Grounded for Christmas

This romantic comedy sees pilot Brady (Corey Sevier) and co-pilot Nina (Julianna Guill), strangers before they are assigned to the same flight, having to share a Christmas holiday together while their flight is grounded due to bad weather. Good performances and nice chemistry between the leads makes for an enjoyable film despite the budgetary shortcomings of the production.

None of Lifetime's Christmas films are perfect, though one should never expect them to be. Their Christmas output falls into three main categories. One is the surprisingly good category, which is on the same level and sometimes better than Hallmark's more prolific festive offerings. Two is the mediocre at best category, which is often quite a bit better than the worst of Hallmark. Three is somewhere in between of average and pretty good.

'Grounded for Christmas' was for me in the surprisingly good category when it came to their Christmas films. Is it a classic? No, and there are better Christmas films out there. There are also a lot worse and there are a lot of good things here. 'Grounded for Christmas' serves its purpose of being a film that is a relaxing way of spending a quiet December afternoon, one that didn't ever offend me and one to not demand too much from. Really liked that it wasn't as predictable as other Lifetime Christmas offerings and had a couple of attempts of being different.

Sure, 'Grounded for Christmas' isn't perfect. Not all the supporting characters are particularly well acted, the ex-boyfriend (a one-dimensional character and excessively jerk-ish) was badly overplayed especially in my view.

Maybe it could have taken a little less time to get going, it's a slight drag in the early stages. Not many surprises in the story either, which tends to plan out more or less what one expects watching a Lifetime/Hallmark etc. Christmas film that has a lot of similar elements to each other.

The story though is also very charming and heart-warming. Once the film got going the pace was efficient enough and it doesn't feel padded or repetitive. The dialogue flows well and avoids being too sentimental or cheesy, things that some Christmas films can be (am a fan of Christmas and of festive films just to say before anybody gets the wrong idea reading that). The two leads have a sweet chemistry that sparkles and helps give 'Grounded for Christmas' its heart.

Corey Sevier and Julianna Guill are both very appealing as characters not difficult to root for, both seem like they know what's they're doing, they never look stiff and they don't over-compensate. Even if the locations aren't authentic they still look lovely and they are lovingly captured by the photography. The setting was a refreshing one as was the basic premise, and the film even attempts not too badly a twist near the end that didn't feel shoe-horned in or implausible. The music is pleasant.

In summary, not great but good. 7/10

Has the screenwriter ever actually flown?

The wardrobe errors have been mentioned but has anyone ever been offered a hotel voucher for weather-related delays?

I'm used to substitute locations - heck the Arkansas state capital was a stand in for DC and the Little Rock airport was passed off a Boston's Logan in a Chuck Norris movie - but the obvious lack of attention to simple details is sad.

The ex ostensibly forces them together into the charade, but he never seemed like a realistic possibility. The actor overplayed his lameness a little. Actually, most of the acting was less than stellar especially in embarrassing confrontations. The exception was Julianna Guill and Corey Sevier together. The antagonism turning to romance seemed real, albeit rushed.

There is more of a twist near the end than I've seen in a Christmas movie in a while. Caught me totally by surprise. The implications disturbed me a little at first and lowered my respect for one of the leads.

This was ridiculously adorable. I didn't know what to expect and I was surprised. It's a nice movie to enjoy during the holidays.

First, there was good chemistry between the actors. Secondly, it is not the same type of plot Hallmark has, so it's a different pace. It was nicely done. Good dialogue. Believable chemistry between the rest of the cast. I was even willing to let go of the overused plot of the fake boyfriend, that's how much I like it.

I work in aviation ok? So, there was things that had me rolling my eyes, it's simply not that easy, (like why did Nina had two stripes on her jacket, when she is supposed to have three like on her shirt, same with Brady) but I was willing to let that go. Also, i'm here for representation of women in the aviation industry. Hallmark gave us a pilot, now Lifetime is giving us one, so thank you.

Give this a try. I'll probably watch again someday.