by Diana Vaccarelli
It’s that time of year. Cheesy Hallmark Channel Holiday Movie Season!!!! As cheesy as these movies are they bring a light to the stress of everyday living. The third in a series of film reviews from yours truly is Holiday Date.
Holiday Date is a look into the life of aspiring L.A. clothing designer Brooke (portrayed by Brittany Bristow) as she braces herself to go home for the holidays after a break-up and has to figure out a way to tell her family.
Yes, really, that’s the big problem she starts off with, but, please, don’t yawn yet. There’s more such excitement to come.
Brooke heads to a party at a friend’s house and meets actor Joel Parker (portrayed by Matt Cohen). The two hit it off as friends, and Joel’s agent suggests he go home with her and pose as her (former) boyfriend Evan to research a role he is up for. The two new friends agree to this and travel to Brooke’s small home town in Pennsylvania, where every possible ridiculous mistake that could be made in such a situation is in fact made.
I found myself laughing out loud throughout the whole film. The humor may not have been intentional, but nevertheless it was truly hilarious thanks to the mistakes Joel makes as pseudo boyfriend Evan in such otherwise normal (and boring) tasks as helping to make a gingerbread house, putting up Christmas lights, and, in a context that should surprise nobody, getting the Christmas tree. I have known a lot of people-pleasers in my life, but Joel as pseudo-Evan is the saddest example ever of that very sad breed.
In other words, writers Karen Berger and Kraig Wenman have written a script with enough cheese to make a dozen pizzas with and topped it with dialogue that I am absolutely certain made the actors cry. Bristow, Cohen, and the rest of the cast give it their best shot, but the writing betrays them so much at every turn that they and the film and the audience all would have been better served by no pizza…oops, I mean script, at all.
I love film and TV so much that TVWriter™ boss Larry Brody often describes me as “my friend who never has met a movie she didn’t love,” but those days have just ended. Holiday Date is a disaster from first bite to last. Anything you do other than watching this, except maybe throwing yourself into an oncoming vehicle, would be a much better way to spend your time.
Yay! Diana Vaccarelli is back! Find out more about TVWriter™’s Critic-at-Large (and a TVWriter™ University grad) HERE