Jenna, Played by Bethany Joy Lenz, is a very detailed and organized (i.e. anal retentative) writer for an online magazine in New York City. She has recently been dumped by her ex-boyfriend, Andrew (Jefferson Brown), and is up for a lead story on Christmas in Aspen. Kevin, played by Andrew Walker, is a fellow writer for the same magazine who is messy, unorganized and spontaneous. Andrew seems to have issues around Christmas and is using the Aspen article, which he is also up for, as an excuse to avoid going home for the holiday. They both arrive in a meeting with their boss who bluntly tells her staff that viewership is dropping and there will be staff reductions coming in the new year. She then tells Jenna and Kevin that they are BOTH going to Aspen to write stories. They are her two best writers and they both will do a story for the Christmas Edition so she can tell who is her most popular writer and who needs to be let go.
Now, I’m no expert in the publication business but if you are cutting personnel do you really want to keep your best employee and get rid of the second best? Wouldn’t it make more sense to keep your best writers and get rid of the weaker ones instead? I mean, were the other 8 writers in the meeting all making minimum wage or unpaid interns? Well, whatever, so that’s the deal. Deliver the best Christmas article or start putting together your resume! Before leaving for the airport, Jenna is visited by Andrew who
Jenna is utterly petrified of flying, despite her denials, and gets annoyed at the noises from Kevin’s 1970s era handheld computer game. He later has her play to distract her (she’s also way better than him at the game it seems) and all is well until severe turbulence befalls the plane. They find out the Aspen airport is closed due to weather and they are being redirected to Santa Claus, Indiana. At the airport they find that all flights are cancelled and there are no available rooms in town. That is, of course, until they run into Chris and Carol Winters who just happen to own a local Inn. The fact that Chris has white hair and a beard and drives a red car they call 'Rudolph' makes it no shock that their Inn is decked out, top to bottom, in Christmas decorations. I doubt it would surprise me if it later turned out that the whole place had been build out of Gingerbread by elves.
The next day at breakfast they learn that all flights to Aspen are still cancelled. They also find that it will be the last Christmas at the Winters Inn because developers are going to shut them down and build luxury condos. The Inn used to have the protection of being designated a historical landmark (founded by St. Nick) but that has been challenged by the developers and the original filing has been lost. There’s no insight given into what, despite the Inn being open for hundreds of years, would cause closure now. Is there is a revenue problem, a pending mortgage foreclosure, late payments on some note, is the town using eminent domain to obtain the property, etc? Maybe “developers” can just use their "evil magic Wall Street powers” to attain any property in this town.
Kevin and Jenna call the magazine and explain their situation which leads to their boss telling them to find an article there in Santa Claus, Indiana. Both complain but are essentially told to STFU and do it or get ready for the unemployment line. This leads them to the natural next step of . . . . putting up Christmas lights and decorating the Christmas Tree (Seriously, MORE decorations? It already looks like Santa’s village threw up in this place.)!!! While decorating with the Winters both Kevin and Jenna rehash fond memories from their childhood Christmases. Jenna decides that the historical landmark status is what she will do her story on and save the Inn. Kevin finds Chris reading a bag of letters written to Santa (Well, that’s not odd is it?) in the lobby. Later he runs into Jenna downtown while exploring. They both stumble across an area filled with kids waiting to see Santa (and of course Chris is the town Santa and Carol is his helper). They see a deaf child signing to his mother that he doesn’t want to go in line because he is embarrassed. Kevin knows this because he knows how to sign. He goes over to the boy and reassures him that it will be okay and the boy returns to the line. That night, while researching her story online about the historic landmark status, Jenna overhears Kevin talking to his sister and misleading her that he is in Aspen and having a great time.
That night, neither Kevin nor Jenna can sleep. Jenna even takes to watching an old video of her ex, Andrew (I know, pathetic right?). Both end up in the kitchen where Kevin offers to make her something to eat. They proceed to make Christmas cookies together (the staple of any late night snack – something that takes hours to prepare), having fun playing, chatting and gazing fondly at each other. During this exchange Kevin admits that he wanted the Aspen piece to avoid Christmas. Jenna admits that her childhood Christmas stories were fabricated fantasies because she grew up an orphan. She then talks about her breakup with her ex and the Christmas plans they had made with his family. They proceed to go for a walk around town only to discover they are both big fans of the other’s writing.
The next morning, Kevin asks Jenna to accompany him on a trip in Rudolph, Chris and Carol’s car. On the way, he admits he grew up in Indiana and they are on their way to see his family. He has been avoiding Christmas with his family for 3 years since his father’s passing. The family is overjoyed to see Kevin and Jenna. Together they spend the day doing Christmas activities at the house. Everything is going well until they return to the Inn when Kevin makes it sound as if he just wants to be friends. They argue which almost leads to a kiss that Kevin doesn’t follow through on, giving Jenna the impression that he isn’t interested in anything beyond a working friendship.
The next day, while searching for the Landmark agreement, Jenna stumbles on a photo of Chris and Carol dated in the mid 1800s. She takes it to Kevin who doesn’t believe it and thinks Jenna is just too obsessed about Santa Clause (although it does make Chris’s earlier statement about not seeing the Landmark agreement since it was in the hands of Teddy Roosevelt a bit more understandable.). Kevin invites her to the Christmas festival and asks that she read his article when he is finished. Working on her story Jenna receives a call from her boss (who clearly is closer to Jenna than Kevin) and during their conversation she admits she likes Kevin. Jenna finds Chris out in his workshop preparing his Sleigh for Christmas (Okaaayyyyyy) and shows him the picture he found. Before Chris can answer Kevin shows up and asks about the Dance that night. Since neither he nor Jenna have anything formal, Carol and Chris have taken the liberty of finding them more formal attire for the evening.
Kevin takes a call from his sister where he tells her he is in love with Jenna and thinks she feels the same. He also asks her to prepare a stocking for her at their home. At the dance he meets with Chris and Carol when Jenna walks in (cue the 15 second pause for them to gaze lovingly at each other) and they all gather together. Chris excuses himself with Carol as he must leave his own Christmas Eve party because he has a lot of things he must get done that evening (not suspicious at all). Jenna is depressed because she never finished her article but tries to forget by dancing with Kevin. During the dance Kevin starts to tell Jenna something when, SUDDENLY, who shows up but Santa’s arch-enemy Krampus . . . errrrr . . . I mean Kevin’s arch-enemy Andrew!!! Andrew arrives wanting to rekindle his relationship with Jenna and to take her home to meet his family. Before leaving with Andrew, a confused Jenna exchanges a sad and awkward goodbye with Kevin (who she essentially tosses aside like a used trash bag).
Kevin, grieving in his room, and Jenna from her airport hotel room stare up at the sky and both see the legendary Christmas glow in the sky (though Andrew cannot see it because he does not possess the Christmas spirit . . . or is Evil . . . either one.). Kevin finds the Historical Landmark agreement in the pocket of his borrowed jacket and sets to work revising his article. The next day at the airport Jenna (who is wearing a high cut shirt in the middle of winter) learns that Andrew’s family has fewer Christmas Traditions than your typical rabbi. She gets a call from the magazine where her boss congratulates her on their joint article. Jenna reads the article and realizes that Kevin loves her and understands her which gives her the strength to dump Andrew (Wow, a real leap of faith there Jenna). Kevin is celebrating (and grieving) Christmas with his family when Jenna shows up and tells him she loves him too. They embrace, kiss and get down to Christmas Charades while hoping they can get snowed in together for New Years also. Meanwhile, back at Winters Inn, Carol finally addresses Chris as “Santa” and we see the photo that Jenna found proudly displayed on the fireplace mantle.
So despite all the obvious signs that Jenna and Kevin discovered in their brief stay, no one from the town has been able to piece it together in the past couple centuries. So when an 80 year old man tells Chris he looks the same as he did when that man was in high school . . . no one bats an eye. When they go to renew their driver’s licenses for the 25th time . . . ehh, no big deal. Santa Magic!!! I’m guessing these developers are wondering who keeps putting coal in their stockings every year.
Sure, there is some suspension of belief here but it IS a Christmas story. Andrew Walker is first rate in his role as Kevin and Bethany Joy Lenz is a delight as Jenna. The two leads have good chemistry and their interaction and banter never seem fake. The two of them carry this movie. I give it a 4 out of 5 stars.
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