Same Old Christmas Developments
Developer Alexander Malone (Tom Arnold - Pride) is trying to cut a deal to redevelop the small town of Fillmore but he needs to get the deal in place by the holiday season. So he sends his daughter Reagan (Sarah Thompson) and future son-in-law Rick (David O'Donnell) to go and get the deal sorted using Rick's connections as he grew up in Fillmore. But whilst some of the town are in favour of the development there are those opposed including former girlfriend and local lawyer Lisa (Nicole Eggert - Snowman's Pass). But when Rick's car breaks down and he has to stay in Fillmore longer than he had planned he not only starts to fall back in love with the old town but discovers there are still feelings between him and Lisa.
Within 5 minutes of "A Christmas Proposal" starting I could have switched it off, written this review and tried to find a better Christmas movie to watch because this does nothing more than reworks a familiar old story. As such if you have never watched one of those TV movies before where a city slicker heads back to their childhood small town and runs in to a former girlfriend "A Christmas Proposal" might just come across as entertain. But for those who have, and there is a good chance you will have as it is one of the most frequently used themes, this Christmas movie offers up nothing new or better than those other movies.
So what does that mean well let me give you how "A Christmas Proposal" comes across. David O'Donnell has been cast as Rick because he is handsome and has a touch of Patrick Dempsey about him. Sarah Thompson is in there as she does spoilt rich girl who can't function without her cell phone quite nicely. Tom Arnold quite literally phones in his performance as he is barely in the movie and when he is he appears on the phone. And then there is Nicole Eggert who does hometown nice quite nicely but looks like she wants the movie to be over right from the first time we meet her.
There is of course the storyline which is of course mixed with some small town humour but not only is the story familiar but so are the jokes. Gags about a small town garage unable to get the parts or no cell phone reception might make the new to this sort of movie smile but offers nothing for veterans of the TV movie genre. And as for Christmas spirit it has none, seriously it has none other than some Christmas decorations scattered around the sets.
What this all boils down to is that "A Christmas Proposal" might just about amuse young teenage girls but for anyone else it is just a lame reworking of a familiar theme which other than some Christmas decorations doesn't have a lot of Christmas magic going on.
Tags: Christmas Movies
