Camp Fest 2025: Consumerism, Champagne, and the Christmas Season

After yet another year that has zoomed by, we’re back!

This time, equipped with a quintet of yuletide content that runs the gamut from the expected feel good viewing to mainstream nostalgia trips that remind this jaded millennial just how nostalgic the 1990s are. .

A Cinderella Christmas Ball

They did it.

They did it everyone!

Finally, a prince with PERSONALITY!

Took them long enough to discard the life-sized Ken dolls for a cheeky prince and his iconic new pickup line: “Do you want to pay full price?”

Our favorite new Christmas prince, Philip, (played by Oliver Rice) joins yuletide season staple Danica McKellar, this time reincarnated as adoptee/dance instructor Chelsea, who travels to Philip’s tea brand homeland on a quest to find her father.

I’ll leave you the film to watch and explain if she does succeed in this quest, but I can tell you what else she gets up to while in the tea brand land of Havenshire: questionable dancing, split second existential crises, and a range of unexplainable social faux pas in cozy, fire (place) side Christmas gatherings.

Overall, a perfectly adequate, perfectly cheeky new addition to what I can imagine is an already extensive Christmas filmography for the lovely Ms. McKellar.

Champagne Problems

Doe-eyed American lead Sydney (Minka Kelly) travels to the City of Lights to close a business deal on a French vineyard, and the first thing she runs into is a Frenchman so stereotypical it feels like he stepped out of a romance novel. Predictably, whirlwind romance ensues.

She’s in for a rude awakening the next morning when she finds out her starlight lover happens to be the son of the man whose vineyard she’s trying to acquire. Needless to say, things go from romantic to rocky in an instant.

I don’t know what exactly I was expecting from Champagne Problems, but I felt like it could’ve done more. Maybe it was because the leads just didn’t click for me–I was desperate for some palpable chemistry that I could root for, and I just didn’t feel it with Sydney and Henri. You would think the whirlwind romance bit could’ve helped, or the romantic scenery that is France, but it just wasn’t there.

I found myself rooting more for Henri’s dad Hugo and his budding relationship to Brigitte, one of Sydney’s competitors for acquiring Chateau Cassell.

Speaking of Brigitte, it was the ensemble cast ( primarily Sydney’s competitors for acquiring the Cassell vineyard) that saved this movie: from the fun-loving Roberto Salazar, to the stoic yet cheeky Otto Moller, to Hugo Cassell himself, whose character development from cold, grieving widower to laidback and loving made for one of the movie’s good bits. In all my years watching Christmas movies, this ensemble cast might just be my favorite so far.

At the end of the day, Champagne Problems feels like a perfect title for this film. I couldn’t think of a more first world problem than worrying about a Christmas movie.

Hot Frosty

Who would’ve thought that the Mean Girls Christmas Movie Multiverse would actually be a thing? Well, it is.

With a big, big sigh of relief–I’m happy to say I finally got through this movie.

Full disclosure: i was supposed to include it in last year’s list, but I just could not get through it. Ended up swapping it out for something else.

But this year, here I am–ready to recount the tale of how Gretchen Weiners was reincarnated into a diner owner/widow that ends up falling for who I can only describe as a snow bro. Wikipedia calls him Jack Snowman. I call him goofy. Like, really goofy.

…But, thankfully: not for long. Hot Frosty doesn’t have the extensive snowman lore I thought it would have, but one thing it does have is a heart. And the ability to weave together a very simplistic yet wholesome little plotline that chips away at Jack’s frosty interior, bringing to life a character that melts away at Kathy (Lacey’s character)’s grief and gives her the chance to love again.

Sprinkled together with cheeky comedy bits, Hot Frosty is just the right amount of feel good, perfect for any cozy Christmas day.

P.S. The world may know Lacey Chabert as Ms Gretchen Weiners, but she’s forever Eliza Thornberry to me!

Operation Mistletoe

When you talk about wasted potential, never forget to include Operation Mistletoe.

Out of all the films on this year’s list, I had the highest hopes for this one–interior designer lead, highschool crush, matchmaking shenanigans? All the ingredients for a fun and sweet romantic comedy? Check.

Quality execution that makes for a good Christmas movie? Failed. Failed… bigtime.

They even had a little love triangle going on with a third character! But did it lead to anything? Nooooo. Hell no. It didn’t at all! Third character Quinn turned out to be the human representation for big bad capitalism instead versus our beloved lead Grace’s nostalgic feelings about childhood memories in an old home that felt so cold you just knew no one lived there for so long (well, they got one thing right at least).

Make that two: lead couple Grace and Ryan capture the awkwardness of a reunion well, but the buck stops right there. Yet again, the chemistry is not chemistry-ing. I don’t know why Grace’s bff Olivia bothered making a mess by scattering herbs throughout town for a couple that just don’t seem to jive at all.

Speaking of that mess, why is the movie even called Operation Mistletoe? Olivia failed bigtime! I thought there was going to be some cheesy, cheeky explanation for the name (like maybe they almost kissed under mistletoe as teens but couldn’t confess because…) but no! It’s like they finished the script but left the title blank at the last minute and just decided to call it a day.

Sigh. This review makes me sad– all the ingredients for a feel good, Christmas themed staple and it turns out like this. Do it again! Don’t waste it.

Jingle All The Way

Closing out this year’s selection with a blast from the mainstream past: 1996’s Jingle All The Way is cut straight from the prime era of pre-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, six years after Kindergarten Cop and five years after the sequel to Terminator.

Jingle All The Way has Arnie play Howard Langston, a workaholic dad with bad time management issues who doesn’t do his Christmas shopping until Christmas Eve, and, as a result, has to jet all around town just to find his son’s (extremely basic) dream Christmas gift, the toy everyone wants that season: a Turboman action figure.

Action film style shenanigans that range from Howard discovering an illegal counterfeit ring run by men dressed in Santas to running from a bomb explosion in a radio station, ensue.

A radio station?! How nostalgic.

In true Arnie Schwarzenegger fashion circa the 1990s, things cap off with a happy ending that’s also family friendly. What more can you ask for from a mainstream Christmas film?

I’m not the biggest Arnold fan, but even I can’t deny that I grew up on a lot of his films. Before streaming there were the VHS tapes we had of the Terminator films (which happened to be directors cut versions. We didn’t know what that meant back then). There were the regular screenings of Kindergarten Cop on HBO (when it was still a cable channel–I have no idea what it is these days, streaming aside). As such, this felt less like an item on my checklist but a nostalgic rewatch that took me back to simpler days–when you couldn’t just order your gifts online and actually had to go to a store to buy them.

The film’s main plotline speaks to consumerism itself, albeit in its more innocent days. One toy, all he needed was one toy to make his son happy. This was long before the days of blind boxes and labubus–long before consumerism consumed us the way it has in 2025.

Watching Jingle All The Way reminded me of the same time capsule nostalgia I felt when watching another 90s classic: You’ve Got Mail. Whilst Jingle All The Way brought us a story during the innocent days of consumerism, You’ve Got Mail was all about the internet in its infancy–long before it became the hotbed of nefarious deeds and the subject of endless Netflix cautionary tales. Another thing to love about You’ve Got Mail–the bookstores. A delightful throwback to the days when you actually read in them.

Now, they just don’t feel the same.

Going back to Jingle All The Way, the film feels like a time capsule to me-so it does make me wonder how a younger audience would receive the film. I mean, it checks all the boxes of a holiday movie, but feels rooted in its time and place.

But then, who knows? Maybe it could resonate in a few years.

I’m sure it’s worth a shot.

Camp Fest 2024: Work, But Make It Christmas!

Last year’s slog of a Camp Fest made me come very close to giving up on this tradition.

This year’s insane time warp (at least, that’s what it felt like, how did 2024 zoom by so quickly?) changed my mind. Seven years, and you just drop it like that? Hell, no!

Inspired by my recent 500 day Duolingo streak, I’m now on a quest to reach Year Ten of enjoying campy yuletide movies. (#ADecadeofCamp Coming Soon!)

Thankfully, this once-a-year industry doesn’t hold back on the content, and this year’s haul was a relatively tolerable watch that will make reaching 10 years easier than I expect (hopefully…).

A Royal Date for Christmas

This year’s unofficial theme was thanks to this film.

Work, but it make it Christmas… aka, we’ve run out of the usual, Christmas related jobs and now have to make plotlines that center on jobs that don’t immediately scream yuletide cheer.

First on the list… stylist! Yes, stylist. Small town stylist with a rather lovely boutique for a small town stumbles onto an instant celebrity client in the form of a visiting royal with a sad past. Said royal needs a strange favor and now, our small town heroine goes from boutique owner to royal stylist to unofficial plus one to eventual roommate. Romance, and its accompanying plot-hole filled conventions, ensue.

As interesting as this film’s initial premise was, it honestly felt like a whole load of nothing. There was a scene where the lead waxes poetic about her aspirations of a ‘mobile styling station’, but nothing about it gripped or intrigued me. From the moment they introduced our male royal’s home country, Tangford, the immersion died even more. Why did they name his fictional country after a brand of tea? Don’t get me started on the extreme lack of chemistry between the two.

Frustrations aside, this film was what it was.

One thing I’ve come to realize in my seven years of yuletide film viewing is that the lesser you think about things, the better your viewing experience ends up becoming. Besides, most of these films are hardly vying for some artistic recognition ala the Academy Awards. They’re made to be light and feel-good– nothing more, nothing less.

Christmas on Windmill Way

One of my new favorite games during yuletide viewing season is checking in with some of my favorite actors known for iconic millennial roles. A few years back, we got to check in with Aaron Samuels of Mean Girls fame via the slog of a movie Christmas Made to Order. The year before brought us Cady Heron herself in the role of a good girl heiress in Falling for Christmas.

This year, we check in with Chad Michael Murray–a millennial icon that most of us self-professed hags remember either as Lucas Scott or Austin Ames of A Cinderella Movie fame. CMM came out with another holiday film this year, but I opted to watch an earlier release that came out last year in the form of Christmas on Windmill Way.

Our millennial fave goes from writer to real estate in this movie, wherein he helps his childhood sweetheart save her family windmill from demolition while at the same time serving as the ‘broker’? to the company that the windmill was sold to.

I’m usually a sucker for the childhood sweetheart turned enemies turned lovers again trope, but have yet to find a yuletide film that does it well. I was hoping this one would at least do last year’s Fall into Winter one better, but frankly, it did worse. That’s the ONLY misunderstanding you could think of? Really? Talk about a lack of substance.

Overall, I feel like this could’ve been done a lot better. The plot may not be as unconventional as A Royal Date for Christmas, but there’s nothing wrong with sticking to the tropes. When done right (written well, for example), they can make for iconic holiday viewing. Christmas on Windmill Way had that potential.

Unfortunately, that’s all it has.

‘Twas The Text Before Christmas

From checking in with millennial favorites to checking in with Christmas movie mainstays, Twas The Text Before Christmas reunites us with our idealistic caterer from Catering for Christmas (Merritt Patterson). She takes on the role of a marketer this time, and it’s a mistaken text from a lovely Nana, played by Jayne Eastwood that leads her on a “life-changing” Christmas journey all the way to Vermont.

When I first browsed past this film, it was its lack of a male lead that intrigued me. Could I finally have found a holiday film WITHOUT a male love interest? Could these movie studios have finally come around to not having love interests in Christmas films?

The answer is……………………………… no.

In the back of my mind, I had a feeling we were getting the ‘hot son/ grandson’ here, and we did. Thankfully the movie tries not to let that bubbling romance overshadow the deepening friendship she shares with the male lead’s mom and their family. It’s still a Christmas movie, after all.

Christmas at the Drive In

From the world of fashion to the world of furniture to the world of marketing, our next film takes us to the world of law in the form of a lawyer turned law professor and her businessman childhood sweetheart turned ex and their quest to save a town landmark.

What’s the town landmark this time, you may ask?

A drive in movie theatre.

I’m starting to wonder if I should even bother reviewing these movies on the merits of their plot potential, or if I should just discuss them on the merits of what they do with that potential.

For example, Christmas on Windmill Way just had potential–nothing more, nothing less. Christmas at the Drive In, however, definitely has both–a plot with potential, and execution that does something with the potential it has.

It just doesn’t do enough.

It isn’t as lacking as Christmas on Windmill Way, but I feel like it could have been so much better. I would’ve loved better use of the magic of movies theme as a way to add some substance to the plot, or perhaps a deeper story about the drive in that could explain why it’s so beloved to the town.

Thankfully, the plot makes good use of the drive in as an important landmark for the two leads.

One thing I forgot to mention here is that our beloved stylist from A Royal Date for Christmas returns here to play the idealistic law professor (she’s actress Danica McKellar). I feel she’s much more suited for this role then her stylist gig in the other film.

I can’t say I’m a fan of her male lead, however, who switches from a cold financier persona to a soft, wistful male lead at the snap of a finger (when it happens in the movie, it’s quite creepy). This makes the romance unfold like a person chipping away at a life-sized block of ice–one minute the man melts with memories of his past, the next minute he’s stoic and cold yet again. It almost makes the romance seem rather hopeless.

Another thing I’ve come to realize in these movies is–it seems like the ladies are pulling all the weight here. From Danica McKellar and Merritt Patterson, to Lacey Chabert and Vanessa Hudgens for Team Netflix. Where are the male Christmas leads? Where?! Could Chad Michael Murray be throwing his hat in as Christmas Movie Icon of the Streaming Age?

We’ll see.

Our Little Secret

It’s no holiday masterpiece, but I can confidently say our last film for this year’s fest definitely saved it. Our Little Secret reunites us with Lindsay Lohan as her character reunites with an ex who happens to be dating her current boyfriend’s sibling. Add in the iconic and talented Miss Kristin Chenoweth and you get a holiday comedy with rewatch potential.

There’s no small town landmark in danger in Our Little Secret, but maybe that’s a good thing. It gives the film time to focus on the relationship redevelopment between Lindsay’s character and that of her male lead (played by Ian Harding). A hilarious and ebullient ensemble cast adds to the holiday hilarity, making for a movie that’s the right amount of just right, and a pleasant end to an annual holiday tradition.

Of Tail Ends and Turning Points: An Extended Review of “13 Going On 30”

For an avid movie fan, films are like friendships. There are your favorites, there are the not-so favorites, and then, there are the fond friendships. The ones you see when you can–the good people in life that you share a connection with that even time won’t take away.

For me, that film was “13 Going On 30”. After several avid watches (and rewatches) in my teenage days, I never found myself making an effort to rewatch it regularly. I only saw it again about a year or so ago, when it finally made its way to the streaming service I was using.

Watching it again after so many years made me so happy, the kind of happy that I can only find with nostalgic movies like Harry Potter and the Lizzie McGuire Movie. Back then, it was an inspirational film–a main character model to aspire for that romanticized a lot of things for idealistic little girls like me. Things like glamorous journalism jobs, unrealistic closets, and sweet childhood best friends that would end up as sweet husbands. Like so many millennial girls, Jenna Rink and Andie Anderson were some of my favorite female characters.

Years had passed since last seeing the movie. A lot of things the film romanticized had been debunked for me. But no love was lost. It was just one of those movies, you know. A comfort film, a real manifestation of movie magic playing out in my humble little life.

But now, I’m afraid that’s going to change.

Back in 2004, turning 30 felt like an eternity. 20 years was a big number that felt so far away for a 10 year old girl. But I’m here now, and I’ve got nothing but mixed feelings.

On the one hand, there are moments I want to freak out–when I worry why I’m not yet at a point of success to be proud of.

On the other hand, I decide to be rational and realize that I understand the movie so much better now that I’m at that age. Jenna may have been wildly successful, and gotten everything she wanted at thirty, but she was never truly happy. I’m probably less fortunate than she is given that I’m not yet successful nor truly happy, but it’s inspired me to get there.

I’ve had my own derailments and obstacles, and just like Jenna at the end, I’ve decided to embrace this new beginning and find a real reason to just be happy. I feel like if I start with that, everything else (success included), will follow suit.

Besides, if 13 Going on 30 played out like real life, she’d never be able to redo things.

Camp Fest 2023: When Stock Images Come To Life

I don’t know if it’s because I’ve seen too much Christmas movies at this point, but I’m six years into this and… is it just me, or are Netflix Christmas movies getting so much worse?

This year’s film haul was quite a slog to get through–and it wasn’t because I spent every few minutes pausing to cringe or laugh at something ridiculous. Perhaps I should’ve gone with my original idea instead: switching streaming services for a Camp Fest series aptly named (Amazon) Prime Time.

But alas, here I am–stubborn to uphold a tradition that I started out of boredom in the middle of the busiest month of my year. For now, the big changes to Camp Fest can wait.

Catering Christmas

While vying for the chance to cater a prestigious local yuletide event, an up and coming caterer to be meets (and falls for!) the nephew of the event’s longtime host.

This was the film that gave me hope Camp Fest would start out well. As someone who works in the catering business, it was a pleasant surprise to see this career in a Christmas movie. Imagine the aesthetic holiday buffets! The pretty shots of holiday ham glowing under the soft white light as snow falls outside! The potential was there.

I’m afraid that’s all the movie has: potential. First of all, no one in catering has enough time to hang around with one client in the midst of December. That’s a universal busiest time of the year for people in food. Second of all, you should be hustling much harder if you’re an up and coming caterer trying to succeed. What are you doing focusing on this one dinner when you should be out there getting more clients?

Lastly, I’m not expecting The Bear level presentation of a life in the culinary world, but can you at least look like you actually spend time in the kitchen?

Forgive me. I think I may have gotten a little too caught up in the food related aspects of the film to even absorb the story. It’s not like I lost out–really.

There wasn’t much of a story to begin with.

A Merry Christmas Wish

Manhattan Marketer has to tie up loose ends at her uncle’s childhood farm after he dies. While back at his place, she encounters a former childhood friend who turns out to be running the farm that she’s meant to inherit. Connections, conversations, and the revival of tradition ensue.

There isn’t much to say about this movie. It’s not good, but it’s not absolutely awful either. The story was pretty straightforward, and if there’s one thing I can say I like about this and all the movies I’ve seen so far–it’s that they seem to do a good job of casting actors that look like real people. But, yet again… that’s where the good things end. They look like attractive, real people–but the leads don’t have chemistry. The male lead doesn’t manage to pass as being related to his onscreen sister. The female lead and her supposed ‘boyfriend’ at the start of the film look more like brother and sister. No wonder they broke up.

This film’s worst offense might be its main premise. Really? That’s it?! Your big Christmas wish, your big holiday tradition is a barn centric night market? There was barely a town’s worth of people in that barn. Looks to me like Manhattan Marketer isn’t that good at her job.

A Brush with Christmas

From the moment this film’s opening credits left in a wall shot that showed a fake diploma hanging on the protagonist’s restaurant wall, I knew I wasn’t going to like this movie. It didn’t help that our frustrated artist by night/ reluctant chef by day kept doing the stupidest things which burned whatever food she was cooking.

While Catering Christmas’ lead at least had to work to get her big gig, A Brush with Christmas’ lead had her mom’s dating skills to thank for keeping her busy throughout the holiday season. If you watch the movie, you’ll see what I mean.

The only thing this has going for it is the unique premise.

Fall Into Winter

So this is what happens when you get into some legal trouble helping your kid get into a good college–you end up making a movie about being a childish small town chocolatier.

Lori Loughlin does what she can with a script that makes her go from mature single mother to teenager with a grudge in minutes, triggered by a nickname as innocent as ‘Bean’. Her male lead looks like the adult version of a famous childhood character (I can’t remember which one!) and seems like a nice enough guy that Lori’s grudge doesn’t really make sense. Another thing that doesn’t make sense? The film’s hilarious final sequence, which does a terrible job of speed running romantic comedy tropes that have been done a thousand times better in the past.

Good rom coms that use the person-from-my-past trope often have two things: a substantial past event, and a character who still embodies the traits from the so-called ‘substantial past’ that they share with the protagonist, albeit to a lesser degree.

Brooks McLeod (what is that name!?) and Kerrie, Lori’s character, share the ‘substantial past’, but the traits are gone. He’s a totally different, grown-up person, and she just seems immature holding a grudge about something he didn’t even know about. I would’ve loved a harsher misunderstanding that would make sense for such a longtime grudge.

On the plus side, the film has some endearing side characters–Brooks’ dad and Kerry’s sole employee Alexandra are my favorites. Another positive–the way the film tied the leads’ teenage beliefs to their present circumstance. The theme of big business businessman vs small town shop owner was another thing I enjoyed.

B&B Merry

This was the last film on my list, and it inspired the theme for this year’s Camp Fest, which runs through most of this year’s selections. When stock images come to life, they become movies like B&B Merry, a film so… bland I can’t even remember the names of the lead characters. Every scene feels more like a still image that you end up finding when you type ‘Christmas’ in Google Images.

It’s honestly kind of sad, given that the film has a cool premise going with a travel influencer protagonist meeting her match in a rugged photographer slash handyman who just happens to co-own the B&B she visits. When I first chose this movie, I was at least expecting some cheeky comedy involving the B&B having bad plumbing or something. What I did get was empty rooms, two so-so B&B owners, and another example of an onscreen coupling devoid of chemistry.

The film’s major conflict presents such an outdated opportunity as a big deal that it just makes things look even worse.

Look, I know the holidays are a time when we can afford to waste time–but this film doesn’t even deserve that kind of time. Just skip it.

Camp Fest 2022: Five Years, another Five Films

When does a tradition become a tradition? When you do it out of habit? When you don’t feel its impending arrival burden your heart for a second before it arrives? Or when it becomes such a seamless part of the life you live that you just can’t imagine a world without it?

I guess I’ve reached that point. This entry marks five years since I first started watching five Netflix Christmas films, and writing brief reviews of them for this blog every holiday season. In the months that precede and follow the holidays, I’m as far from writing as I could be. My day job is a living pursuit of a whole other passion. But, I did it. For some reason, even if my life is barely a life where I write regularly, here I am– another Christmas, another blog.

So, here I go again. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Here’s to another five years, and another five blogs!

Falling for Christmas

A millennial blast from the past comes to life with the acting return of Lindsay Lohan alongside Chord Overstreet, who I only know as that hot blonde guy from Glee who I thought was cute when I was a teenager. Snobby heiress loses her memory after falling from a cliff, and ends up in the arms of a widowed resort owner and his down-on-its-luck ski resort. The plot is cookie cutter Netflix Christmas, but I feel like its a film that will resonate with millennials who grew up on Lindsay Lohan. The best part of the film was her ebullience–you could tell she was so happy to be there, so happy to be acting again, and that adds to the charm of Falling for Christmas. Unfortunately, she plays snobby heiress a bit like Cady Heron, but richer and dressed in couture (read: too nice!). Either way, it’s a respectable return, and a good start. Hoping to see more!

Christmas at the Palace

Ever wonder what it would be like if stock images came to life and ended up as a Netflix movie? Christmas at the Palace is your answer. Skating choreographer ends up working during the holidays when she agrees to produce a Christmastime show for male model/king/widower and his meh princess of a daughter. A mess of a film and a plot with potential wasted terribly thanks to bad acting–flat out bad acting. I hope someone picks up on the theme of skating and Christmas in another movie because that is a plot point that has so much potential if done right, and done beautifully. Lifeless is an understatement to describe the chemistry between the leads. P.S. Someone needs to do a ranked list of Best and Worst Netflix Christmas Movie Daughters. Why do they always have daughters? Why not sons?

Elf

A mainstream film that always seems to appear on quintessential Christmas film lists. I gave it a watch after so long and the appeal is there–unlike Netflix movies, it doesn’t slap you in the face with Christmas, but presents a plot tied to the holiday in a sensible, non convoluted manner. Its themes are also pretty constant when it comes to the holidays, and I think that’s what adds to its charm. What doesn’t add to its charm is the gratuitous spaghetti and chocolate syrup scenes. That was gross.

This Christmas

I consider this a goldmine find– a slice of life movie that centers on dynamics and not the occasion with a talented cast of African American actors that have gone on to bigger things (Idris Elba, Regina King, Loretta Devine, etc.) since 2007. The film centers on the Whitmore family, their first holiday celebration together in four years and the shenanigans that go along with the season. It’s been called cliché, but the film does those tropes good and makes the movie a timeless watch. My favorite part is how the writing unfolds the conflicts that the film presents–beginning with a seemingly wholesome family celebration, and slowly peeling away, onion style, to unearth the not-so savory themes underneath.

It apparently did pretty well at the box office when it came out in 2007, so I’m wondering why people don’t bring this film up when we talk of holiday films. Could it have something to do with Chris Brown being in it? I have no idea.

A California Christmas

I’ve hovered over the previews of this movie while browsing my Netflix homepage for a while, but I’ve been reluctant to watch given my lack of success with non snowy Netflix holiday films.

Newsflash: I’m still UNSUCCESSFUL!

I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been reading too much real world accounts of what life is like for farmers in the US taken advantage of by big agriculture companies, but this story just wasn’t it for me. On the one hand, they probably wanted to make it relatable, on the other hand, I… it just made me uncomfortable.

Plot issues aside, it’s not like the film had anything else to offer. The girl is too serious, burdened by the plot with everything from debt to an ailing mother. The guy is an unconvincing playboy, whose spoiled streak disappears after a badly done montage. How did he go from ‘oooh I’m too rich for this farm work shit’ to natural ranch hand so quickly? A little context would’ve helped add some credibility to this, but the film just doesn’t have that.

The end, given the beginning, is predictable. The real question is: how did this shitty movie get a sequel? WHO asked for more? I sure didn’t.