Next Stop, Christmas review: Another breezy, predictable Hallmark holiday film strictly for Christmas lovers

2.5/5

Story:

Angie Reynolds is a busy surgeon whose intense work schedule leaves her with barely enough time for a personal life. Rarely getting a chance to meet her family, even during the holidays, she realises how far she has drifted away from them over the course of time, and reminisces about her last ‘perfect’ Christmas as she gears up for another lonely night in. But a Christmas miracle gives her a chance to make things right with her family, and gives her another shot at love.

Review:

Hallmark continues its tradition of cliched, predictable and unfunny Christmas rom coms, with Next Stop, Christmas. A Christmas movie through and through, the Dustin Rikert directorial is as formulaic as they come, with a sprinkle of the classic Hallmark holiday magic novelty.

What is a Christmas film without the usual tired tropes, and Next Stop, Christmas is no different. The film follows the story of Angie Reynolds, a skilled and busy surgeon whose hectic professional life leaves her with little to no time to focus on her personal life. Of course her dedication to her life saving profession and her hard work seem to hold no meaning to her ‘loving’ family, who are incessantly on her case for missing the last two Christmasses, and for not taking the effort to find out what’s going on in their lives.

Angie’s fate follows that of the plethora of Hallmark heroines who, despite having thriving careers and great friends, have a void in their life that can be fulfilled only by a romantic partner. As yet another quiet Christmas fast approaches, Angie is left wondering about her past relationship with a now successful sportscaster, whose proposal she had turned down a decade ago. A chance encounter with her childhood boyfriend, who she drifted away from, make her double down on the ‘what ifs’ in her life and her musings lead her to thinking about how her last ‘perfect’ Christmas, one where her parents were together and she was happily in love, had been almost a decade ago. A Christmas miracle gives her the chance to relive her happy memories, and she realises that a lot of things were different from what she remembered.

The entire film is sprinkled with cliches left and right, with shallow characters that are staples of every Christmas film. We have the workaholic protagonist who is in desperate need of ‘saving’; the boyfriend who seems to put work above everything else; the Christmas loving small town childhood best friend who seems to be too nice to be real. The characters are far from fleshed out who seem to speak in Christmas themed cliches, like “ The magic of Christmas will find you wherever you are” and, “What you want is not what you need”. The frigid and lifeless performances by the cast add to the insipidness of the whole film.

Verdict:

Next Stop, Christmas is a predictable Hallmark holiday film with shallow characters, uninspired writing and dull performances.