Insight Film Studios
Jamie Ray Newman, Michael Shanks, Conan Graham, Ingrid Torrance, Russell Porter, Burkely Duffield, Derek Green, Jerocko Harder, Donna White, Lindsay Maxwell
Jonathan Chandler’s (Burkely Duffield) Dad was killed in an awful car crash. His Mom, Susan (Jaime Ray Newman) is having trouble moving on. Suddenly Jonathan is able to see his Dad and talk to him, which makes everyone think he’s a bit on the crazy side! Together they hatch a plan to enter Mom in a radio dating program called Under the Mistletoe to help her move on, but even though she meets a nice guy, Jonathan is partial to the widower and hockey coach and tries to steer mom his way. Finally she is able to believe and see her ex husband and get some wise advice from him.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we really were able to have a chance to say goodbye (a la Ghost) before our loved ones disappear in a cloud of white light, but alas, real life doesn’t work that way. This is a fair Christmas movie, with lots of syrup and sugar but is very derivative of other “spouse dies and the ghost comes back to haunt them” movies. Not very exciting, and very predictable all the way through. It was a nice effort, but it just fell short all the way through.
In the Philippines some years ago there was an awards show. The actress who was announcing the winner, ignored the name on the card, and announce a different winner. (Kanye ought to have tried that method, it’s a lot more low key than interrupting the winner) . Of course it was a big scandal, but in this film it works out. If you see it, when you come to the end and the winner of the contest is announced, you will see what I mean.
Under the Mistletoe is not bad, it’s just not good enough to go way out of your way to hunt this one down.
** Under the Mistletoe (2006),
