- Content: “Adorable Romantic Comedy for Christmas”
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What You Need To Know:
CHRISTMAS AT THE INN is an adorable, heartwarming and funny Christmas romantic comedy. It has a nice story, with a charming message about gratitude and giving. The movie is well produced and acted, but the main conflict could use a little bit more emotional weight. However, CHRISTMAS AT THE INN has a really strong moral, pro-family, patriotic worldview with strong Christian content that includes positive references to the true meaning of Christmas. CHRISTMAS AT THE INN also extols serving one’s country, humility, gratitude, kindness, and helping other people.
Content:
Very strong moral, pro-family worldview with strong Christian content and values including positive references to Mary and Joseph and the Latin American Christmas tradition of posadas, someone writes a blessing on a piece of paper that starts with God, people extol humility, gratitude, kindness, and helping other people, there’s talk about putting family first, there are Christmas decorations and American flags everywhere in honor of veterans, a character says, “I’m blessed,” some references to gratitude imply God’s responsible, and a character compliments someone for leaving Christmas lights up until February, plus some pro-capitalist free market content;
No foul language;
No violence (a woman punches a man on the shoulder, but not very hard);
No sex scenes or crude sexual content (a man and woman sit next to each other with the man’s hand on the woman’s lap and they hold hands, woman briefly touches man’s lap and puts her other hand on his shoulder, and there is some hand holding, flirtatious looks, hugs, and a kiss on the lips between a man and a woman);
No nudity;
No alcohol use;
No smoking or drugs;
A person takes the credit for a task but gets a humility check from another person, and the first person acknowledges this.
More Detail:
The movie begins with Beth and her best friend, Emily, as they decorate Beth’s café with Christmas wreaths. Emily urges a reluctant Beth to go home a few days before Christmas and assuring Beth that she’s got the coffee shop covered. Beth surprises her parents by showing up at their Garland Inn in Snow Ridge.
Meanwhile, Jack visits his brother, Will, and Will’s wife, Natalie, in Snow Ridge as a last-minute schedule change from the military. They try to convince him to stay at their place, but he tells them he’s going to stay at the Garland Inn, because he knew they’re going to have a full house.
Jack arrives at the inn right after Beth, and he checks in with Beth’s father, who directs Jack to his room. However, Jack mistakes Beth’s room for his. They run into each other and recall that they know one another from the disastrous blind date they had years ago.
CHRISTMAS AT THE INN is an adorable Christmas romantic comedy that has solid directing, writing, editing, and acting, It has a nice story with a charming message about gratitude and giving. The movie has technical prowess both behind and in front of the camera with a specific shot that comes in and out of focus going from a close-up of someone’s hand putting an ornament on a Christmas tree to focus on another character sitting further away observing this. The only downside lies in the lack of close-ups on actors’ faces for the more intimate moments.
All the actors give delightful performances, especially Jill Wagner and Trevor Donovan as Beth and Jack, respectively. When Wagner speaks, she surprisingly sounds a lot like Scarlett Johansson, in the best way possible. Wagner does a great job portraying someone who wants to make sure everything gets done and has an unhealthy obsession with lists, but the people around her ground her. Trevor Donovan captivates as Jack. He brings a sincerely and earnestness to the role than some viewers will most likely appreciate. He does great work portraying a kind-hearted man.
What makes this movie only ever so slightly disappointing involves the stakes. It doesn’t feel like the main conflict, Beth accepting Jack and trying to learn to get along with him, has any real emotional weight. Things get resolved way too quickly. Also, the movie has a predictable ending, which is usually the case for romantic comedies, and it is more of a nitpick and not an issue. If people like these kinds of movies, they know what they are getting themselves into. Viewers should not expect a plot twist. However, in true Great American Family and Up TV fashion, families will love this clean and pleasant movie.
CHRISTMAS AT THE INN has a strong moral and strong Christian, pro-family worldview with positive references to Mary and Joseph and to the Latin American Christmas tradition of posadas. There is talk about the first star of Poland. Someone writes a blessing on a piece of paper that starts with God. The movie also extol humility, kindness and gratitude, are extolled with a man helping with Christmas decorations and anything that needs to be done. There is talk about putting family first. There are Christmas decorations and American flags everywhere in honor of veterans. Also, people make a Christmas wreath. A character says, “I’m blessed.” Also, some references to gratitude imply that God’s responsible. Finally, a character in CHRISTMAS AT THE INN compliments someone for leaving Christmas lights up until February.
