- Content: “Dysfunctional Family Learns to Reconcile”
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What You Need To Know:
A CHRISTMAS MURDER MYSTERY closely follows the story formulas and conventions of many murder mysteries. The Christmas romance mostly takes a backseat. However, it’s a charming movie, though it gets a little melodramatic, especially in the beginning. A CHRISTMAS MURDER MYSTERY has a strong moral worldview. It promotes truth, justice and family reconciliation. However, besides the murder, the movie has some other violence and two offscreen extramarital affairs in the plot. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for younger children.
Content:
Strong moral worldview where justice prevails, truth and sin are exposed, family love is repaired, and forgiveness and reconciliation occurs, plus there’s a lot of Christmas music and decorations in the background;
No foul language;
Some violence with no blood such as older man is found poisoned to death in his bed, there’s a small wrestling fight between two men, a person is pushed down a stairway, and murderer hits another person in the head;
No implied or depicted sex scenes, but one son is the result of an extramarital affair, and another son’s wife wants a divorce and is cheating on him;
No nudity;
People drink scotch and wine, and a man goes searching for alcohol;
No smoking or drugs; and,
There’s a lot of lying to keep secrets, and a man runs a nightclub with alleged connections to the mafia.
More Detail:
The story follows Vera Vexley, a young woman who works as a crossword editor for her local paper as well as a consulting detective. Vera is also low on social graces, possibly on the autistic spectrum. She’s incredibly logical, OCD and ridiculously observant. If there was a great comparison for this character it would be as if Hercule Poirot was turned into a modern-day young woman, sprinkled with a dash of Mr. Monk.
Instead of spending Christmas alone, Vera is invited by a family friend of her mother’s, Ellen Sterling and her husband, Harold. The Sterlings are one of the wealthiest families in their small town and have invited a few people to celebrate Christmas. There’s their nightclub owning son, Michael, his wife Jan, their daughter, Katherine, their other son, a literary academic named Troy, and their lawyer, Darren.
On Christmas morning, Harold is found dead in his bed, having been poisoned. Vera calls the Sheriff’s Office, but the Deputy Sheriff, Neal, says the Sheriff has gone fishing, So, Vera and Deputy Neal start investigating the case.
During their investigation, Vera discovers quite a few secrets about the Sterling family. First, she discovers that Michael and Jan are getting a divorce. On top of that, Jan is having an affair with Darren, the family lawyer. Also, Katherine, the daughter, reveals that their father frequently pitted the children against each other to build up their ruthless business sense. Vera also learns that Troy isn’t Harold’s biological son but is the result of an affair his wife, Ellen, had years ago. Finally, Darren says he was invited because Harold wanted to announce some changes to his will to the family.
As Vera follows all these clues, she starts falling in love with Troy, even though he could be a prime suspect.
A CHRISTMAS MURDER MYSTERY is a mashup of two film genres and many classic movie conventions, story formulas and archetypes. The movie revolves around a young woman on a Christmas holiday who finds love over Christmas. Various Christmas songs play in the background, including “Good King Wenceslas,” “Feliz Navidad,” and “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies.” Plus, there are the typical Christmas decorations like wreathes, trees, lights, ornaments, Nativity scenes, and angels. Finally, A CHRISTMAS MURDER MYSTERY has many of the classic story formulas of a murder mystery, including an investigation, an atypical detective, interrogations, hidden affairs, family secrets, and hidden twists and agendas, all culminating in a big reveal exposing the culprit. All these motifs blend together fairly well.
A CHRISTMAS MURDER MYSTERY has good production values. The story is well-paced, the camera angles are on point, and the story leads to a good climax. That said, the acting is sometimes a bit melodramatic, especially in the beginning. Some humor helps. Perhaps the biggest problem, however, is that some of the lighting is a little too bright for the movie’s subject matter and tone.
A CHRISTMAS MURDER MYSTERY has a strong moral worldview. For example, the movie promotes justice and family forgiveness. Vera spends the majority of the movie ensuring that Harold receives justice for his murder by trying to catch the murderer. Also, the family’s ordeal forces them to air out and discuss their problems. This leads them to forgive one another and become closer as a family. In this case, A CHRISTMAS MURDER MYSTERY fits very well into the murder mystery genre, where a murder disrupts a family’s life, and the detective arrives to solve the murder and re-establish order within the family, and, by extension, society.
You can’t have a murder mystery without sin, however, and A CHRISTMAS MURDER MYSTERY fits well with this. Thus, there are two extramarital affairs in the movie,
There are a few moments in the movie with some concerning elements. There are not one but two affairs in the movie. However, no sex or nudity is shown for these affairs. Besides the murder, A CHRISTMAS MURDER MYSTERY also has some other violence. A small fight occurs, a character is conked on the head, and a person is pushed down a stairway.
So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for younger children.
