A Cowboy Christmas Romance

This family is messed up. But it almost makes sense how they got this way. And this movie is a little edgy for a Christmas movie. It is also a little complicated for the average Christmas movie.

The story starts out like so many, but Lexi is not at all likeable in the beginning. Lexi is a successful business woman. She closes deals. That's code for she manipulates people into the outcome she wants. The next deal which might interfere with Christmas vacation requires her to go home or at least to her hometown. Lexi hates her hometown and she is very very angry at her father. She hasn't been home in ten years and hasn't communicated with her family either. We get clues as to why along the way but it isn't totally spelled out until late in the story.

The title has Romance in it, but I think that the romance is half or less than half of the story. It is also rushed because of everything else in the story. And then there is the sex scene. Oh what a big deal. Lifetime TV's first sex scene in a Christmas movie. Oh gee. I thought it was underwhelming even for what might be called borderline family TV. There is nothing close to nudity except a shirtless man, also seen from far away in his boxers, and glimpses of a woman in her bra. The sex itself is passed over, as the Trivia on this site says, in a fade to black way.

Like many Christmas movies, the ending wraps everything up for everyone, maybe too nicely. There was at least one twist, but not completely unpredictable.

I give this movie a semi-positive rating (7 is my default for good but not great). It kept me interested. But it won't be the first thing I watch a second time.