Christmas Wonderland
Stars: Emily Osment, Ryan Rottman, Scott Christopher
Listen to the Lifetime Uncorked Podcast here!
Synopsis (via Hallmark)
Heidi (Osment), who initially left her small town of Pleasant Valley with the dream of one day becoming a successful painter, has put her own art on hold to excel as an art gallery curator. Now, a week before the gallery’s big Christmas party, she must return home to watch her niece and nephew. She comes face to face with her high school love, Chris, now a teacher, who is in over his head after he must find a new last-minute location for the Christmas dance. Heidi offers to help him and together they discover a beautiful place for the dance, perfectly capturing the Christmas spirit, called Wonderland Farms. The more time Heidi spends in Pleasant Valley decorating for the Christmas SnowBall, the more she finds herself inspired to start painting again. With Christmas fast approaching, Heidi soon becomes torn between the life she built in the city and the life she is surprisingly charmed by back in Pleasant Valley, embracing her true passion.
Thoughts
Heidi works in New York City at a Galley, but wants to be… wait for it… AN ARTIST! She takes pictures on her phone and posts them on an app and they reference Nick Jonas?! This movie is so young a trendy.
At Lincoln High School, Chris, a handsome ass teacher gives out grades and is concerned about one of his students. He is also the hockey coach and now will be in charge of the Snowball Dance. (He was Snowball Dance king, when he was in high school… which is really sad!)
Heidi’s sister calls and needs her to come town to help babysit. Her boss agrees to let her work remotely as long as she is back for the Christmas event. Turns out the student Chris was concerned about was Tom, Heidi’s nephew. She will be in charge of the kids for two days, but has a laundry list of things to do… including planning the snowball dance with her ex? (RUDE!)
Chris and Heidi reconnect and start decorating for the Snowball Dance. It’s only for a few days, right? Let bygones be bygones. Unfortunately, all flights are grounded to an sportwide computer outage… REALLY?
Heidi has more time with family and is pretty much failing at everything. She can’t bake, can’t help with homework, and is starting to sketch and paint again. (Very poorly) Chris doesn’t think so and encourages her follow her dreams.
Chris meanwhile, comes over and helps Heidi with her broken dishwasher and helps the kids with homework. They are basically playing house.
The rest of the movie is them getting ready for the Snowball Dance. They decorate, get in a glitter fight, and Heidi event paints a mural of her and Chris at the Snowball Dance. These people are stuck in high school!
Heidi’s boss calls finally understands that she is an amazing artist. (Heidi’s assistant posted her paintings on the app.) Heidi has to go back to see this thing through and stop living in high school. Chris is supportive and tells her to go.
In the city, Heidi realizes that there is someplace she’d rather be. Her boss is like:
“You can’t leave this is your big opportunity!”
Heidi is all:
“I don’t belong here. I thought if I wanted to be an artist, I’d have to move to the city and adapt to a certain lifestyle… I’ve got to get to the dance”
REALLY? You have to go back to your highschool dance?
Heidi and Chris get back together, high school sweethearts who gave up on their dreams, but are happy, okay!
Side Note
Minority Report: Heidi’s boss
Leads were okay, but nothing to write home about.
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Overall rating
🎄🎄 (2 Christmas Trees)
🍷🍷🍷 (3 glasses of wine required)
*Photo Credit: © 2018 Crown Media United States, LLC
