Finally, the never before told story of a star who is unhappy and needs to find the meaning of Christmas to realize the direction they want their life to go. Meet Addy (Becca Tobin) who is a young country music singer who looks like she’s about 19 and is just adorable and Dylan (Kevin McGarry) who looks like a 30 year-old cowboy caricature. Surprisingly, Becca is actually older that Kevin in real life so . . . there’s that. Apparently any character named Dylan has to have the exact same hair style as Dylan McKay from Beverly Hills 90210. If that was the intent then – Mission Accomplished!!! Let me be upfront, by the end of the movie I had a crush on Becca Tobin. She carried the movie and was both believable and sympathetic. As for the Luke Perry wannabe Dylan . . . ehhh . . . enough about him.
So Addy is on her way to . . . I don’t know . . . Nashville maybe (it’s not important) for a Christmas concert. She also has a fake relationship going on in Social Media with another famous singer. Her even nemesis is her manager, of course, since we all know that agents and managers are dirty, manipulative people who simply suck the lifeforce out of their clients and leave them on the side of the road once they are no longer prosperous. Speaking of being left on the side of the road, that EXACT same thing happens to Addy. When her tour bus leave the Podunk town without her she is forced to take shelter in the home of Hailey and Luke Perry . . . errr . . . Dylan. Of course she had exchanged some rather terse words with Dylan PRIOR to her abandonment because . . . you know . . . we have to establish that characters don’t get along before they are forced to spend time together and fall in love. It’s not like you could actually have a little spark with someone right off the bat . . . nooooooo sireee.
So Hailey meets the Lapp Family and by the time her hapless manager realizes he left his meal ticket deep in the heart of pickup truck country she has become enamored with this new family and wants to stay with them longer. She also finds out that Dylan is a talented musician in his own right who has given up his dream to stay on the family ranch. While her decision angers the evil manager, he is powerless to stop her . . . at least for now. The Lapp Family ranch is a dairy ranch that also just happens to sell . . . wait for it . . . CHRISTMAS TREES!!! Now that Country Music, famous celebrity in disguise and Christmas have all been neatly tied together the real sparks can fly. And do they as Dylan and Addy share their love of music, Christmas decorating and doing ranch chores. Dylan tries his best not to fall in love since he knows who she really is and she’ll soon be returning to her busy celebrity life but she’s just too . . . . Becca Tobin for even him to resist.
I must give a shout out to Kendra Leigh Timmons who does a nice job playing Hailey, Dylan’s teenage sister. Hailey organizes a Christmas Village at the ranch to help sell enough trees to save the Ranch from foreclosure (of course). Eventually, Hailey discovers who Addy really is because apparently small towns in rural America have a lot of country music fans. If she had taken shelter with a family in downtown Chicago there’s no telling how many years she could have gone undiscovered. Just as Hailey confronts Addy, her manager Russell pulls up in his tour bus after having finally tracked her down. Russell tells Addy that she gets to be on her favorite morning show (teenagers grow up having favorite morning shows?) albeit with her fake boyfriend Country Star #cantrememberhisname #dontcare #notimportant.
Dylan is left heartbroken as Addy leaves but Addy is also conflicted from their time together. Somebody convinces Dylan he needs to go to Addy because they were so good together (Don’t remember who it was. Maybe mom, dad, sis, yoda, sparky the talking dog . . . whoever). Addy goes to her interview on some Good Morning America type show and confesses that she’s not in a relationship with . . . ummm . . . Country Star. She says she really loves Dylan and thanks his family for helping her find her way. As she leaves the studio guess who she sees? Nope, it’s not Jim Carrey but wouldn’t that be so cool??? It’s Dylan who drove all night to wait with a bunch of teenybopper Addy fans out by her tour bus. Judging by the number of fans though I don’t know if her music career is really gonna be that long.
So now that this is all pretty much wrapped up the only thing left is to save the ranch. Addy suggests she could do a performance at the ranch to raise the money even though it means cancelling her big Christmas Day performance because apparently it’s against the Country Music Star Prime Directive to actually give or loan money. I mean if she cuts a check then how can she sing in Dylan’s Barn to end the movie? And perform with him the song that she and Dylan wrote together? See, it all comes full circle.
I give this movie 4 out of 5 stars because of . . . . Becca “friggin” Tobin. She and McGarry did have some on-screen chemistry. And who knows, maybe McGarry’s character was intended to be a douche-ier version of Lyle Lovett and he has some charisma in real life. If so, tremendous performance Kevin.
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