing arc will be gentle, yet still meaningful. Her character’s internal and external stakes are well-defined and motivated from within, and she doesn’t need much encouragement from the male protagonist to change. Jake experiences a complementary change in that he’s tasked to let go of grief and pride. Their shared trauma, bonding over their respective families’ deceased matriarchs, is sincere and moving, with an angel tree-topper symbolizing grief: once shoved into a dark drawer, but inevitably brought into the light.

Lohan gives her character, who in lesser hands could have been one-note, a soulful sense of humor, vulnerability and verve. She’s hilarious when tasked to play completely insufferable, flexing her comedic muscularity when pratfalling over a Barcalounger or down a slick set of stairs. Yet she’s also delicately faceted when melancholic moments arise. She has terrific chemistry with Perez in scenes that unlock the material’s resonant tenderness and heartfelt sentiments. Overstreet turns in subtle, understated work, nimbly leaning into the jokes as well as the affecting aspects.

Clever homages to Lohan’s oeuvre, referencing “Mean Girls” (where she sings “Jingle Bell Rock”) and “Just My Luck” (where her attempt at doing laundry leads to washing machine hijinks) are used sparingly, so it’s her new, snappy and vibrant work that excels. It’s a promising step for a possible “Lohanaissance” — this is the first of two Lohan projects Netflix has greenlit — and it feels like the perfect seasonal gift, seeing her wield the skill and wit for which she’s widely known whilst craftily fashioning a character whose journey towards a second chance at life genuinely delivers the goods.

Reviewed on Netflix, Los Angeles, Nov. 8, 2021. Running time: 95 MIN.

Production: A Netflix release of a Motion Picture Corporation of America, Brad Krevoy Prods production. Producer: Michael Damian, Brad Krevoy. Executive Producers: Steve Berman, Bryan Bordon, Jimmy Townsend, David M. Wulf, Janeen Damian, Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Phillips.
Crew: Director: Janeen Damian. Screenplay: Jeff Bonnett, Ron Oliver. Camera: Graham Robbins. Editor: Kristi Shimek. Music: Nathan Lanier.
With: Lindsay Lohan, Chord Overstreet, George Young, Jack Wagner, Olivia Perez, Alejandra Flores.

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‘Falling for Christmas’ Review: Tripped Down Memory Lane

Lindsay Lohan stars as an amnesiac who falls off a mountain and in love in this Netflix holiday romance that is all too familiar.

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By Calum Marsh

“Falling for Christmas” isn’t a Hallmark Channel original, but it certainly resembles one. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A gallant blue-collar widower strikes up an improbable romance with a wealthy, stuck-up heiress betrothed to a cocky himbo who is written expressly to be disliked. The rich young woman and the blue-collar guy don’t have much in common at first, but she soon shows a predilection for domestic labor, making it clear that she can be reformed. But her fiancé is irredeemable, because he’s on his phone a lot and uses terms of endearment like “angelcakes.”

The obligatory twist on the formula in this case is that the heiress, Sierra (Lindsay Lohan), comes down with amnesia after a skiing accident, leaving the generous Jake (Chord Overstreet) to care for her over the holidays at his rustic lodge. (Her amnesia seems curiously selective: She doesn’t remember her name or where she’s from, but everything about her personality remains intact.) As they wait for her memory to be recovered, Jake and Sierra bond over various nondescript holiday activities, most of which feel like they were improvised on set — gingerbread house food fights, cavorting in the snow.

Meanwhile, Jake is struggling to keep his lodge afloat, which he blames on “people booking Airbnbs.” It’s interesting to consider the parallels between the effect Airbnb has had on the hospitality industry and what streaming platforms like Netflix have done to traditional broadcasters like the Hallmark Channel. The director, Janeen Damian, doesn’t seem to have considered it. At one point, in a truly shameless bid for self-referential humor, Sierra is disrupted in bed by the gonging tu-dum of the Netflix logo and an ad for another Netflix holiday movie. If this is the standard we’re dealing with, I’d rather have amnesia.

Falling for Christmas Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes. Watch on Netflix .

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Falling for Christmas Reviews

Lindsay Lohan’s return to romantic comedies feels like the best kind of homecoming for 90s kids. Lohan was a tremendous part of our lives growing up, and having her in a Christmas film as adults feels like a warm hug of sorts.

Full Review | Jul 23, 2023

The end result is perfect background noise for wrapping presents, or a good reason for a cackling friend-watch and group activity (while getting jolly and juiced).

Full Review | Dec 24, 2022

I'd probably rather have a losing day at the Belmont racetrack than watch again this loser Christmas film.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Dec 24, 2022

While it only reaches the height of hallmarks set before, its infusion of modernized influencers and classic soap opera “amnesia” feel give it enough to be an entertaining holiday watch.

Lohan excels in a heartwarming, delightfully predictable Christmas flick.

Full Review | Dec 7, 2022

Some actors shoot for Oscars, and that’s great. Lohan’s magic power has always been bringing to life films that have the simple goal of being unchallenging delights. If for that and that alone, Falling for Christmas is a gift.

It's exactly what you want it to be.

Full Review | Nov 30, 2022

Hokey as heck, sure. The holiday bedazzling is fun, the preposterous story is easy comfort, and it's great to see LIndsay Lohan doing well

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 26, 2022

The overall mood is warm and cheery, and Lohan brings a spontaneous sincerity to even the corniest scenes. The movie’s wrapping is shiny and plastic, but its star quality is genuine.

Full Review | Nov 25, 2022

This at least embraces its own absurdities, leans into the unreality of the whole shebang and simply lets Lohan remind us of the star power that once made films...

This is a really great role for her [Lindsay Lohan] This will be a comeback for her. She's having fun with it. She knows how to play posh, lavish, hoity toity Paris Hilton type

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 19, 2022

Lindsay Lohan’s comeback movie is easily already jostling for the position of Worst Festive Film of 2022.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Nov 19, 2022

... The film runs over its conclusion clinging to a drowning hand -- flashbacks of Sierra and Jake -- to try to put [emotional] weight into an already watered-down story. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 17, 2022

Ultimately, Lohan stops short of playing two roles in one movie, a Lindsay Lohan and Netflix original movie classic. But there’s always next Christmas. For now, let the Lohanaissance commence.

Full Review | Nov 16, 2022

This is a rom-com in which both rom and com are in short supply, with zero chemistry between Lohan and Overstreet and a decidedly half-hearted attitude to the pratfalls.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Nov 15, 2022

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 15, 2022

Lohan does what she can with this thin, treacly material, shows she can be a team player and bring value without (one hopes) drama to a set and a project that may not be an A-picture, but still gets her name out there in a non gossipy way. Good for her.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Nov 15, 2022

Lohan deserves far better material than this vacuous vehicle, as sickly sweet as a six-foot candy cane and with all the emotional depth of a Hallmark Christmas card.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 15, 2022

Falling For Christmas isn’t doing anything groundbreaking for the holiday genre. But it’s a well-produced, sweet story with a charming cast.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 14, 2022

This healthy dollop of Christmas camp, which is a little batty by even Netflix holiday movie standards, is eager to give Lohan something to do. That’s the point, and that’s what the movie pleasingly accomplishes.

Full Review | Nov 14, 2022

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Lindsay Lohan's Christmas Movie Is Actually Medium-Okay

By Richard Lawson

Lindsay Lohan as Sierra Chord Overstreet as Jake.

Years after falling off something of a metaphorical cliff, Lindsay Lohan is back in bright form in the better-than-average Christmas B-movie Falling for Christmas (Netflix, November 10). The film, from director Jane Campion (I’m kidding, it’s directed by the capable Janeen Damian ), concerns a wealthy hotel heiress, Sierra, who takes a nasty tumble while backcountry skiing, bonks her head on a tree (in real life she would very much be dead), and wakes up with amnesia. When a kindly, struggling lodge owner, Jake ( Daniel Day-Lewis —no, I’m joking, it’s Chord Overstreet ) takes her in, Sierra, now called Sarah, learns the true meaning of love, family, career, and, of course, Christmas.

So it’s a story of reinvention for an actor trying to do the same. It mostly works a treat. Lohan’s performance is perky and agreeable, a shimmer of that old Mean Girls (or, hell, Parent Trap ) charm dancing around her for the first time in a while. I’d happily watch her in more after this—though preferably in something a bit meatier than a Hallmark knock-off.

Were Falling for Christmas really committed to telling a fun story, pre-amnesia Sierra would be a total nightmare, mean and spoiled and abusive to staff. But in this version of things, she is instead just a little entitled and shallow. She dreams of becoming an influencer, rather than taking a role at her dad’s resort hotel conglomerate, which I guess is her major character conflict. (Other than the amnesia, of course.) It’s really her social climbing boyfriend, Tad ( Ian McKellen —sorry, I’ll stop, it’s George Young ) who’s the jerk. But even he’s not that bad, and he gets his own little arc that leads him somewhere interesting.

To the film’s credit, it only mimics the more amiable aspects of schlocky Christmas fare. Jake is the softly rugged archetype, he’s got a precocious daughter ( Olivia Perez ), a devoted old mother-in-law ( Alejandra Flores ), and a sad backstory involving a dead wife. That’s all acceptably standard-issue. As is the Christmas-obsessed town where these two resorts—Sierra’s family’s tony one, Jake’s homey but failing one—lay their scene. There’s the requisite cheer in the air, and an old potentially mystical man who looks a lot like the guy upstairs. (Meaning Santa, not God, but really, what’s the difference?)

What Falling for Christmas doesn’t ape are its genre’s gnarlier, more conservative trappings. So many of these movies are about brittle urban career women who get a lesson in small-town family values as a way to shake them out of the selfishness of their ambition. That’s a bad trope, and one that seems driven by a real political animus in this country. Falling for Christmas mostly inverts that—it’s about, in some ways, Sierra turning toward a career. Sure, she’s humbled by domestic labor, but all of her life changes get a lighter sell than some of the anti-coastal dreck you find teeming on basic cable during the holiday season. (Whatever you do, never watch Food Network’s Candy Coated Christmas —sorry, Ree Drummond .)

So, Lohan could have done a lot worse. Falling for Christmas even seems to have had something of a budget. There’s little sense that this is just some Vancouver suburb they’ve thrown fake snow all over, and the sight of Chord Overstreet madly driving a sleigh toward his beloved only looks like bad green screen, rather than awful green screen. Damian makes ample use of drones, which is something we all have to accept as part of the filmmaking craft at this point, and in so doing conjures up the cozy and yet awed feeling of being in a mountain town in the winter.

The film’s major flaw is a matter of plot. Early in the film, Sierra and Jake have a meet-messy when he bumps into her in the hotel lobby and spills his hot cocoa with whipped cream all over her designer jumpsuit. But when he finds her crumpled body in the snow and later talks to her in the hospital, he doesn’t remember her. Which doesn’t really make sense. Surely he’d recognize the woman he gooped all over just a few hours earlier. Maybe he has some kind of memory loss himself.

Oh well. That major narrative hole aside, Falling for Christmas is as dumbly winning as it’s trying to be. In a more profound sense, it is heartening to see Lohan looking and acting well. It’s been a bumpy road for her for the better part of two decades, and this little movie gives one the (perhaps naive, perhaps condescending, perhaps overly invested) hope that she is well and fully on the path to better. Watching the film, I remembered that Lohan once worked with the likes of Robert Altman and Paul Schrader , holding in her hands the potential for an interesting and varied career. Falling for Christmas finds her still near the bottom of a tall career mountain, but the chairlift may be on its way.

Richard Lawson

Chief critic.

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Lindsay Lohan’s ‘Falling for Christmas’ Is the ‘Citizen Kane’ of Netflix Christmas Movies

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National treasure Jennifer Lopez gave an Oscar-worthy performance in the exotic dancer true crime drama “Hustlers” in 2019. In 2022, Lindsay Lohan gives her career-best work in years with the holiday rom-com “Falling for Christmas.”

As a lifelong Lohan fan whose childhood was marked by watching two Lindsays in “Parent Trap,” forcing my mom to see “Freaky Friday” to understand my plight of being an 8-year-old, and dreaming of moving to New York after watching the “Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen” DVD nonstop, I have wanted to believe in the Lohan-aissance. Like Santa Claus, the idea of icon Lindsay Lohan coming back on top in Hollywood seemed like the stuff of a Christmas miracle. Well, “Falling for Christmas” proves that every Lohan fan’s holiday wish has come true.

“Falling for Christmas” has a simple enough plot: Lohan plays Sierra, a hotel heiress (think Paris Hilton meets Lohan Beach Club) with a heart of gold and a wardrobe of jewel tones. After a proposal from her influencer beau (George Young) leads to a would-be fatal skiing accident, an unconscious Sierra is saved by local bed-and-breakfast owner and single father Jake (Chord Overstreet), who was just turned down by Sierra’s mogul father (Jack Wagner) for a loan.

Sierra has amnesia, takes on the name Sarah, and bonds with Jake’s daughter (Olivia Perez) and endearing mother-in-law (Alejandra Flores) while reminding everyone of the true meaning of Christmas. It’s “Overboard” without the 1987 questionable sexual politics and far superior to the 2018 remake with Anna Faris and Eva Longoria.

Lohan, who also executive produced the Netflix film under her multi-picture deal with the streamer, absolutely owns the film, with “Glee” alum Overstreet a worthy counterpart and a generous scene partner. Within the first minute of the movie, Lohan as Sierra has a slo-mo entrance complete with the ideal après-ski attire fit for an heiress. Sierra is the epitome of luxury, and Lohan is the epitome of timelessness.

Falling For Christmas. (L to R) Aliana Lohan as Bianca, Lindsay Lohan as Sierra, Chase Ramsey as Terry in Falling For Christmas. Cr. Scott Everett White/Netflix © 2022.

A 30something, Sierra still calls her billionaire father Beauregard “Daddy” ( less cringe than Ana de Armas purring the same in “Blonde” ) and doesn’t know how to make a bed. She hopes to find her own way outside of her last name’s legacy instead of just taking on the made-up role of “Vice President of Atmosphere” at the Belmont Lodge, and it’s easy to see the comparisons between Sierra’s snow-covered hotel and Lohan’s sand-filled Mykonos resort. Sierra even sings along to the radio with “Jingle Bell Rock” (cue the “Mean Girls” callback) when her boyfriend Tad disses her vocal chops as “pitchy.” (Lohan released her version of the Christmas classic ahead of the film’s premiere.)

Lohan is just fine with self-deprecating quips at her expense and looking silly while getting messy by way of physical comedy involving toilets, raccoons, and the aforementioned ski accident. Lohan shines in these moments, and the blooper reel in the credits shows that shine even extended to the set.

Falling For Christmas. (L to R) Lindsay Lohan as Sierra, Chord Overstreet as Jake, Olivia Perez as Avy, Bus Riley as Chestnut Vendor in Falling For Christmas. Cr. Scott Everett White/Netflix © 2022.

There are Netflix nods, like Sierra awakened by a jarring Scottish jig from the trailer for Brooke Shields’ 2021 holiday rom-com “A Castle for Christmas.” Let’s be clear: “Falling for Christmas” is one rung above a Hallmark Christmas movie. But it’s simultaneously a Christmas gem on Netflix, with Overstreet and Wagner, plus a delightfully over-the-top Young and a heartfelt Flores, matching Lohan’s convincing performance. Regarding the smaller supporting roles, the movie is a little flimsy and made-for-TV cable-esque. But it’s Christmas (soon), and all is forgiven.

Why would this small town not know the famous daughter of the biggest local employer and quickly realize Sarah is Sierra? Why wouldn’t there be more of a search if Sierra is missing for almost a week? It doesn’t matter. Truly. Because when Lohan delivers the line, “What type of breakfast?!” when debating whether to leave the hospital with Jake and go to his quaint North Star lodge, it’s all worth it. Lohan is the film’s North Star, and we’ll follow her wherever she goes.

Is “Falling for Christmas” Lohan’s “Citizen Kane”? Well, as Sierra, the daughter of a widower grappling with her past, present, and future at the holidays, and plenty of sleds courtesy of a Botox’ed Santa stand-in, it’s clear this is Lohan’s best work in decades. Even Sierra has her own rosebud, a Christmas snow globe, to call back to. The ending of “Falling for Christmas” is pure “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and how wonderful it is that Lohan is back in Hollywood, just in time for the holidays.

“Falling for Christmas” starts streaming on Netflix on Thursday, November 10.

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Falling for Christmas review – a Netflix Christmas with Lindsay Lohan

We review the Netflix film Falling for Christmas, which does not contain spoilers.

If you’ve ever watched the 1987 film Overboard , or its 2018 remake, and thought to yourself that what it really needed was a Yuletide twist, then Netflix has you sorted. Yep, it’s November, Halloween is over, and Mariah Carey is about to take over our radio stations and shopping center music playlists, which means it’s time for Netflix to crank out some Christmas films courtesy of producer Brad Krevoy .

We all know the formula by now; lots of snow, a romantic storyline, cheesy lines of dialogue and humor, and central performances from some very famous faces but with a script that seems to have been provided by Hallmark or Lifetime. Falling for Christmas is no exception to that formula. It’s glossy, snowy, hits every storytelling beat you can tell it’s going to within the space of its first twenty minutes, and is rubbish.

However, to paraphrase the Christmas classic Love, Actually , it’s solid gold rubbish. Look, nobody is going into this expecting a masterpiece, not even the cast (or at least one hopes not), but at this stage, producer Krevoy and Netflix have hit on a formula that will no doubt guarantee a lot of viewers, a constance presence in the Netflix Film Top Ten for several weeks and be discussed heavily on social media.

Starring Lindsay Lohan as socialite Sierra Belmont , who has a job awaiting at her rich father’s business as Vice President of Atmosphere (yep, for real), and is in a long-term relationship with social media star and influencer Tad ( George Young ), upon becoming engaged to her boyfriend, Sierra falls from a mountain (cue some questionable CGI and green screen) and wakes up with amnesia where she is promptly taken in by a blue-collar lodge owner and widower named Jake ( Chord Overstreet ) who comes complete with a familial package that includes an adoring daughter and mother-in-law.

Whatever you think is going to happen based on that plot synopsis, there is a ninety percent chance you are correct. It’s fluff that could say something a little mean about class and privilege – especially in the current climate – but opts not to, instead using the never-ending succession of establishing shots of its opulent snowy locations as a means to evoke the atmosphere and which uses the class and social differences in the world that its character occupies as an excuse to be cutesy rather than profound. We’re supposed to believe Jake is very much on part of a lower class step on the ladder compared to Sierra because he has financial issues, and his B&B isn’t as slick as the hotel Sierra goes to, and yet it still feels like he’s financially fine compared to a large chunk of the rest of the world.

Of course, nobody is coming to this to look at it through that prism or ask those questions. This is escapist fare produced for the holiday season, and the film is pleading with you to just check your brain in at the door and let it wash over you. On those terms, it’s fine, but everything about it, despite the cheesy fun you can have with it, feels safe and really rather conservative. Lohan is charming and lovely, and a lot of her work here harkens back to the mid-2000s when she was starring in things like Herbie Fully Loaded and Just My Luck , and while she has some chemistry with Overstreet, everything is played safe and grounded, so as to just to be sure to not in any way rock the boat with more sensitive audience members.

Every cliche and trope is present and correct here, and in truth, nobody will be going into this expecting the boat to be rocked. It’s glossy, it’s snowy and silly fun, and in the end, that’s all that we should ask of it. Rubbish, but entertaining rubbish.

What did you think of Falling for Christmas? Comment below.

Article by Eamon Hennedy

Eamon Hennedy joined Ready Steady Cut in September 2022 as a Film and TV writer. Coming from Northern Ireland, Eamon calls himself a “Film and Television” buff, fuelled by his addiction to coffee.

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‘falling for christmas’ review: lindsay lohan comeback is strictly ho ho-hum for the holidays.

Chord Overstreet co-stars in an amnesia rom-com about a spoiled hotel heiress humanized by a bump on the head, the first fruit of Lohan’s two-picture Netflix deal.

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Falling for christmas, common sense media reviewers.

Lohan's frothy holiday romance has some mild danger.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Doing good for others has its own rewards. Wealth

Jake helps people in a variety of ways without eve

Main characters are White, Asian, and Latino. Some

Two different people are grieved after early death

Flirtation and a kiss.

Hummer, Instagram, Maserati, Netflix, Dell, Airbnb

Characters drink wine and champagne.

Positive Messages

Doing good for others has its own rewards. Wealth doesn't bring happiness. Family matters.

Positive Role Models

Jake helps people in a variety of ways without ever asking anything in return. When he's in need, people show up for him. Beauregard loves his daughter, but she's been raised to be spoiled. Sierra evolves once she's been exposed to other ways of living. Superficial Tad is more concerned with his looks and his online following than his real-life relationships.

Diverse Representations

Main characters are White, Asian, and Latino. Some secondary cast members are Black. Suggestion of LGBTQ+ romance.

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Violence & Scariness

Two different people are grieved after early deaths. A character falls down a mountain top and rams head first into a tree. She comes away with a minor concussion and amnesia. Other characters take falls without serious injury, including one who gets a fish hook stuck in his face. Characters experience extreme cold in the outdoors.

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Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Falling for Christmas is a predictable but tween-friendly holiday romantic comedy starring Lindsay Lohan and Glee 's Chord Overstreet. Extremely wealthy characters learn about life's simpler pleasures following an accident, which involves falling down a mountain. One rams into a tree head first and loses her memory. Some characters, including a child, are also grieving loved ones who passed away. The same child makes a Christmas wish for her father to find new love, and there's a mysterious Santa-like character. The film underscores the idea that doing good for others has its own rewards and that wealth doesn't necessarily bring happiness. Expect a bit of drinking and mild flirtation and kissing. One character who goes from a relationship with one person to the appearance of one with another. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Parents say (2)
Kids say (3)

Based on 2 parent reviews

Fun, predictable holiday movie in its genre.

What's the story.

Sierra Belmont ( Lindsay Lohan ) is the spoiled heiress of a ski resort magnate ( Jack Wagner ) in FALLING FOR CHRISTMAS. Her dad has created a job for her at the resort, though it's not what she wants to do. When pretentious boyfriend Tad ( George Young ) proposes marriage, it seems she has life figured out. That is, until she slides backwards down the top of a mountain and runs head-on into a tree, resulting in a case of amnesia. Local inn owner and widower Jake (Chord Overstreet) takes her in when the hospital staff doesn't know what else to do with her. With Jake, his daughter Avy ( Olivia Perez ), and mother-in-law Alejandra (Alejandra Flores), Sierra discovers some of life's simpler joys for the first time. Sierra's father is looking for her, and her memory is bound to come back eventually. Will Avy's Christmas wish for his father to find love again come true?

Is It Any Good?

'Tis the season for predictable holiday-themed romances offering actors spotlight and even comeback roles. Think Brooke Shields and Cary Elwes in 2021's A Castle for Christmas (which makes an appearance in a scene from Falling for Christmas ), and replace them with Lohan and Overstreet. The film marks a return for Lohan, and she will be the main draw for this movie, judging by online anticipation already building. However, the highlight is narcissist fiancé Tad, played to the hilt by U.K.-born Young.

The film is a serviceable feel-good romance, but its premise -- heiress with amnesia who nobody in a small town recognizes -- requires blind faith, and making light of skiing accidents isn't in particularly good taste. You might have the sense you've seen it all before (there's even a prior film listed in IMDb with a similar premise and the same name). Falling is definitely best in its campier moments when it's not taking itself too seriously, like Sierra, with an entourage, all dolled up to take selfies, and Tad lost in the snowy mountains with ice-fishing survivalist Ralph. Listen for tunes performed by Overstreet, Lohan, and sister Aliana Lohan.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about whether Falling for Christmas would have been a very different movie if it weren't set during the holiday season. What would have needed to be changed?

Sierra's life takes a complete turn due to her accident. What messages did you take away from this storyline and Sierra's evolution?

Do you believe in Christmas wishes and miracles? Why, or why not?

Movie Details

On DVD or streaming : November 11, 2022
Cast : Lindsay Lohan , Chord Overstreet , George Young
Director : Janeen Damian
Inclusion Information : Female directors, Female actors, Female writers
Studio : Netflix
Genre : Romance
Topics : Fairy Tales , Friendship , Holidays
Run time : 95 minutes
MPAA rating : NR
Last updated : April 15, 2024

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Falling for christmas review: lohan dazzles in by-the-numbers christmas rom-com.

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A disastrous meet-cute, a freak accident, temporary amnesia, and Christmas — these are the characteristics of the average Hallmark Christmas classic. Still, Hallmark doesn't have the one and only Lindsay Lohan in its arsenal. Netflix has that pleasure. Lohan has had a rough life since becoming a bona fide superstar. Her star power has persisted despite her personal troubles, and her talent is unwavering as her filmography proves she is a star. Her best efforts can be found in comedies, thus making Falling For Christmas the perfect vehicle for a comeback narrative.

Falling for Christmas follows spoiled, selfish heiress Sierra Belmont (Lohan), who loses her memory after a freak accident on the slopes with her boyfriend, Tad Fairchild (George Young) . A kind single father, Jake Russell ( Glee alum Chord Overstreet), who runs a family-owned ski lodge, finds her and helps her out. This serendipitous union will not only bring them together, but it will be Sierra’s saving grace.

Related: Is Falling For Christmas Lindsay Lohan's Official Comeback?

At the heart of it, Falling For Christmas is innocuous. It is less entertaining than Netflix’s other attempts, but it isn't a complete wash. The movie has fun with its callbacks to Lohan’s previous work, such as Just My Luck and Mean Girls . However, it doesn’t do anything spectacular with Lohan. It also takes a strange detour following Sierra’s boyfriend's silly shenanigans, which takes time away from Sierra’s ordeal and her relationship with Jake. It is valuable time lost that could have gone towards Sierra's amnesia and her attempts at being "normal,'' since she is unaware that her life as an heiress has made her ill-equipped to handle a myriad of tasks. The core relationship also suffers due to a lack of development. Chord Overstreet is woefully miscast as a romantic partner for Lohan, but that could have been mitigated with better writing and time spent building up his character.

Hallmark has built an empire of movies like this — overly sentimental Christmas fare with romantic pairings that burn as hot as the lukewarm milk left out for Santa. However, fans of these movies aren’t returning for quality storytelling and tolerable acting. They return for the coziness, the casual sweetness that will always get one in the right mood, but there is very little about Falling for Christmas that is magical. The script is inflexible, yet effective in its attempt to weave an endearing tale of a selfish heiress regaining her humanity. The performances and directing are stiff at times and awkward in others. The movie doesn’t put much effort into drawing in its audience because they are already there, eager to watch the return of Lindsay Lohan.

Falling For Christmas strikes very similar chords, and doesn't stray from the very beaten path. Its familiarity is almost smothering, leaving Lohan, who is capable of so much more, left to grasp at air. Her efforts are admirable, and her talent is undeniable, but she is often left alone to carry the audience's interest and attention. Lohan’s skill and talent are too big for such an unambitious project. However, Overstreet is more than ready to match the movie's energy.

Sadly, Jake is almost a joke of a character, a complete archetype that is as hollow and superficial as this film genre's forced sentimentality. His lack of, well, everything makes it hard to enjoy this film thoroughly. Lohan carries so much of the emotional weight and is also the only charismatic actor in the film. Overstreet has none of the charm or talent required to be a rom-com leading man. He is bland and outshone at every turn. In fairness, he is at the same level as this production, which offers the bare minimum. Ultimately, Jake is indicative of just how lazy this film is and illustrates that Lohan deserves better.

Falling For Christmas was the best comeback film for Lohan ; it could have been better quality, but it is better than nothing. She's in her element, and her natural charisma is illuminated, partially by how uninteresting her costar is. The script and overall production leave much to be desired, but with how low expectations usually are, this one is okay. Tolerable is the word that best describes this Christmas flick, and that is because Lohan is the lead.

Next: My Father’s Dragon Review: Gorgeous Animated Movie Runs On Empathy

Falling for Christmas released on Netflix November 10. The film is 93 minutes long and is rated TV-PG.

Our Rating:

Movie Reviews
2.5 star movies

‘Falling for Christmas’ Review: Everyone Shut Up, Lindsay Lohan Is Back!

Lindsay Lohan may have found her niche.

It feels like it’s been forever, but in fact, it’s actually only been a couple of years since Lindsay Lohan last graced our screens. But, it’s been a while since she’s headlined a mainstream project. The teen queen of the late 90s and 2000s who gave us iconic roles in immediate classics like The Parent Trap , Freaky Friday , and of course, Mean Girls , is back. It’s hard to separate the film from Lohan’s own real-life story. A victim of relentless paparazzi, Lohan’s private life was splattered all over the tabloids throughout the 2000s. Now, she’s back with a bang, and hopefully, after all that has happened to her contemporaries such as Britney Spears , she’ll finally be treated with more decency than she got when she was in her early 20s. Look, Falling for Christmas may not be the comeback on the same scale as Iron Man or Pulp Fiction were for their leads, but it’s a lot of fun and nostalgic to see a former teen icon find her way back to the place that catapulted her career: comedy.

Sierra Beaumont (Lohan) is a spoiled but sweet hotel heiress (a bit of a wink at Lohan’s former best friend, Paris Hilton ), who just can’t figure out her place in the world. Her devoted millionaire father ( Jack Wagner ) is keen to have her work for the business, even if it is in a made-up role. He promised her long-deceased mother that he'd take care of their daughter, but Sierra wants to be able to take care of herself. As she holidays at one of her father's ski resorts, she is joined by her obnoxious, fame-obsessed influencer boyfriend, Tad Fairchild ( George Young ). It’s clear that Sierra and Tad don’t have a lot in common other than their penchant for champagne and caviar, but that doesn’t stop Tad from trying to make them social media’s favorite couple.

While all this is going on, Jake ( Chord Overstreet ) is the owner of the nearby North Star Lodge, a far cry from the opulence and exclusivity of the Beaumont resort. Jake needs investors to keep the lodge afloat, but after getting rejected by Sierra’s father, it seems that all hope is lost. When Sierra and Tad are atop one of the nearby mountains, he proposes, but before she can even say yes, they both fall down the mountain and get separated. Jake finds an unconscious and concussed Sierra but even after medical treatment, she can’t remember who she is or where she came from. Jake welcomes her to stay in the lodge as she tries to jog her memory. She meets Jake’s mother-in-law Alejandra ( Alejandra Flores ) and his daughter, Avy ( Olivia Perez ). And well, you can probably guess what happens for the remaining hour.

RELATED: 'Falling For Christmas': Lindsay Lohan's "Jingle Bell Rock" Music Video Brings Up 'Mean Girls' Memories

Yep, Christmas on steroids, a dead wife, a still-grieving but emotionally available handsome handyman, and a beautiful city woman who gets swept up in the simple life: It’s a Christmas romance just like any other. In terms of plot, there really isn’t much that separates Falling for Christmas from any other movie like it. It’s corny, it has bad CGI, and its story is completely predictable. But, is it enjoyable? Yes. More so as a group of friends screaming as Lohan calls back to Mean Girls by singing “Jingle Bell Rock” or even just enjoying seeing a once mistreated public figure finding her feet again. And if you’re in need of feeling “Christmassy,” this film ought to do the trick. You may need sunglasses for the number of fairy lights though. The story unfolds just how you expect it and gets tied up in a massive, red, sparkly bow in the end. No nuance, trope subversion, or freshness here, unfortunately. It's a shame, as you could have a lot of fun with these two leads, but Netflix seems to have taken the easy path with this one.

The most pressing question I had before watching this was; can Lindsay Lohan still act? And the answer, I’m happy to say, is yes. She still has that earnest style of comedy that reminded me of Cady Heron. That doe-eyed, fish-out-of-water look makes her the perfect center of a comedy. But she still has the edge she used to perfection in Freaky Friday that tones down the sometimes completely overbearing sweetness of this film. Chord Overstreet is the ideal leading man. He’s charming, funny, hunky, and has plenty of charisma to share with the room. He and Lohan have somewhat good chemistry, but they work best together when in scenes with Perez and Carlisle, who polish off a solid lead cast. George Young commits beautifully to the doofus comic relief, making Tad more outlandish as the film goes on but never descending into complete absurdism. Every actor probably knows that this script is pretty useless, but that doesn't stop any of them from putting their best foot forward. Including Lohan, they all look like they’re having a blast and that really comes through to the audience.

The major disappointment I had in this film is its handling of a certain subplot. Tad is extremely queer-coded and without giving any spoilers, the movie almost (heavy emphasis on almost) plainly says that he also likes men. But that’s the thing, it never actually says it. Not every movie has to have a queer character, but Netflix should know that if you want diversity in your movie, you have to commit to it. It made the movie feel like it was from 2004. Trying to keep the LGBTQIA+ community happy by including a queer-leaning character, but not directly addressing it so Utah moms don’t call the police. It’s even more insulting when the LGBTQIA+ community has always been a massive supporter of Lindsay Lohan all through her career. It’s a sad step backward and makes it feel like Netflix would rather have its cake and eat it too than commit to reflecting all types of audiences.

So, is Falling for Christmas in itself a good film? No. It looks like it was made on the cheap, it reuses jokes (one very clearly stolen from Dumb and Dumber ), and has a completely unoriginal plot. But, is it an hour and a half of Christmas fun that can be enjoyed on a cold evening with friends? Absolutely. This film is very much going to be eclipsed by the fact that it’s Lohan’s return to mainstream movies. And that’s sort of warranted. Whilst watching it, I couldn’t help but feel a bit emotional at seeing someone who was so targeted and tormented by the press, every ounce of their life scrutinized, doing what they're best at again. It may not be the comeback story that will be in the film history books, but it’s one worth recognizing nonetheless. And with another romcom lined up next year, Irish WIsh , it’s looking like Lindsay Lohan has found a comfortable (albeit not the best in terms of quality) place to come back to.

Falling for Christmas is now available to stream on Netflix.

‘Falling For Christmas’ is a Formulaic Holiday Comedy But Marks the First Step In the Welcome Return of Lindsay Lohan

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K. Austin Collins

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It comes back to what we value in Lindsay Lohan as a star, which is what Falling for Christmas , a Netflix comeback story, strives to understand, to its credit. Here, as in the Planet Fitness ad, as throughout her career, Lohan gets to glow. It’s an adequate first step — more valuable for what it means (Lindsay in the public eye again, doing late night and hyping her podcast, being a known quantity again, for the right reasons) than for what it is. The movie is part of a multi-picture deal with Netflix; the followup is set to be released next year. Making this, with any luck, the beginning of a new phase. That would be nice. Lohan deserves the second chance.

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Please Let Lindsay Lohan Play an Adult Next Time

Falling for christmas is fine. but this actress is stuck in a loop..

Netflix’s foray into peppermint-flavored romance, Falling for Christmas , is just about as good as you would imagine. This is to say, it’s fine, like the Hallmark holiday movies it imitates: it hits its beats, has a musical moment or two, and pulls together a semblance of a love story, through some workmanlike acting. Though the pacing could use a little work, I thoroughly enjoyed watching the movie, mostly because of one actor in particular: Hollywood’s at once beloved and hated former Mean Girl, Lindsay Lohan.

As a zillennial who grew up within the target age demographic for Lohan’s films, I love Lindsay Lohan! She starred in some of the most formative films of my youth. I’ll never forget her sneaking out to have a raucous night in New York City in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004). Or when she moonlighted as an incredibly angsty teenage girl who aspired to become a famous rock guitarist in Freaky Friday (2003). Her Freaky Friday performance (both on-screen and on the soundtrack) was so iconic, today’s bands-to-watch are covering the songs . Not enough people mention her role as a PR rep who had practically never faced adversity in the romcom Just My Luck (2006). And, of course, we’ll always have her iconic rise to high school fame in Mean Girls (2004).

As I was growing up, so, too, was Lindsay Lohan, my on-screen companion. She made the process seem fun and whimsical, full of adventure and one-in-a-million experiences, like finding your long-lost twin or becoming friends with your favorite pop star. It’s no secret that life never really returned her the favor. Lohan aged into the troubles we’ve come to expect of an incredibly successful child actor. She has suffered many falls from grace , which have been overly documented via insanely invasive paparazzi and, later, her own increasingly WTF social media presence.

If you check her IMDB, you’ll see that despite all of this life drama, she’s gotten work consistently—even if that work has been of uneven quality. I’m not the first one to maintain that Lindsay Lohan is good at what she does. But this new Netflix Christmas movie is making me suspect that Hollywood doesn’t trust her enough to really help her show it. Lindsay Lohan is 36 now, almost two decades older than she was when she was tormenting Regina George in 2004 or when she was impulsively trying to prove her worth as the youngest race car driver in her family in 2005. And now, in the year of our lord 2022, Netflix still has Lohan in a familiar role that moves her from naïve to slightly less so.

In Falling for Christmas , Lindsay Lohan plays Sierra Belmont, a hotel heiress who has never worked a day in her life, doesn’t know how to make a bed or flip a pancake, and is generally rude and dismissive of anyone who tries to take care of her. (A classic urbanite, in the Hallmark Christmas vein.) That is, until she bonks her head in a skiing accident, loses her memory, and is saved by the more humble small-towner Jake Russell ( Glee ’s Chord Overstreet) who owns a modest BnB. (Yes, it’s one of those plots. ) Russell takes her in while she recoups and tries to find herself again. Naturally, the two fall in love. And, as it goes with this trope, Sierra learns how to make a bed, do laundry, and socially grow up into a respectful, salt-of-the-earth adult.

I’m sorry, but—this is the same exact thing Lindsay has been doing since before I was old enough to be doing my own laundry. Though she’s tried to diversify her repertoire , in all of the aforementioned movies—and even some I haven’t mentioned yet —Lohan’s character starts out the same: a bratty teenager who comes of age and learns how to respect her elders, take care of herself, and fall in love with some handsome Average White Guy™ while doing it. And now, she’s just a bratty adult doing the same thing?

Make no mistake, Lindsay Lohan is good in Falling for Christmas . But I want to see a romcom featuring a 36-year-old Lindsay. Give me a Lindsay who drinks humongous glasses of wine with her twice-divorced gal pals, complaining about rent in New York City. I want to see a Lindsay who starts off as a self-sufficient adult, and struggles with love—not only because she is messy, but also because life is messy and Tinder sucks. I want her to have a job that doesn’t put her in the one percent, but a job she’s overly dedicated to, nonetheless. Where is the fall foliage? Where is the scene where the guy realizes not only that he loves her, but that she’s better than anyone else he’s ever dated? Where, pray tell, is the annoying yet caring boss? I want her to go to the Meg Ryan school of rom-coms. I’m growing up—can’t Lohan come along?

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Stream It or Skip It: ‘Falling for Christmas’ on Netflix, Where Lindsay Lohan Hopes for a Christmas Comeback

Where to stream:.

Falling for Christmas
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Lindsay Lohan is back in Netflix’s Falling for Christmas , this year’s holiday romcom headliner. It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost a decade since we’ve gotten a lead performance from Lohan on this big of a platform — and it’s been even longer since we saw her do “Jingle Bell Rock” in the Winter Talent Show. Can Falling for Christmas possibly live up to our expectations? Or should we just rewatch Mean Girls ?

FALLING FOR CHRISTMAS : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Lindsay Lohan plays Sierra Belmont, the incredibly spoiled daughter of an incredibly wealthy hotel magnate (Jack Wagner). He wants her to take on a role at the Belmont Summit Resort as VP of atmosphere (Honestly? Werk), but Sierra’s not so sure. Confusing matters even more is her truly vacant boyfriend, an influencer named Tad Fairchild (George Young) who has the audacity to critique Sierra’s singing voice. Before Sierra can make any major life decisions, though, fate — or actually Christmas magic — intervenes and sends her noggin on a collision course with a tree. Amnesia: it’s the gift that keeps on giving.

With no clue who she is and nowhere to go while she waits for someone — anyone! — to interrupt their vacations to identify her, Sierra opts to spend the days leading up to Christmas at the North Star Lodge, a cozy bed and breakfast run by a handsomely wholesome father and widower named Jake (Chord Overstreet). Sierra, now going by Sarah, gets a taste of the simple life — making the bed, doing laundry, flipping pancakes, being selfless ! When her memory returns, will Sarah choose to stay at the North Star Lodge, or will she return to Sierra’s high cost, low substance lifestyle?

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: The overall plot of the film has major elements of It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol , which helps make the film feel irresistibly Christmas-y. Weirdly enough, the camp humor and scenes involving head trauma were giving me Death Becomes Her .

Performance Worth Watching: Y’know, I don’t usually give this to a movie’s lead, but I feel like there’s more than enough curiosity — some of it morbid — around Lohan’s big return to merit taking this opportunity to say that she’s very good here. She gets to do a lot in this film, including playing an aimless socialite and a blank slate amnesiac who learns how to be a person. She gets to do romance and broad — incredibly broad — comedy, and she does all of it with gusto. Who woulda thought that Lohan’s big comeback would be as a Netflix romcom lead, but this breezy, charming genre seems to be a perfect fit.

Memorable Dialogue: Love Tad scoffing at resort guest services worker Terry (Chase Ramsey) and saying, “Gondolas are for losers.”

A Holiday Tradition: In addition to being the home of a resort and a tiny inn, the town of Summit Springs has a Christmas market that hosts an annual toy drive and tree lighting ceremony. On top of that, the market has a second tree that’s reserved for Christmas wishes.

Two Turtle Doves: You can pair this film with Hallmark’s A Cozy Christmas Inn , another film built around the premise that inns are stressful money pits unless you get some magical intervention.

Does the Title Make Any Sense?: Not at all — at least not in any way that specifically links it to this particular film. Every holiday romcom features people falling for each other! Sure, “falling” is a play on how Sierra loses her memory, but that feels like a stretch. What about focusing on the lodging angle and going with Last Resort for Christmas or Inn Love at Christmas or B&B Merry ?

Our Take: This is the sixth holiday season since Netflix really committed to the seasonal romcom genre and they have really figured out their lane. Like The Princess Switch trilogy, A Castle for Christmas (which gets an obligatory plug here), and The Knight Before Christmas , Falling for Christmas is a thoroughly watchable lark of a movie. It’s preposterous and goofy — so, consider the movie’s mission completely accomplished.

What’s most interesting about Falling for Christmas is how it adheres to Netflix’s (or rather production company MPCA’s) house style for holiday movies. Hallmark’s romcoms skew towards small towns while being incredibly polished. Lifetime’s romances feel more modern and the stories aren’t afraid of cities. And now there’s a Netflix style, which isn’t reliant so much on production value or setting as they are on comedy and tone. There’s a real broadness to these movies that can be super off-putting if zippy one-liners, pratfalls, and jokes about social media aren’t your thing — but they apparently are very much Lindsay Lohan’s thing. She handles the pratfalls and punchlines like a pro. Additionally, Chord Overstreet is a welcome addition to the holiday romcom genre. When he talks about his late wife, you really feel for the guy — as much as you can feel for anyone in a 90-minute Christmas romance.

Another staple of the Netflix holiday romcom: bizarre side characters who feel like they’ve been stranded in the wrong movie. George Young’s British influencer Tad goes on a slapstick journey that puts a strain on the movie’s already tenuous idea of realism — and I personally wouldn’t want it any other way. The bigger and weirder these movies can get, the better .

Overall, Lohan’s big return isn’t award-worthy and maybe it isn’t even worth repeat viewings. It’s hard for any film to become a watch-every-Christmas classic. But Lohan’s performance is incredibly solid, and I think it’s a good sign that she has another Netflix/MPCA movie lined up for next year. And Falling for Christmas ? It bops along at a nice clip, hits all the right notes, and cues the credits before wearing out its welcome. If that sounds like faint praise, it really isn’t intended to be. If this kind of movie is what you’re looking for, then it gives you exactly what you want.

Will you stream or skip the Lindsay Lohan holiday movie #FallingForChristmas on @netflix ? #SIOSI — Decider (@decider) November 12, 2022

Our Call: STREAM IT. Finally, a full-length Christmas movie starring Lindsay Lohan. It’s a miracle.

Lindsay Lohan

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Falling for Christmas merrily tolls the bells of the Lohanaissance

Lindsay Lohan is back and the world is better for it.

preview for Falling For Christmas - Official Trailer (Netflix)

Lohan stars as Sierra, a spoiled hotel heiress with an obnoxious influencer boyfriend, Tad (played with OTT aplomb by George Young). After a skiing accident she suffers from amnesia, and with no clue who she is or where she belongs, helpful and humble ski lodge owner Jake ( Glee 's Chord Overstreet) takes her in to help her get her memory back.

In true Christmas-movie fashion, she helps him in return. It wouldn't be a Christmas movie without a hefty dose of melodramatic schmaltz. In Falling for Christmas , Sierra is touched by the loss of her mother when she was 5, which helps her bond with Jake's daughter Avy, whose own mother died two years before the events of the film.

aliana lohan, lindsay lohan, chase ramsey, falling for christmas

The motifs of grief and memory flow easily through the festive flick, the plot of which resembles a watered-down Schitt's Creek . It's plenty cheesy, but it would be disingenuous to mark the movie down for that when cheese is a defining factor of the Holiday season rom-com.

There are flashes of the Netflix Christmas universe at play in Falling for Christmas , particularly a reference to last year's A Castle for Christmas which plays jarringly loudly on a TV, a sort of perhaps unintended meta-commentary on how eagerly the streaming service-cum-studio churns out and promotes its holiday originals.

That aside, Falling for Christmas doesn't get bogged down in the real world. There are many logistical questions left unanswered that, for anyone who watches true crime (a genre in which Netflix is a huge player) feel just a bit beyond the stretch of suspension of disbelief.

But it's Christmas, so we forgive it.

chord overstreet, lindsay lohan, falling for christmas

Overstreet and Lohan don't have exactly rip-roaring chemistry, but there's a sweet earnestness between them that carries their relationship through the mostly zippy 95-minute runtime. The side plot, not even a real subplot because there's little substance in it, of the comedic dynamic between Tad and his mountain-man saviour Ralph is light and enjoyable.

Perhaps the thing that makes Falling for Christmas work the most is that neither Sierra nor Tad are nasty. They are spoiled and self-centred, internet-obsessed and woefully out of touch, but they aren't unkind or cruel to those beneath their socio-economic stratum.

With the welcome proliferation of 'eat the rich' themes in media (from White Lotus to Triangle of Sadness ), it does feel as if there is a pushback from viewers about the kind of escapism we want. Yes, it's fun to imagine ourselves in the world of the uber-rich but it's more fun, in a schadenfreude kind of way, to watch them suffer.

lindsay lohan, chord overstreet, falling for christmas

Netflix Christmas movies don't worry themselves with what kind of feelings we have about hotel heiresses and social media influencers. It presents their world, heightened and glittering with tinsel, without judgement and for entertainment only.

Falling for Christmas has more heart than the aforementioned Brooke Shields vehicle, and a lot of this is down to the sincerity with which Lohan approaches her character — which has hints of Lohan's true self — and the ways in which she seeks to make her own way in the world. If this is the start of the Lohanissance, we can't wait to see where it goes next.

Falling for Christmas is now out on Netflix .

Gabriella Geisinger is a freelance journalist and film critic, and was previously Deputy Movies Editor at Digital Spy. She loves Star Wars , coming-of-age stories, thrillers , and true crime. A born and raised New Yorker, she also loves coffee and the colour black, obviously.

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DVD & Streaming

Falling for Christmas

Comedy , Romance

Content Caution

In Theaters

Lindsay Lohan as Sierra Belmont; Chord Overstreet as Jake Russell; George Young as Tad Fairchild; Jack Wagner as Beauregard Belmont; Olivia Perez as Avy; Alejandra Flores as Alejandra Carlisle; Sean Dillingham as Ralph

Home Release Date

November 10, 2022
Janeen Damian

Distributor

Movie review.

It’s absolutely awful when you forget someone’s name. But it’s even worse when you forget your own name.

After hitting her head in a skiing accident, Sierra Belmont can’t remember who she is. She doesn’t know her name, where she’s from or that she’s an incredibly rich hotel heiress.

Luckily, Sierra is taken in by Jake Russell, owner of the North Star Lodge, who first found Sierra after her accident.

Jake, his daughter (Avy), and his mother-in-law (Alejandra), are some of the kindest people in town. But lately, they’ve fallen on hard times.

Just two Christmases ago, Jake’s wife (Avy’s mother and Alejandra’s daughter), Carla, passed away. And while Jake’s managed to keep their family afloat, their business hasn’t been as fortunate.

Jake wonders if it might be better to lose the Lodge. After all, it’s full of sad memories.

Then again, maybe it’s time to create some new memories with a woman who just so happens to have none.

Positive Elements

Jake, Avy and Alejandra are good people who treat Sierra and everyone else they meet with kindness and respect. Even when Sierra proves to be hopelessly inept at simple household chores, they show patience and teach her how to do things for herself. And when Jake snaps at Sierra in frustration, he apologizes for his harsh words.

Fearing that his family is still grieving from Carla’s death, Jake struggles to move on himself. However, after Alejandra and Avy assure him that they’re both OK, he allows himself to heal. We also learn that even though the lodge is going out of business, Jake’s still spent his own money to help dozens of others over the years.

When Sierra starts to feel worthless and unwanted (since nobody has come searching for her yet), Jake and his family reaffirm her value.

Sierra and her dad are close, but she fears that if she tells him she doesn’t want to work in the hotel industry (she suspects he made up a job for her), she’ll hurt his feelings. However, by the end of the film, they come to the understanding that Sierra needs to do things for herself and make her own way in the world.

Sierra acts a little entitled at the beginning of the film, but her tune changes once she realizes that she’s not as capable of taking care of herself as she thought. Sierra goes out of her way to help Jake get the funding he needs to save the North Star Lodge. When Avy admits she sometimes talks to a picture of her mom, Sierra reassures her that it’s a beautiful thing.

Many townsfolk help when a friend is in need. An ice fisherman helps a lost skier find his way home. (Later, when the fisher is wrongfully arrested for poaching, the skier defends him, calling him a hero.) A father reassures his daughter that he loves her and that her mother would be proud of her. A little girl makes a Christmas “wish” for her dad instead of herself.

Spiritual Elements

A little girl is told not to share her Christmas wish or it won’t come true. A Santa-like figure hears this and seemingly uses magic to make her wish come true. (A sleigh the family couldn’t afford shows up at their hotel. And the man conveniently appears to guide them when they are searching for a friend.) Someone says Christmas is the “time for miracles.” Someone calls coffee the “nectar of the gods.” An angel figurine is used as a tree-topper. People sing the hymn “Joy to the World” at a tree-lighting ceremony.

Sexual Content

A couple dances and kisses. Jake and Sierra decide not to kiss since they don’t know if she has a significant other or not.

A woman uncomfortably fastens an extra button on her nightgown after someone calls it a “granny gown.” (In other scenes, she wears slightly revealing silk nightgowns.) Sierra wears a dress that shows some cleavage. We see people in swimsuits. A man uses a cloth to dab out a stain on a woman’s breast.

[ Spoiler warning ] Tad, Sierra’s boyfriend-turned-fiancé, asks a man to be his date for New Year’s Eve after he and Sierra break up.

Violent Content

Sierra and another character fall off mountain cliffs. Both are ultimately OK, but they take several tumbles on their way down and Sierra loses consciousness (and her memory) after hitting her head on a tree. (We later learn she suffered a concussion.)

An ice fisher throws his tackle box at another man in fear. Some of the lures get stuck in the man’s face; when he notices them, he faints.

A man talks about roadkill and tells another man to use a hatchet to hunt squirrels. Later, he is arrested for poaching.

People tumble and fall throughout the film, but it’s played for comedy, and nobody is seriously injured.

A man nearly hits several people with his vehicle (and runs over the foot of a valet). Sierra initially fears Jake, stating that she won’t follow him to a “murder cabin in the woods.”

Crude or Profane Language

There are three misuses of God’s name. We hear one use of the British crudity “bloody” and a use of the term “geez.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

Adults drink champagne and wine at special events.

Other Negative Elements

Tad, Sierra’s fiancé, is often rude and condescending. And while his attitude is played for laughs, he’s obnoxiously self-absorbed. (He notes that his social media followers love drama.)

The Belmont’s hotel staff fails to notice or report that Sierra is missing until Mr. Belmont returns from a business trip.

Someone spits out their drink. A man accidentally bumps into and spills coffee on a woman. A woman is splashed with water from a regurgitating toilet.

We’ve mentioned the past couple of years how Netflix seems to be homing in on the Hallmark Channel’s monopoly on Christmas rom coms. And this year is no different.

This holiday flick stars former Disney darling Lindsay Lohan and former Glee star Chord Overstreet. And for the most part, it’s about as sweet as sugarplums.

There’s a nice message here about how families can heal even after a tragic death. And we’re treated to not just one, but two demonstrations of strong father-daughter relationships.

But there are a couple of bumps along the narrative ski slope, too. In the final scenes of the film, a character decides to enter into a same-sex relationship. And we also hear a handful of misuses of God’s name.

However, families could easily skip the aforementioned scenes or turn the film off before it reaches that point. And if so, they’ll find a nice heart-warming flick just in time for the holidays.

Emily Tsiao

Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.

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Falling for Christmas Parent Guide

Not even the overabundant christmas decorations in this film can fill the giant plot hole at its core..

Netflix: A spoiled heiress develops total amnesia in a skiing accident and comes under the care of a lodge owner and his daughter right before Christmas.

Release date November 10, 2022

Run Time: 93 minutes

Get Content Details

The guide to our grades, parent movie review by kirsten hawkes.

Daughter of a hotel magnate, Sierra Belmont (Lindsay Lohan) is a stereotypical spoiled rich girl with fawning staff and a lavish wardrobe. Her father has created a job for her as a hotel executive, but she would rather be an internet influencer like her boyfriend, Tad Fairchild (George Young). Tad also has plans, but his romantic proposal on a mountain summit goes awry when Sierra falls off a cliff and he slides down the opposite mountain face.

Sierra wakes up, concussed, in a hospital room, with no memory of her past life. The man who rescued her, Jake Russell(Chord Overstreet), offers to let her stay at his ski lodge until she regains her memory. As Sierra, renamed Sarah, gets involved in the daily activities of the hotel, she and Jake both find themselves falling in love, feelings they deny – Jake because he’s afraid to love again after losing his wife, and Sarah/Sierra because she doesn’t know who she is. Thankfully, Santa Claus is hanging around in the background and a touch or two of magic is sure to help the pair find their way to a very Merry Christmas.

Falling for Christmas doesn’t make any attempts at originality: using amnesia as a plot device is such an incredibly lazy idea that it dooms the film from the beginning. Note to the writers: if you’re going to make someone an amnesiac, you need to make it more difficult to figure out who they are. The script attempts to provide a reason for the lack of a search party – Sierra’s staff think she’s run off for a romantic weekend – but that only fills a portion of the massive plot hole here. Any sheriff worth his badge would look at the Jane Doe in front of him and make two immediate deductions: first, she’s wearing skiing apparel so she’s obviously in the area to ski, and second, she’s clearly wealthy. With those two pieces of information, he would send her photo to the high-end resorts in the area. This isn’t sophisticated police work, it’s Nancy-Drew-level deduction and everyone in this film fails.

The movie also struggles to develop characters that feel real. Tad, in particular, is a caricature of vapidity. It’s impossible to understand how Sierra, spoiled as she is, could even contemplate a relationship with such a shallow narcissist. As for Sierra herself, it’s hard to say much more about her other than that she’s clueless, aimless, and enjoys helping people. Jake also hits a character trope – vulnerable widower learning to love again – but little else. There are no deep characters here, but since the plot is shallow, that’s not a glaring problem.

On the bright side, the movie has low levels of negative content. There’s a scene of minor alcohol consumption, a couple of terms of deity, and little else to worry about (unless you have traditional views and are troubled by an implied homosexual relationship). Rounding out the movie’s family-friendly bona fides are the plentiful positive messages about kindness and good neighborliness. There’s definitely a touch of It’s a Wonderful Life here, and if you’re going to steal, you might as well steal from the best.

Hardcore fans of seasonal rom-coms will certainly get their money’s worth from this movie’s overly abundant festive decorations, cheery Christmas music, and yearning glances. As for casual viewers, few are likely to fall in love with Falling for Christmas.

About author

Kirsten hawkes, watch the trailer for falling for christmas.

Falling for Christmas Rating & Content Info

Why is Falling for Christmas rated TV-PG? Falling for Christmas is rated TV-PG by the MPAA for fear.

Violence: A skier falls off a cliff and slams her head against a tree. Another skier tumbles down a slope. Sexual Content: A man and woman kiss. A potential gay relationship is hinted at. Profanity: There are two terms of deity in the movie. Alcohol / Drug Use: A main character drinks champagne for breakfast.

Page last updated January 12, 2024

Falling for Christmas Parents' Guide

Why does Jake offer a room to the mystery woman? What motivates Jake in his activities in the community? How do his unselfish actions benefit the community and eventually his family? Why does Sierra make the choice she makes at the end of the film?

The movie was filmed in Utah’s Rocky Mountains. The interiors were actually shot at a real hotel, the Stein Eriksen Lodge , although we’re pretty sure they feature fewer Christmas decorations in real life.

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'The Fall Guy' review: Ryan Gosling brings his A game as a lovestruck stuntman

In “Barbie,” Ryan Gosling ’s job is Beach. In “ The Fall Guy, ” it’s Stunt and he’s pretty great at his gig.

Gosling nicely follows up his Oscar-nominated Ken turn as an embattled Everyman who falls 12 stories, gets thrown through glass and pulls off an epic car jump, among other death-defying moments in the breezily delightful “Fall Guy” (★★★ out of four; rated PG-13; in theaters Friday).

Director David Leitch, former stunt double for a fella named Brad Pitt, revamps the 1980s Lee Majors TV show as an action-comedy ode to the stunt performers who never get their due, while Gosling and Emily Blunt dazzle as likable exes who reconnect amid gonzo circumstances.

"I'm not the hero of this story. I'm just the stunt guy," says Colt Seavers (Gosling) in voiceover as we first meet him. Colt is considered Hollywood's best stuntman, doubling for egotistical A-lister Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and fostering a flirty relationship with camera operator Jody Moreno (Blunt). However, a stunt goes accidentally awry in his latest movie, breaking his back as well as disrupting his love life, mental health and entire status quo.

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A year later, down on his luck and confidence still shaken, Colt is parking cars as a valet at a burrito joint when he gets a call from producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham). Jody, now an on-the-rise director, needs him in Sydney to work on her first huge sci-fi epic “Metalstorm.” He gets there and after a gnarly cannon roll in a stunt car where he takes out a camera, Colt learns that not only did Jody not ask for him, she doesn’t want him around at all.

Still, the old spark's there and it turns out she does really need him: Tom has befriended some shady dudes and gone missing, and Gail tasks Colt to both keep Tom's disappearance a secret and also find the dude. Alongside stunt coordinator and pal Dan Tucker (Winston Duke), Colt uncovers a criminal conspiracy and in the process goes undercover as Tom in a nightclub (wearing some Ken-esque shades and cool coat), gets so high he sees unicorns and teams up with a dog that only takes commands in French.

Colt is put through the physical ringer during his twisty hero's journey, and it’s impossible not to love him through every punch, kick, stab and dangerous feat because of Gosling’s offbeat charisma. Before “Barbie,” he showed his considerable comedic talents in “The Nice Guys” and “Crazy, Stupid, Love,” yet marries them well here with a healthy amount of vulnerable masculinity and sublime nuance. With him, a thumbs-up – the stuntman’s go-to signal that everything’s OK – is also a way for Colt to try and hide his sensitivities.

Like Leitch’s other movies, from “Bullet Train” to “Atomic Blonde,” “Fall Guy” is filled with fights, explosions and assorted derring-do for Colt to (barely) live through. One mayhem-filled car chase scene has Gosling’s character tussling with a goon on an out-of-control trailer interspersed with Blunt singing Phil Collins’ “Against All Odds.” (It's essentially a two-hour argument for a stunt Oscar category.) The movie sports a definite musical heart, with an amusing scene between Jody and a weepy Colt set to the Taylor Swift lovelorn jam “All Too Well,” and is also interestingly timely considering a plot point about deep fake technology.

The one downside with this sort of stunt spectacular is Colt’s mission to find the narcissistic Tom and getting into hazardous shenanigans takes away from his romantic stuff with Blunt. Playful and quick with the zingers, their characters awkwardly rekindle their romance – in one sequence, she spills all sorts of tea about their past relationship in front of their crew – and you miss them when they're not together.

For ’80s kids, Majors was the “Fall Guy” – and Leitch’s movie pays tribute in multiple ways to the show and its scrappy spirit – but Gosling makes for a fabulous heir apparent. He’s not just Ken. He’s also Colt, and Gosling’s not done showing us the true extent of his talents.

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Ryan Gosling is 'The Fall Guy' in this cheerfully nonsensical stuntman thriller

Justin Chang

Ryan Gosling is Colt Seavers in The Fall Guy. Universal Pictures hide caption

Ryan Gosling is Colt Seavers in The Fall Guy.

From the 1933 action film Lucky Devils to the 1980 comedy-thriller The Stunt Man to Quentin Tarantino 's Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood , filmmakers have long delighted in turning the camera on stunt performers, those professional daredevils who risk life and limb to make action scenes look convincing.

It's a hard, often thankless job, which is why for years people have lobbied the motion picture academy to present an Oscar for stunt work. And of course, it's a dangerous job: Just last month, while shooting the Eddie Murphy movie The Pickup , several crew members were injured during a stunt involving two rolling cars.

There's a lot of vehicular mayhem in the noisily diverting new action-comedy The Fall Guy , a feature-length reboot of the '80s TV series. Ryan Gosling stars as a highly skilled stunt performer named Colt Seavers, who, despite his cynical film-noir-style voiceover, genuinely loves his job.

Colt loves movies and moviemaking, loves hurling himself off balconies and strapping himself into soon-to-be-totaled automobiles. Most of all, he loves Jody Moreno, an up-and-coming assistant director played by Emily Blunt , and she loves him right back.

Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt star in The Fall Guy. Universal Pictures hide caption

Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt star in The Fall Guy.

Colt works mainly as a stunt double for Tom Ryder, a world-famous movie star played by a preening Aaron Taylor-Johnson. But when Colt suffers a life-threatening injury on the set, he quits the biz in despair and ghosts Jody for more than a year while he recovers. But then he learns that Jody is directing a big-budget sci-fi movie in Sydney and wants him to be Tom's stunt double again. Upon arriving Down Under, however, Colt finds out that Jody did not ask for him and has no idea why he's here.

The reason for Colt's appearance on the set is one mystery in a cheerfully nonsensical thriller plot devised by the screenwriter Drew Pearce. There's also a body in a bathtub, an incriminating cell phone and several amusing side characters, including a busybody producer played by Hannah Waddingham of Ted Lasso fame.

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Another key player is Colt's best friend and stunt coordinator, Dan, played by the always excellent Winston Duke . In one endearing running gag, Colt and Dan keep quoting dialogue from classic films like The Last of the Mohicans , The Fugitive and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, all of which The Fall Guy giddily tries to outdo in its sheer volume of death-defying mayhem.

Before long, Colt isn't just performing stunts. He's forced to put his well-honed survival skills to good use off the set, whether he's beating up thugs in a nightclub, punching villains in a helicopter or getting tossed around in the back of a speeding garbage truck. That's one of several set-pieces that the director David Leitch opted to shoot using practical techniques, rather than CGI — a decision that gives this stunt-centric movie an undeniable integrity.

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The Fall Guy is undoubtedly a passion project for Leitch, who once worked as a stunt double for actors including Brad Pitt and Jean-Claude Van Damme. (He nods to this by giving Colt a handy canine companion named Jean-Claude.) Leitch can direct action beautifully, as he did in the Charlize Theron smash-'em-up Atomic Blonde . But he can also go too flamboyantly over-the-top, as in sloppier recent efforts like Bullet Train and Hobbs & Shaw . The Fall Guy is better than those two, but it would have been better still with cleaner action, tighter editing and a running time south of two hours.

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Blunt is such a good comedian and action star that it's a shame she doesn't get more to do in either department; Jody may be in the director's chair, but as a character, she's mainly a second banana. The Fall Guy is Gosling's picture. Unlike the brooding, taciturn stuntmen the actor played in Drive and The Place Beyond the Pines , Colt is a wonderfully expressive goofball. There's a moment here, after a fiery boat chase around Sydney Harbour, when Colt emerges triumphant from the water, clothes dripping and muscles bulging, while a euphoric cover of Kiss' "I Was Made for Lovin' You" surges for the umpteenth time on the soundtrack. It's ridiculous and gloriously overwrought — and like the best-executed stunts, it comes perilously close to movie magic.

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Blunt, stunts and Gosling: how did The Fall Guy flop – and what does that mean for cinema?

Summer’s would-be blockbuster has hit a brick wall – did it simply typify everything the public hate about Hollywood or does it belie broader box office blight?

On paper, it couldn’t fail. The Fall Guy was a lock as this summer’s first – and possibly biggest – box office smash. It had it all. Action, comedy, romance. Record-breaking stunts. Two of the hottest stars around. Great reviews. And a dog.

Yet fail – or at least stumble – the The Fall Guy did. David Leitch’s bells and whistles blockbuster was tracked to make $40m at the US box office on its opening weekend. Instead, it landed just shy of $28m: a soft opening echoed overseas, where it picked up $30m across 68 other territories. Its current global total stands at $70m.

Revised estimates now put its likely final gross at $80m domestically and $150m overseas: a borderline break-even, once you factor in the $130m budget plus a lavish marketing spend.

It’s a bleak picture compared with last summer, when Gosling and Blunt were helping steer the Barbenheimer juggernaut to cinema-saving glory. Barbie is now on $1.5bn, Oppenheimer $954m.

This heat has been much leveraged promoting The Fall Guy. At the Oscars, the pair did a double act as presenters, nodding to Barbenheimer and plugging their new film’s big (if slightly niche) message: stunt performers should be celebrated just as much as stars.

They followed this up with a duet on Saturday Night Live three weeks ago, further bantering about the legacy of Barbenheimer and how hard Gosling’s Ken persona was to shake off.

This riff may have proven more accurate than intended. Perhaps Gosling’s current star wattage owes more to the character he played in Greta Gerwig’s movie than his actual appeal? Might he not be a name who can open movies after all?

“We’re still thinking about movie stardom and publicity in a way that is probably 20 years out of date,” says Steven Gaydos, executive editor of Variety.

Barbie and Oppenheimer’s remarkable success owed much to timing: both films were released in the white heat of their marketing push, an urgency compounded by the need to get all press completed before the looming actors’ strike.

The Fall Guy, by contrast, premiered at South by Southwest in early March, almost two months before its release. “Things move faster these days,” says Gaydos. “You can’t hold things back. Attention times are so short, the marketing has to be lightning perfect.”

He contrasts the fate of The Fall Guy with that of Dune: Part Two, which opened in late February, barely a fortnight after its first ever screening, and is now on $708m worldwide.

Both films also centre on a love affair, but while Gosling is 43 and Blunt 40, Dune’s stars – Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya – are still in their 20s. “For 14-24-year-olds, a romance between people in their 40s is another country,” says Gaydos.

“A lot of what makes The Fall Guy a terrific film may not make it a terrific hit. Is the audience for a $130m action movie the same audience who will enjoy a Howard Hawks-style sweet, satirical, thoughtful romance?”

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This skew towards an older audience – less inclined anyway to frequent the multiplex – is also apparent in The Fall Guy’s source material: an early 80s TV series starring Lee Majors and rarely glimpsed on screens these days.

“The movie has mined the intellectual property of something which doesn’t have any value for anyone under 50,” says Gaydos. “Whereas the Dune franchise still clearly has a lot of life left in it.”

And while Hollywood has long been fond of making love letters to Hollywood, these are increasingly being returned to sender by bored audiences. The fate of Damien Chazelle’s early cinema extravaganza Babylon (2022), which was tipped to repeat the success of La La Land (2017), should perhaps have served as a caution. That film ended up making just $63m back from its $80m budget – and with no consolation Oscars to boot.

“Movies about illusions generally don’t work,” says Gaydos. “And The Fall Guy isn’t Romancing the Stone or Indiana Jones, it’s about how the sausages are made.”

The failure of The Fall Guy consolidates rumours currently circulating in Hollywood, he continued, that “2024’s box office may really be in bad shape. A lot of chickens are coming home to roost.”

This marks the first year since 2009 without a Marvel movie to kickstart the summer, and there is only one superhero offering in the whole holiday period: Deadpool and Wolverine, whose R-rating will impose a ceiling on its possible haul.

High hopes … Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in Deadpool & Wolverine.

That doesn’t arrive in cinemas until late July, leaving children’s films to pick up the slack. Kung Fu Panda 4 is the second highest-grossing film of the year, after Dune: Part Two, with Despicable Me and Inside Out sequels following in June and July.

Typically 40% of the entire annual US takings are made between the start of May and Labor Day at the beginning of September. Pre-Covid, the figure for that period regularly topped $4bn; in 2023 it was $4.1bn. This year’s estimate is $3bn – a low last recorded in 2000.

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‘The Fall Guy’ is a great movie, so why is no one seeing it?

The movie suffered from a bad release date for its target audience — moms.

By Meg Walter

“The Fall Guy” is one of the most delightful movies I’ve seen in the last year. Maybe the last decade.

The film, directed by David Leitch, is loosely based on a 1980s television series and features Ryan Gosling as Colt Seavers, a stuntman who, after a near career-ending injury, is hired to work on his ex-friend’s directorial debut. After arriving on the set, the producer of the movie informs Seavers that the star is missing, and sends Seavers off to find him. Hijinks ensue — some hilarious, some thrilling, some romantic.

Emily Blunt plays Seaver’s ex-girlfriend and the director of the film within the film, “Metalstorm,” a very silly “Dune”-esque space opera with cowboys. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who was rumored to be the next James Bond, gives one of the funniest performances as the missing star of “Metalstorm,” Tom Ryder. And Hannah Waddingham plays the producer who hires Seavers to find Ryder. It’s a stacked cast full of charming actors who give winky performances over the two-hour run time.

The jokes, which are about the movie-making business and relationships, really work. When I saw the film, I was the only person in the theater, and I laughed out loud more than once. The action sequences are gripping and never run too long. The chemistry between Gosling and Blunt brings a fun and fresh energy.

It’s a movie I plan to show my older kids. It’s very chaste for a movie with an adult relationship at its core, and the violence never turns grotesque. There are a few instances of vulgar language, which helps account for the PG-13 rating. It’s a cliche, but in my opinion, “The Fall Guy” really is fun for the whole family, or at least those with kids over age 13.

So why is no one seeing it?

The film is a darling of critics with an 82% score on Rotten Tomatoes and an A- CinemaScore . But the positive reviews have been eclipsed by a disappointing box-office performance. The movie made only $28.5 million on its opening weekend, and with a budget of $130 million, plus another $100 million in marketing, the movie is not on track to turn a profit.

I’ve seen a number of theories as to why “The Fall Guy” is not performing well despite its quality and appeal. But I have a theory of my own.

The first weekend in May has historically been the time when Marvel movies were released, and those movies always perform well. On the same weekend in 2023, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3″ made $289.3 million . “The Fall Guy,” however, is for a significantly different audience.

“The Fall Guy” is for the moms.

On his podcast “ The Town ,” Matt Belloni posed the question, “Does Ryan Gosling mean anything to men?” and went on to explain that Gosling’s top movies have been “Barbie,” “La La Land” and “Crazy Stupid Love.” The audiences for those movies all skewed heavily female.

While Gosling and Blunt are arguably two of our biggest Hollywood stars right now with their Barbenheimer summer, Gosling is 43 years old and Emily Blunt is 41. The viewers who are going to want to see an action/rom-com between two stars in their forties are women in their forties. The moms.

Also, this is an especially busy time of year for moms. Our schedules are packed with end-of-school activities, parties and sports games. In my family, we have four different events just this weekend, and even more next week.

As much as I want to take my tweens to see “The Fall Guy,” it will be nearly impossible to find a free evening in May to do so. It seems to me that a perfectly good movie was squandered on a release date that doesn’t really work for the audience who would appreciate it the most.

I hope the movie hangs on in theaters until June when my family has a little more availability in our schedules. And I hope those who have seen and loved the movie tell others to go see it so “The Fall Guy” becomes a sleeper hit. We need Hollywood to make more charming and hilarious movies that we can take our kids to see.

The takeaway for studios from the disappointing opening is not that movies like this shouldn’t be made, but instead that these movies should be released at a time that makes the most sense for its target audience.

Because we need more movies for the moms.

“The Fall Guy” is rated PG-13 for violence and drug use and is in theaters now.

COMMENTS

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