You guys, they did it. After the critically acclaimed(?) A Christmas Prince, Netflix gifted us another original Christmas movie, Christmas Inheritance. While the most likely scenario is this movie had been in the works for a while, if you told me Netflix – after seeing how much buzz Prince had generated – planned, wrote, cast, filmed, edited, and released it all in the time after Prince was released, I don’t know that I would argue against that. Especially since the Wikipedia page for Inheritance states it only took two weeks to film. While Christmas Inheritance hasn’t (yet) drummed up the social media storm that A Christmas Prince did, it’s still great (meaning also terrible) in its own right.
Eliza Taylor stars as Ellen Langford, heir apparent to her father’s multi-million dollar gift business. Unfortunately she suffers from the tried-and-tired trope of being an underachieving party girl who needs to complete one seemingly simple task to prove that she is worthy of being named CEO when her father, Jim, retires. The task? Traveling to Snow Falls (because of course that’s the name), the small town where Jim started the business years ago. While there she must deliver her father’s annual Christmas card to Zeke, his former partner, at the local inn he now owns and runs. Ellen is not allowed to use her real name, so as not to receive any special treatment, since the Langford name is famous and held in high regard in Snow Falls. Her father also gives her $100 cash, which is the only money she is allowed to spend on her short trip. There is of course also a love interest that makes her question her current relationship with her jerk fiance, Gray Pittman. Jake Collins is the manager of the town inn, as well as its back-up taxi driver when the regular guys’ gout flares up (yes that’s a real thing). When Ellen runs out of money and gets stranded in town due to a snow storm, she must work at the inn to earn her keep.
In case you can’t tell from what I’ve written so far, Christmas Inheritance is exactly what it tries to be: a corny, cheesy, bad-yet-good, watch-with-friends-to-make-fun-of-it Christmas movie. While it’s not as stupid-yet-fun as A Christmas Prince, it still follows the same predictable formula with its own abundance of hilarious plot holes. Below is the trailer followed by some thoughts I jotted down while watching, noting some of the more ridiculous points of the movie. Yes, spoilers below the trailer. And if you haven’t read my post about A Christmas Prince, you can check that out here.
- Ellen’s dad, Jim, has doubts about her ability to be a successful CEO but delivering one package of letters will cast aside all doubt? I’m not so sure I trust this guy’s decision making process.
- Ellen’s fiance Gray is only concerned about her returning in time for their trip to Maui. The movie is clearly not even trying to hide the fact that he sucks.
- Gray continues not to care about the career opportunity Ellen has here. Barely into the movie and it’s already clear his sole purpose is to be a huge dick head who is obviously wrong for Ellen.
- Ellen can’t take any of her credit cards with her on the trip and can only use the $100 cash Jim gives her. I get the idea behind it, but emergencies happen. And it’s not like it would be hard to check her credit card statements after the fact to make sure she didn’t use them.
- Jim gives her a crisp $100 bill…in an envelope? Which Ellen then proceeds to keep in the envelope?
- The bus driver is literally throwing the passengers’ bags into the storage compartment. Zero effort is made to take care with even a single piece of luggage.
- Ellen gets on the bus and even though there would be no seat number on her ticket, tries in vain to find her assigned seat, which of course doesn’t exist.
- Good job Ellen, you sat down. Now she wants to find the call button to order a glass of wine? Maybe it’s just me but the “rich person is so out of touch that they don’t know how common, every day things, like buses, work” idea never plays.
- When she arrives in Snow Falls, one of her suitcases rolls into the street and is immediately hit by a taxi in a not subtle at all way of telling us who her new love interest will be (it’s Pete from The Office!)
- Jake, the taxi driver, offers Ellen a ride. She declines, saying she will call an Uber or Lyft, even though both of those only accept payment via credit card, which she is not allowed to use. But that’s okay, because Jake just thinks it’s oh-so-cute that she thinks a small town like Snow Falls would have them anyway.
- Jake takes Ellen to the inn, where is also the manager. Turns out he is just the back up taxi driver for when the regular guy’s gout acts up.
- Ellen tries to check in, but has given zero thought to a fake name or back story, even though using her real name and details from her real life were explicitly disallowed by her father.
- She asks if Zeke is around but it turns out he just left to go out of town for an unknown amount of time, because of course he did.
- Jake tells Ellen there is no room service so he offers to walk her to the local restaurant run by his Aunt Debbie.
- On the way there, Jake gives some money to a homeless man. Ellen says she does not give charity because Gray says “Giving money to the homeless actually hurts them.” Man, they really pound home the “Gray is a douche bag” theme.
- There’s this guy who is always around that everyone calls either Captain or The Captain? Is Captain his name? Or is that just what people call him because he was/is the captain of something? This is never addressed and it is maddening.
- Multiple people comment on how poorly dressed for the weather Ellen is. Seriously? I mean, she’s from New York. New York gets cold. And yes there is a “snow storm.” But there’s maybe what, 5 or 6 inches of snow on the ground, tops? Yes, the fact that she seemingly only packed a single pair of high heels could be a problem, but come on people. She’s an adult. Leave her alone. For something that had no payoff or call back at the end of the movie, this was just weird.
- Using the skills gained working in the “gift industry,” Ellen helps Jake gather donations from local businesses for an auction at the town’s upcoming Christmas party. He hugs Ellen as he thanks her, just as Gray shows up out of the blow, because timing.
- Still everything Gray says and does is meant to insult Snow Falls and pretty much everything that Ellen hopes to gain from this trip.
- Ellen, fed up that Zeke has still not returned, decides to leave with Gray so they can make their flight to Maui. While she is saying goodbye to Debbie, Gray honks the car horn at her, while she is standing mere feet away, just to once again tell us he’s a dick.
- In a moment we all saw coming, Ellen finally decides to break up with Gray and returns to Snow Falls, where they are in the middle of their Christmas party.
- Santa shows up and in the least twistiest twist every…it’s actually Zeke! This was the plan all along! Because who else is there but Ellen’s dad!
There is clearly plenty more that I left out but that’s more or less the entire movie. I didn’t include the love story moments between Ellen and Jake because while predictable and surprisingly kind of sweet, those parts weren’t ridiculous or wild enough to warrant mention here. But it’s another enjoyable(ish) effort and I for one hope it’s not the last that Netflix will give us before the end of this Christmas season.
A Christmas Inheritance is currently streaming on Netflix.
