Natale, folle Natale

I liked this. It was a nice change from the "accomplished woman visits small town and sees the error of her evil ways".

The kids were portrayed as spoiled. Luckily they didn't dwell on any egregious behaviour - no one wants to watch extended bratty behaviour. But I actually thought the teenage son's situation was a little different. His sisters were straight out greedy and spoiled but he had a point to his complaint. His job had to be to study and get into Harvard. His dad's job was to fund it. This was yanked from him While obviously his dad didn't get fired on purpose, I never saw them actually acknowledge that the son's loss was or could be truly life changing. An acknowledgement can go a long way. Suggesting he go to community college with no actual discussion was something else. I know it wasn't the point of the movie but how about a conversation about alternate funding, scholarships etc. I mean they actually could have used the house sale money to fund the schooling. It reminded me of other situations where things have been yanked from teens and they are supposed to just get on with things with no acknowledgement that the teen has suffered a loss. They aren't just a child in the family but a person outside of the family.

If anything , this could have used more of the bad guys in the plot. I thought they were going to set up more roadblocks to the new radio station. I think that is where this movie could have shone.

It was a solid 7 and +1 for Darlene Love belting out her signature Christmas song at the end. Look her up if you don't know her history.