Ed's Review Dot Com

Hallee Hirsh, Brenda Song, Spencer Breslin, Hallie Todd, John Salley, Susan Ruttan, John B Lowe, Peter Scolari

Allie (Hallee Hirsh) and Samantha (Brenda Song) are best friends. While walking in the woods they come across a little cabin with a white bearded man who is angry because his machine doesn’t work, and he throws it into the trash, just as the girls pass. They pick it up and carry it home, and find out it’s a weather changing device. As they play with it, it sets off a terrible snow storm (in Los Angeles) that will simply not quit. The girls are thrilled because they get a “snow day” for the first time in history, but when the snow starts messing up everything else, including trapping Allie’s Dad at the airport coming home from a business trip, it looks like he won’t come home for Christmas. Well, it turns out Santa uses the cabin as a summer getaway and the weather machine is his. Two elves arrive to help Santa find it, while a local weatherman sees finding the device as a way to boost his stock and keep him his job.

Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Amy Smart, Richard Fitzpatrick, Benjamin Ayres, Jennifer Kydd, Joe MacLeod, Joe Ring

Kate Stanton (Amy Smart) is setup for a blind date Mark-Paul Gosselaar), but Kate is obsessed with getting her old boyfriend back. She bails right at the start of the date when her boyfriend calls. She makes a total mess of the day when she finds out her ex is about to propose to his new found love. At the end of the day when she falls asleep. She wakes up on her back at the perfume counter where she just was spritzed and passed out. She is “shocked” to find out that it’s not Christmas Day, but Christmas Eve all over again. She goes out on the blind date again, and screws it up one more time. As time after time things go wrong, she finally finds out how to do it right and figures out what she’s supposed to do.

If this sounds like Groundhog day, it is. And a number of other Christmas films that have had the same plot for the most part, “Christmas Every Day, Christmas Do-Over, 12 Days of Christmas Eve” for example. So it’s not a new concept, that’s for sure. But it is a cute and simple concept, and has a lot of heart and chemistry. Elizabeth Smart and Mark-Paul Gosselaar work very well together. It’s warm and funny, and easy to watch. It’s certainly not a great film, and it’s really derivative, but I was surprised that I didn’t hate it. It was actually one that kept me interested throughout and I did not get tired of it. It’s nice to have something new to watch for this year rather than repeating one of the old ones. Very much like a remake, it has enough uniqueness to keep it going.

I was not able to locate a preview of this film yet, as it is very new, but I did find an interesting clip of Amy Smart being interviewed about the role.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog