Yahoo News If You Watch One Holiday Movie This (Long) Weekend: Fox’s The Christmas Break Is Our Pick
We’ve guided you through more than 100 new holiday movies since October. As the most wonderful time of the year reaches its climax, we’re here to spotlight the movie that should be at the top of your weekend list and preview why other debuts will make you merry one last time.
THE ONE TO WATCH
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The Christmas Break
(Premieres Tonight, Dec. 21 at 8 pm on Fox)
The always likable Justin Long proves he should be the new king of Christmas comedies with this lighthearted charmer about a Chicago couple who use a holiday visit to her hometown in Ireland to decide whether they’re ready to have children. Jack (Long) wants to start trying for a baby, but Caroline (India Mullen) thinks they should wait — she could be up for a promotion in the new year and is concerned that fun uncle Jack doesn’t realize how much their lives would change if they become parents. He gets a taste of the responsibility when he volunteers to watch her sisters’ young kids: Ireland’s most adorable infant, Clara, who deserves all her closeups when strapped to Jack’s chest, and two boys who look too old to wear harnesses and soon find a way to escape them.
As for Caroline, she and her sisters (Cate Russell and Ruth Kearney) busy themselves scoping out her ex Cormac’s (Tom Moran) new bar, which is putting her family’s more traditional pub out of business. The men of her clan have made a bet with Cormac: Whoever loses a match of Gaelic football, has to close for the night of Christmas Eve. We won’t spoil the ending, other than to say Jack is a lover not a footballer and that his relationships with Caroline’s teen niece (Aoife Hughes) and nephew (Arlo Buchanan) have excellent payoffs.
Runner-Up: Whatever It Takes
Like your holidays deliciously messy? Grab the popcorn for our runner-up pick, Whatever It Takes(streaming now on BET+). The drama begins on Thanksgiving, when single 39-year-old India (Brely Evans) sparks with a handsome man outside her friend Joan’s (Kandi Burruss) house… then realizes it’s Joan’s 26-year-old lawyer son, Devin Jr. (Zuri James). Somehow, that tender (then steamy) romance being hidden from Joan is the healthiest one in this flick: Joan’s back with her philandering ex, Devin Sr. (Kendrick Cross), who claims he’s changed, and the ladies’ other bestie, Tracy (So Fly Christmas’ Tami Roman), feels neglected by her longtime love, Juju (Rayan Lawrence), and is ready to cheat on him. God bless us, everyone!
The Best of the Rest…
Miracle in Bethlehem, PA (Premieres Thursday, Dec. 21 at 8 pm and repeats Saturday, Dec. 23 at 10 pm on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries) There’s no room in the inn when divorced lawyer Mary Ann (Laura Vandervoort) gets stranded in Bethlehem after picking up the newborn she’s just adopted. So, she stays in aimless musician turned mechanic Joe’s (Benjamin Ayres) guest room. Mary Ann inspires Joe to want more, finds a way to save his family’s beloved barn, and reconciles with her own mother. The solid acting keeps you from going into sugar shock.
Christmas Revisited (Premieres Saturday, Dec. 23 at 9 pm on OWN) Five college friends reunite at their late pal’s cabin to work through their issues, e.g. the long-simmering sexual tension between Jo (Tanyell Waivers) and Cameron (Jaime M. Callica) and the secrets that Ida (Golden Madison), Johnnie (Andrew Bushell), and Mercedes (Andrea Lewis) are keeping from the group. It’s a realistic look at how distance grows between old friends and the difficult conversations required to close it (in a hot tub and around a campfire).
Mom’s Christmas Boyfriend (Premieres Saturday, Dec. 23 at 8 pm on Lifetime) When 10-year-old Lily’s (Ai Barrett) Christmas wish for her adoptive mother Emma (Jeananne Goossen) to find love wins a department store contest, the store turns reluctant Emma into the next Bachelorette. The problem: She has more fun with her handler, Zach (Zach Smadu), than the hunk (Anthony Bewlz) who’s dating her for the wrong reasons. Goossen and Smadu remind you how sexy confidence and thoughtfulness can be.
A Christmas Letter (Premieres Sunday, Dec. 24 at 7 pm on UPtv) To save their group foster home and stay together, two siblings (Callum Shoniker and Ava Weiss) stow away on a mail truck they believe is headed to Santa’s house — with their devoted guardian Leslie (Glenda Braganza) and bighearted mailman David (David Lipper, also the writer) in chase. Enrico Colantoni, as David’s father, and the It’s a Wonderful Life-esque ending may bring on the waterworks.
A Royal Christmas Holiday (Premieres Saturday, Dec. 23 at 8 pm on Great American Family) A ridiculous plot: Ambitious TV reporter Katie (Brittany Underwood) can land her big break if she scores an interview with the press-weary Prince of Viseria (Jonathan Stoddard), who is instantly smitten with her when she accosts him at the airport as he arrives to help dedicate a U.S. naval museum to his maternal grandfather. No one does lovestruck puppy-dog eyes like Stoddard (see: Hulu’s A Christmas Frequency), so if that’s all it takes to float your boat…
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