CBS
CBS continues its quest to form TV movies occur again with Christmas Takes Flight, the 2d of two vacation originals on the major community’s 2021 lineup. Esteem final week’s A Christmas Proposal, Christmas Takes Flight is the extra or much less vacation movie you most frequently get on Hallmark. But did you mediate the colossal networks were gonna let cable maintain the total fun? So, does Christmas Takes Flight waft or does it fail to salvage off the ground?
CHRISTMAS TAKES FLIGHT: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: Katie Lowes (Scandal) performs Captain Jenny Beckett, a pilot and the daughter of the pinnacle of Sundancer Airways. Her dad Frank (Andrew Airlie) is making ready to retire and, on his draw out, he sold Sundancer to a colossal company. This doesn’t genuinely bother Katie so long as she gets to be VP and the present owners don’t mess with Sundancer’s itsy-bitsy town enchantment and traditions.
Enter: Matt Hansen (Evan Williams), the colossal company get who has the heart of a PowerPoint presentation and the charisma of a tax invent. He most fascinating cares about the numbers — so mighty so as that he completely won’t let Sundancer waste money and resources for one thing known as a “Santa Flight.” Yep, Matt desires to discontinuance the airline from flying a total bunch of underprivileged younger folks and their families to a Christmas village on Christmas Eve eve. Obtained’t he deem the younger folks?
Jenny isn’t the appropriate resident of Snowflake, Montana with issues to unravel. Her widower dad doesn’t know easy techniques to salvage aid on the relationship scene, her slacker brother Charlie (Erik Gow) isn’t doing his job at Sundancer and obtained’t decide to his now ex-lady friend Megan (Keisha Haines), and Jenny’s daughter Chloe (Kyra Leroux) can’t deem on a indispensable. Will all of these issues salvage solved by the time a rerun of FBI: Global comes on?
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: It’s a Finest Lifestyles is playing at the local theater and you better deem it’s introduced up on this movie for a cause. Additionally, can we correct discuss about the morbid ardour that vacation romance movies maintain with needless mothers? Christmas Takes Flight has one, and so does Christmas Cruise (Hallmark), One December Evening (Hallmark), A Boy Known as Christmas (Netflix), Vacation in Santa Fe (Lifetime), Mistletoe in Montana (Lifetime) — and that’s correct from this twelve months, and that’s correct of those I’ve watched. Undoubtedly there’s one thing else that will likely perchance disclose a dad and daughter collectively!
Efficiency Price Observing: Hear: Andrew Airlie is stunning. The dad is a silver fox/daddy/zaddy for my half. Maybe that’s the combo of his piercing blue eyes and silver hair, or even it’s because Airlie performs Frank as a tidy, attach collectively guy (those low-key festive sport coats!) who is additionally incredibly sweet and awkward. The dad is the total equipment, is what I’m saying.
Memorable Dialogue: When Jenny has to beat aid against Matt’s assertion that they cancel the Santa Flight, she says to her father, “Isn’t our job to withhold mom’s dream alive and withhold Santa’s Flight no longer off route for the sake of the younger folks?”
A Vacation Tradition: The Santa Flight is a colossal deal, no longer most fascinating to Snowflake but surely to Idaho Falls, which hosts the Santa Market. Kids and native corporations — the Santa Flight benefits every little thing that vacation movies adore.
Does the Title Contain Any Sense?: K, decided, Christmas Takes Flight is technically a comely title. It’s a Christmas movie attach of living at a itsy-bitsy town airport. But I genuinely maintain to wonder why they hesitated to correct name this movie The Santa Flight? Maybe because younger folks would tune in hoping to leer jolly used St. Sever and would as a substitute leer a 30-one thing Scrooge in Brooks Brothers griping about unsold tickets.
Our Take hold of: If A Christmas Proposal became as soon as CBS’s grounded elevate on the vacation romcom, then Christmas Takes Flight is CBS correct going all in on the tropes you know and love from these movies. Earlier than the first commercial fracture, Christmas Takes Flight dumps so mighty exposition; apparently every line of debate begins with some variation of “as you know” or “it’s been five years since” or “I’m your brother.” Our leads actually collide while boarding a shuttle from the airport, to which Jenny exclaims with a smile “Gradual your roll, buddy!” And when Matt checks into the local inn, the entrance desk employee notices he’s no longer carrying a wedding ring and point clean asks if he’s a widower. There is so mighty of this extremely heightened silliness that it almost feels intentional, adore the commence of Comedy Central’s Hallmark parody A Clüsterfünke Christmas.
The movie’s heightened tone owes lots to Lowes and Williams’ performances. Hardly maintain I considered two lead characters as diametrically adversarial as Jenny and Matt. She’s always smiling, he’s always scowling — their relationship feels adore Buddy the Elf trying to instill some Christmas cheer into the T-1000. Matt has one thing on his mind: terminating inessential employees and expenditures! None of here is scandalous. In truth, it’s extremely interesting to scrutinize these two performers lean into these very familiar archetypes.
Whereas Lowes and Williams proceed to elevate colossal swings, Christmas Takes Flight settles actual into a cruising altitude. I genuinely mediate this movie’s greatest power is its supporting forged. In a season the attach plenty of the movies maintain felt extra in moderation populated than frequent (likely due to the COVID restrictions), Christmas Takes Flight surely gives us three romance plots in a single movie. Jenny’s brother and stunning dad additionally salvage personality arcs of their delight in, learning one thing about themselves and finding love along the vogue. It helps form this tiny town feel adore segment of a bigger, but still tiny, world.
Overall, I mediate that CBS has made a stable debut within the present era of vacation TV movies. It’s an era that has been dominated by Hallmark and Lifetime for a while, but CBS’s choices feel plenty of ample to no longer feel superfluous. The adaptation? Esteem I stated with A Christmas Proposal, it’s all about the money. The behold of Christmas Takes Flight genuinely adds to the movie’s general quality. The total scenes behold adore they were shot on-plight and no longer on all of the sudden assembled sets, and your entire movie has the sheen of a CBS drama to it. It’s a total current behold for the identical used fable.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Christmas Takes Flight has a turbulent commence but is in a roundabout draw a relaxing budge.
