‘Falling for Christmas’ Review – Simply Festive

By Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

One thing is for certain, the 2022 Netflix movie ‘Falling for Christmas’ gets the festive season mood right from the very first minute. Gorgeous snow-capped mountains, warm fireplaces, people dressed in reds-greens and a whole bunch of pleasing festive decor… the sets scream ‘hello Christmas!’. Lindsay Lohan is in a dashing red jumpsuit, with green heels in her first few scenes, even her fancy glasses are red and green. Don’t get the wrong impression, I actually liked the fact that the makers went all out with their theme! The film was gorgeous, sparkly and pleasing to the eye.

Directed by Janeen Damian, the story follows spoiled wealthy hotel heiress Sierra Belmon (Lindsay Lohan) who is rescued by widower Jake Russell (Chord Overstreet) after she is in a skiing accident. Due to a head injury, Sierra cannot remember who she is, not even her name, and Jake lets her stay in his skiing lodge until she regains her memory. With no memory of her luxurious life, which included a train of people looking into her every need and feeding her caviar for breakfast, Sierra slips into a regular routine at Jake’s place and a romance brews. The two aren’t aware that Sierra has an obnoxious, self-centered ‘influencer’ boyfriend called Tad Fairchild (George Young), who was with her at the time of her accident and is lost in the dense snowy forest.

‘Falling for Christmas’ is a simple holiday themed romance and Lindsay Lohan was pretty radiant as the romantic lead. She is not playing a brat for the first time, but her quick transformation into a more sober person was great, even if a little unbelievable. Jack Wagner was charming in his brief cameo as her onscreen father Beauregard Belmont. Alejandra Flores and Olivia Perez play Jake’s mother-in-law Alejandra (yes, she shares the same name as her character) and daughter Avy respectively. The family of three lives drama-free and are adorably affectionate.

A sub-plot about how Tad survives in the forest wasn’t very interesting and could’ve been skipped, although to George Young’s credit, he really nails the part of being a conceited social-media celebrity obsessed with ‘likes’ and ‘followers’. The best part about the film is it’s stunning cinematography, there are these aerial shots of the snowy town where the story unfolds in and it looks out of those picture-perfect December wallpapers. All the pretty little homes look like ginger-bread houses and some viewers may have the urge to eat them, because they are just so delicious in appearance.

Anyway, there really isn’t much to critique, stream it if you are looking for a straightforward family-friendly Christmas romance. It’s a 7.5/10 from me.