Watching “A Hollywood Christmas” made us feel bad for the pressure the writers must be under. We mean, it is compulsory to have a Christmas movie, and the formula can’t change, but it has to be different. The writers must have been feeling so burned out. But seriously, movies like “A Hollywood Christmas” do not get you into the holiday spirit. In fact, they remind you that the holiday has started losing its charm because of its over-the-top commercialization. Initially, when we noticed that this movie was not exactly offering anything different, we decided that we could still enjoy it if we did not take it too seriously in comparison to the real world. But there was a forced depth to the emotions it was trying to play into that we just couldn’t wrap our heads around, not to mention the horrendous lack of chemistry between the leads. The movie’s saving grace was that it is just an hour and a half long, so it ends soon. Let us see how this plays out.
Spoilers Ahead
The Making Of The Christmas Movie
Jessica is the director of a Christmas movie, a genre (if we can call it that) that she is extremely passionate about when she comes to know from Christopher that the studio is shutting down its Christmas movie division. She has a three-movie contract with them, but since the management has changed, the contract doesn’t hold anymore. Therefore, she needs to make this the best Christmas movie ever so that she can convince the management to keep the Christmas movie division. Her assistant, Reena, sees this as a real-life Christmas movie where the girl and the boy get off on the wrong foot, only for them to end up together. We will admit that Christopher is sufficiently charming, though we get the feeling that he is bad at his job. Either way, over time, the two of them really connect through dinners and some of Christopher’s life skills, like using a fox whistle to track down the dog they needed for the shoot. Meanwhile, the lead actors of the movie within the movie, Ashley and Michael, start an affair of their own. But things take a bad turn when Ashley learns that Michael already has a girlfriend. Be it Aries, Libra, or any other sign, men prove to be insufferable so many times.
Anyway, Jessica takes Christopher’s suggestion and tries to give the character of Chloe a change by showing her as someone who takes more initiative, in this case by introducing keto cupcakes. At the same time, she comes to know from the studio head Theresa that their budget for this particular movie has been cut at the suggestion of Christopher. When Jessica confronts him about it, he tells her that it’s either this or the entire movie gets shelved because he made a mistake in understanding the budget. Jessica is not having it, and she refuses to compromise on any of the frames. As the movie nears completion, it is revealed that they don’t have enough money to pay the extras for the final scene. Jessica is extremely upset as she is not used to having to deviate from her perfect plans. She reluctantly agrees to some of Christopher’s ideas, but when they don’t come through, she is devastated.
‘A Hollywood Christmas’ Ending Explained: Does The Christmas Division Get Shut Down?
In the spirit of Christmas movies (Christmas movies, not Christmas), Reena brings Jessica and Christopher together to talk out their feelings, like it happens in the final showdown scenes. Watching this makeshift therapy session that was desperately trying to force depth into a lackluster narrative felt a little tiresome. The story could have worked with a better build-up, but that was severely lacking. Either way, at the end of it, Jessica has an idea to use people from the set itself. People who can play music will be part of the music number, and the rest can act as the townspeople. There is an unnecessary piece about Christopher bringing an irresponsible Santa to the set just in the nick of time. Theresa is leaving, and she feels justified in deciding to ax the Christmas division. But Jessica notices that her grinch-like behavior may not be completely unfounded. Upon discovering that she has hated Christmas ever since her chance to sing on stage was taken away from her, Jessica offers her the position of the singer in the movie, which Theresa reluctantly, albeit joyfully, accepts. Ashley and Michael have also made up, and the last scene is being shot. But the snow needs to be fixed, and while they are waiting for that, Christopher tells Jessica that he plans on changing his career to be a movie producer so that he can be on set with Jessica every day. They are almost about to kiss when Jessica reminds him about his wife. Christopher tells her that there was a glitch in the audio-to-text translation and that he meant his “work-wife.” Correct us if we are wrong, but isn’t that something friends within the same sex use to refer to each other when they work together? See what we mean about the writer being tired? Anyway, Theresa tells Jessica that she wants to continue the Christmas division because people need to see love as much as anything else, and this is the way to retain their audience. With the Christmas division saved, it starts snowing, and “A Hollywood Christmas” ends with Jessica and Christopher sharing a kiss.
Final Thoughts: What Works For ‘A Hollywood Christmas’?
The thing is, we get what “A Hollywood Christmas” was trying to do. It was about the love for Christmas movies. The format of a “disgruntled big city hot shot finding love and acceptance with a charming small-town love interest” is a classic that need not have been so tired. This is a good story on paper, but somewhere in its execution, it lacked the emotional depth that defines the love people have for Christmas movies. And for that reason, this was a serious miss for us. Maybe rewatching “Home Alone” or any one of the dozen others is a better idea than tuning in for “A Hollywood Christmas.”
“A Hollywood Christmas” is a 2022 Drama Romance film directed by Alex Ranarivelo.
