Plot Summary
Mary Tobin loves her family’s Christmas Lodge out in the country, away from the big city, but with her grandfather dying, she is told by the lodger’s caretaker that the family business is in trouble if thing don’t turn around fast. Mary drags her city boyfriend out to the lodge, who hates it there, which prompts Mary to begin falling for the caretaker of the lodge, since he likes the outdoors and stuff. Will they be able to save the lodge together?
Production Quality (2 points)
As usual for this type of film, Christmas Lodge has a typically fine production. This include good video and audio quality, even though there are some random moments of shaky camera work. The soundtrack is fairly standard. Sets and locations are mostly limited to a handful of options, perhaps due to the plot’s limited scope. Props are fine, however, and the editing is surprisingly okay. In the end, Christmas Lodge is a very run-of-the-mill, standard production that is commonplace in the Christmas genre.
Plot and Storyline Quality (.5 point)
As if this plot idea has never been done before, here is another go at it! It is a predictable return the hometown plot to find a forced romance in the hometown instead of the alternative yet unreasonable ‘city’ relationship storyline. Also, a save the bed and breakfast plot is shoved into it as well, along with some typical holiday stuff. Though there is a lot of stereotypical hometown dialogue, and though the characters are basically flat, there are some attempts here to at least make them realistic. Also, though this is a slightly more realistic version of this plot idea, everything revolves around the lodge and is much too formulaic. The Christian message is vague, and there are too many cheesy romantic conventions, including a juvenile conflict that is fixed in the last five minutes. At this point, all we can ask is how many more of these will be made?
Acting Quality (2.5 points)
Surprisingly, the acting is the strongest point of this film. The cast members appear to be comfortable in their roles and are definitely above average in their performances. There are just some minor errors to point out, mostly due to some underwhelming performances. However, it must be considered that there was not much content to work with here. Considering this, the acting work is great.
Conclusion
Christmas Lodge is just a very safe and typical holiday film that plays on the television in the background. On paper, it is a strong film, but it is certainly not a dynamic one. If you’re going to use this worn out plot line, there are still better things you can do with it, such as craft deep and complex characters through realistic and character-building dialogue. However, it’s also easy to settle for another stock Christmas movie.
Final Rating: 5 out of 10 points
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