Christmas Reservations Review: The Treeline Lodge Has Christmas Spirit, But Not Many Tales To Tell
The Treeline Lodge at the center of Melissa Joan Hart’s new Lifetime Christmas movie Christmas Reservations is the perfect destination for ski bunnies to whisk the family off to during holiday break.
There is skiing in the Adirondacks complete with classes. Decorated Christmas trees are everywhere, including individual rooms. There is elegant dining and Christmas trivia, gingerbread house decorating, and snowman-building contests, complete with prizes.
There is a Jacuzzi, and plenty of opportunities to find love at Christmas time among fellow guests and even the staff.
Christmas Reservations has so many elements that I love. I wish my Christmas were half as festive as the one the Treeline Lodge guests experience thanks to Holly and her dad, Tom (Michael Gross).
What it lacks is a fully realized plot, though there are plenty of chances.
Hart’s Holly is the focus of the main plot, alongside former college sweetheart Kevin (Ricardo Chavira).But it could be argued that all of the other guests at the lodge share the B plot.
There is Preena and her Dadi (the term for maternal grandmother in India). Preena and Leo and their crush. Kevin’s kids Miles and Avianna hiding the dog. Plus, Tay’s (Markie Post) story which includes hiding her health scare from her sister and her love story with Tom. And let’s not forget Kay’s fun with washed-up Olympic skier Duffy.
It’s ambitious to structure any movie around so many characters, let alone a TV Christmas movie.
Sadly, even though it’s a refreshing change to meet so many guests, there’s a reason why most Christmas movies involve fewer plots. Every single storyline suffers because there are so many characters.
There is barely a conflict for anyone. They all just hang around Treeline and fall in love. There are no scene climaxes and there is barely anything at stake for anyone.
Kevin and Holly just tell viewers they were in love in college (for what seems to have been a blissful, literal week). It’s just as hard for them to articulate what happened during that week as it is for me to explain what happens between them during the week viewers see on-screen.
They see each other, are both confused about their past, Holly asks Kevin about it in front of all of the guests at Christmas Trivia, they have dinner, seem instantly in love for a few days and then decide it can’t work until the very last seconds of the film.
There’s a snowstorm that keeps everyone in for a Christmas party but no big event that everyone seems to be working toward or anticipating, including Holly and Kevin.
Hart and Chavira have more chemistry than expected, but they’re not the most magical Christmas couple ever.
Plus, the script sets the story up to be unbelievable by revealing Kevin’s age. He’s supposed to be just about 40 in the film, and Chavira is about 10 years older in reality. He and and Hart are closer in age than they seem, but there is no reason to reveal anyone’s exact age — especially when viewers are not likely to believe it.
But to shift to another example of how thin the plots are, all through the movie viewers may wait for Miles and Avianna to get caught hiding the dog they found. That moment never comes on screen. Kevin just tells Holly it happened.
Christmas Reservations would benefit from deleting a plot or two, it would make the good stories stronger.
Gross is the ultimate TV Christmas movie dad. He also deserves the B plot love story. But his interest Tay doesn’t need a sister at all.
Kay and Duffy’s plot is the most superfluous, followed by Preena and Leo. College crushes are cute, but a simple conflict between Preena and her Dadi about colleges and American Christmas would’ve worked just fine.
Speaking of Dadi, she’s my favorite character in the film. Christmas Reservations truly embraces diversity in ways I’ve never seen in a festive TV movie and it’s wonderful.
There is a Bollywood dance and Kevin’s Spanish heritage is mentioned thanks to a Pablo Neruda poem.
But it is slightly disrespectful not to give Dadi a first name. It’s not a first name, it’s a word for grandmother. Dadi is essential for entertainment in this movie and everyone besides Peena may as well call her “Hey you” because they don’t call her anything at all.
That rarely happens to other grandmas in Christmas movies.
Overall, the acting is good and it’s not unpleasant to watch a whole movie of people doing festive things with very little conflict, it’s just unexciting.
Christmas Reservations refers to more than people holding rooms at a lodge. Everyone has reservations about moving forward in their lives. But clever wordplay doesn’t make a movie.
It doesn’t take much to get viewers invested in Christmas movies. Treeline has so many guests, but they barely have journeys worth investing in.
What did you think of Christmas Reservations? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Christmas Reservations will continue to air throughout the holiday season on Lifetime
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Esme Mazzeo
Esme Mazzeo is a lifestyle and entertainment journalist from Long Island. When she's not writing for work, she's writing for fun, or searching for something to satisfy her sweet tooth. She thinks rainy days are the best kind of days. Certified night owl.
One thought on “Christmas Reservations Review: The Treeline Lodge Has Christmas Spirit, But Not Many Tales To Tell”
CHRISTMAS RESERVATIONS is an ENTERTAINING MOVIE. The highlight of the movie is the DADI from India with her grand daughter. Overall acting and cinematography are excellent. However a Christmas song would have added CHARM to this movie,.
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