Planes, Trains, and Christmas Trees

Predictable scripts, awful acting, irritating music throughout.

Both storyline and it's very title have been lazily copied and modified from the amazing, Planes Trains and Automobiles movie starring Steve Martin & the unforgettable John Candy.

Unfortunately, many writers of today's era are so badly talented with zero creativity. Directors appear satisfied just to meet targeted budgets & deliver on time without ensuring the casts can act.

In 2023, what is it with the Hallmark concepts of having endless stupid music & audio effects during the entirety of today's movies??

Rather than Paramount, Prime, Netflix etc. Producing endless nonsense, it's about time they learned from the success of talented box office hits from the past and understand how movie making in recent years have become boring, predictable and somewhat pathetic.

To conclude.... Planes, Trains and Christmas Trees is perhaps one of the worst Christmas movies of all times.

This movie begins with the common winter premise of being stranded. Isn't it great that Brett's relatives are so close by. The travelers consider planes and trains and rental cars, but don't make any serious effort for any of them until after spending days stranded. How many winter storms strand you completely for days in Ohio? Yes, this is all a weak setup to get Kayley and Brett to work together to produce, you guessed it, a Christmas festival. They do most of the usual things, but it does give them time together to develop a relationship. Even so, like so many Christmas movies, you have to wonder was there really enough between them to fall in love? Another common theme is where Kayley, the visitor, becomes the hero in making the festival a success, despite numerous obstacles including one of the most common - losing the venue.

The acting isn't awful. I find Kathryn Davis appealing when she plays a reasonable character. I was glad to see that although Kayley complained a lot about not being able to get to NYC, she still didn't throw any tantrums. The dialogue is OK.

Throughout the movie, Kayley has a boyfriend calling her from NYC. We learn absolutely nothing about him except that Kayley wasn't thrilled with him. Why? We never really learn.

In a holiday season with literally dozens of Christmas movies, 3/4ths of which are the same stuff, this movie is easily skipped simply because it is nothing special.

Event planner Kayley Cooper (Kathryn Davis) is desperate to get to New York for work. Her plane gets grounded. Fellow traveler Brett Matthews (Olivier Renaud) offers to help. The snowstorm catches up to them and they are stranded in his hometown where he is still a celebrated hero. He offers to help a local event with Kayley's help.

The title is an obvious reference to the classic comedy Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. The main issue with that is this movie is far away from that classic comedy. First, this is not a road movie. Second, this is nowhere near the comedy. At best, it is a passable romance and that's highly debatable. I don't like their meet-cute. It's better for her to be a workaholic single. That would be a cleaner connection. Their coming together is awkward and slow. This Hallmark wannabe doesn't have the whole formula.

Planes, Trains And Christmas Trees (2022) -

I would let Olivier Renaud, who in this film played Brett, take me anywhere. He looked gorgeous as an Elf and as an adorable Bunny Rabbit too. Once again the leading lady was getting the better end of the romance when she got "Stuck" with Brett on her journey.

And while Kathryn David was okay in her role of Kayley, I do get tired of the characters always having secrets and not just being honest from the beginning.

The format was as you would expect from the title. It replicated the other 'Planes, Trains And Automobiles' (1987) film, except with that romantic element thrown in and it was set at Christmas instead of Thanksgiving. And as I wrote that I realised that I have said the same thing about another seasonal film that I had watched already this year, so not only was the story a tad unoriginal, it wasn't even fresh this year.

After their plane was cancelled they shared everything they could to get back to where they needed to be and along the way they helped some people and ultimately helped themselves. It really wasn't anything unexpected, but it was cute enough.

I am still waiting for a story that shows an everyday person from a shop falling for an everyday office clerk instead of a football player and an event planner, as shown here. I'd like to see people who aren't well off and in great jobs for a change. People that really need a Christmas miracle and to find someone to support them. It would be lovely to imagine that someone like Olivier might fall for my broke ass and we could struggle to pay the bills together, but it wouldn't matter, because we would be in love.

Back to reality, what I did like about this film particularly was that they used ACTUAL REAL SNOW for the snowmen!!! It's a miracle and almost unheard of! It was a shame about the obviously fake stuff in the air, floating under the clear blue skies however.

Okay so it wasn't the most demonstrative of narratives and it probably wasn't the biggest budget 'Made For TV' Christmas film I've seen this year, but it was sweet and Olivier was so charming it was hard not to fall for him and to want his heart to be fulfilled.

6.19/10.

The actress playing Kayleigh over-acted so much it was cringe worthy. I often wonder if the stable of new actors used by the Hallmark studios are straight out of drama school - a) to give them experience and b) because they're cheap . As another has said Reel One Entertainment over does the musical background, and this is no exception.

The storyline is a staple for christmas output - leaving to get home / attend a meeting.... flights cancelled ...... meet a stranger ...... snowstorms ..... have to stay put... deadlines to meet and always by Christmas Eve. See, even I could put a suitable script together !!!

Often wondered why the Americans refer to "the holidays" (something we don't do in the UK) instead of Christmas.