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Daredevil season 3 would have been a better gift thank you very much Netflix.
I know that "The Punisher" and "The Get Down" had to be funded somehow but come on Netflix! You are soooooooo much better than this. You guys have put out Christmas specials satirizing Christmas specials.
I know that “Fuller House” money must be tantalizing but you
really had to try and give Hallmark a run for its money?
The genre of schmaltzy, emotionally manipulative, hetero
normative holiday specials about upper middle class or higher people with nonexistent
problems is a brand of holiday television movie that we market to our
grandmothers and you’re using your cutting edge content delivery platform to
deliver it to an audience sustained by millenials?
Perhaps I’d be more forgiving of “Christmas Inheritance”
were it at least a unique addition in that regard to the streaming mogul’s
content catalogue but not only is that not the case, it’s the less prolifically
marketed of the two.
This one in question is of the rich girl learning of the
simple country folk ways variety.
Ellen Langford goes to her father’s hometown incognito from
her party heiress public persona granted to her by paparazzi as the
rambunctious daughter of a multimillion dollar gift business in a fantasy world
where doing gymnastics at a party on a dare for monetary donations to Toys for
Tots somehow results in public ridicule and corporate condemnation rather than
social media sensation status and the heiress of a gift company can somehow be
a triple A celebrity recognizable by name.
That fantasy land comment has never felt more appropriate
regarding these milquetoast features as “Christmas Inheritance” occasionally
goes out of its way to push the discerning viewer outside of their grasp on any
sort of reality.
The very conceit of the premise aside, which is hilariously
out of touch with modern social mores, the movie’s efforts to force slapstick
are so out of left field and implausible you’d think they were crammed in
during post production after they forgot to shoot in principal photography.
Beyond that, everything about human interaction just seems
slightly off in ways that range from distracting to outright hilarious. Part of
Ellen’s incongnito mission involves leaving behind all of her credit cards,
making the trip on a budget of only $100. I guess it’s a good thing that she
doesn’t get mugged and conveniently falls in with the troubled past having, nice
guy “dream boat” with resources who can immediately get her a job after she
uses up the money after 2 nights.
The movie even has the nerve to try and have it both ways
with its small town’s “rustic charm.” Upon arrival, her local nice guy love
interest Jake comically points out too her that cellphone reception in the town
is basically nonexistent. This kind of hokey misunderstanding of how prolific
cell phones are to the modern functioning of society is funny in and of itself
but to later have a scene in which he is offended by the notion of how backward
they are, claiming indignantly that despite their farcically poor cell phone
reception, they still have internet, despite the previous night talking about
how poor landline reception is because the weather freezes the wires? This is
probably the hardest a Fromage subject has made me laugh in years.
I’m not entirely sure whether or not this film was commissioned
specifically by Netflix for production or if its license/distribution rights
were merely acquired by them for a production assembled by the same folks that
produced these sort of low rent overly sentimental Hallmark movies but however
it came into being, it hits just about all of the trappings to a tee, between
the two leads falling in love over the course of 3 days despite knowing next to
nothing about one another, to being rich apparently meaning one biologically
lacks the capacity for common sense, to spontaneously dumping her fiancé whose character
flaw of being a braying jackass just never quite seemed to register to her
before.
As much as I complain about Netflix stooping to this level
of laziness however, I can’t deny that seeing what passes as charming in
entertainment to an audience that would be more likely to let this play on a
lazy Saturday afternoon with a cable box can be a fascinating peek into the
world of cynical prepackaged media transmitted emotions at worst and downright
unintentionally hilarious at best.
The only real downside to “Christmas Inheritance” in that
regard is that it doesn’t quite push the envelope enough. Once all of the shenanigans
fall to the way side for the schmaltzy second half to kick in, the movie
becomes more banal than anything else, even if it’s never fully void of the occasional
ironic laugh.
2½ out of 4 Shatners
Bottom Line: Whether your laughing with it or laughing at it, "Christmas Inheritance" could have wrought worse results from Netflix's blatant act of slumming it.
Merry Christmas y'all.
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