Planes, Trains, and Christmas Trees

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.