I have to confess: I almost shut this movie off after the first five minutes. I just had a feeling it was going to be terrible. I text Katy (the co-author of this blog) to see if she'd seen it and she replied that she loved it! So, I persevered in watching it and boy, were my first impressions wrong! Dear Santa does have a rocky start but I think you'll end up liking it.
Our main character, Crystal has one thing on her mind at Christmas- designer labels. Her busy life of lattes and shopping is bankrolled by her wealthy yet absent parents. As she nears 30 her aloof parents (always video calling in from a beach in the Caribbean) decide it's time she set out on her own and they threaten to cut her off. This is where I almost stopped watching. She laments to her friend that she either has to get a job (how dare anyone suggest such a thing) or she needs to find a man. I nearly gagged. Like, come on, your life isn't over if you have to work for your money. Luckily, that was the low point of this movie and I promise it gets better.
While window shopping, a mailman gathers letters from a post box and drops one addressed to Santa Clause. The wind blows the letter right into Crystal's path and she retrieves it but decides to keep it rather than chase the postman down and return it. She also doesn't drop it back in the post box. I am not sure why, but she keeps the letter which is illegal so now she's not only an egocentric shopaholic but also a criminal. Stay with me though, it's going to be better soon!
Instead of returning the letter to Santa, she opens it and begins to read. It contains a note form Olivia, a small girl asking Santa to find her a new mom for Christmas. She's worried about her widowed father and wants Christmas to be like it used to be when she was alive- full of magic and love. Something about his plea speaks to Crystal and she decides to find the family. She drives to their house, then follows them to lunch, then follows them back to their house and finally follows the dad to a soup kitchen he runs. It's super stalker status at this point but somehow it's endearing rather than creepy. It's a fine line between those two but somehow they pull it off.
Crystal pretends to be a volunteer at the soup kitchen only to find that she actually enjoys the chance to work and serve others. It does't hurt that she gets to grow closer to Derek and his daughter Olivia while doing so. She soon discovers that Derek is actually involved with a two-faced jerk called Jillian who wasted no time pouncing on Derek after his wife passed away. This provides us with a nice little love triangle to drive a little conflict into our story.
Like all movies in this genre, the main character has a few personality flaws to overcome. In Dear Santa Crystal starts out possessing the traits of love, understanding, compassion and service but lacks a space to express and use them. She begins to find joy and happiness as she works at the soup kitchen and develops friendships with it's patrons. As Crystal and Derek begin to fall for each other Jillan's jealousy rages and she does all she can to prove she's the one for Derek and that Crystal is hiding something. As you can guess, it all comes to a head and nothing but the magic of Christmas can help all parties follow their hearts, learn about forgiveness and selflessness and find true love.
I assure you that aside from the rocky beginning and the stalker sequence this is one of the best Christmas rom-coms I've seen this year. The actors have real skill and the dialog feels natural. You find yourself rooting for Crystal and reveling as she finds the strength insider herself to love and mother Olivia. It's going on my list to not miss every year for sure.
I give Dear Santa a 9 for it's genre and about a 6 in real life. If you can make it through the first few minutes, you will love this one! Dear Santa is available to stream on Netflix.
Our main character, Crystal has one thing on her mind at Christmas- designer labels. Her busy life of lattes and shopping is bankrolled by her wealthy yet absent parents. As she nears 30 her aloof parents (always video calling in from a beach in the Caribbean) decide it's time she set out on her own and they threaten to cut her off. This is where I almost stopped watching. She laments to her friend that she either has to get a job (how dare anyone suggest such a thing) or she needs to find a man. I nearly gagged. Like, come on, your life isn't over if you have to work for your money. Luckily, that was the low point of this movie and I promise it gets better.
While window shopping, a mailman gathers letters from a post box and drops one addressed to Santa Clause. The wind blows the letter right into Crystal's path and she retrieves it but decides to keep it rather than chase the postman down and return it. She also doesn't drop it back in the post box. I am not sure why, but she keeps the letter which is illegal so now she's not only an egocentric shopaholic but also a criminal. Stay with me though, it's going to be better soon!
Instead of returning the letter to Santa, she opens it and begins to read. It contains a note form Olivia, a small girl asking Santa to find her a new mom for Christmas. She's worried about her widowed father and wants Christmas to be like it used to be when she was alive- full of magic and love. Something about his plea speaks to Crystal and she decides to find the family. She drives to their house, then follows them to lunch, then follows them back to their house and finally follows the dad to a soup kitchen he runs. It's super stalker status at this point but somehow it's endearing rather than creepy. It's a fine line between those two but somehow they pull it off.
Crystal pretends to be a volunteer at the soup kitchen only to find that she actually enjoys the chance to work and serve others. It does't hurt that she gets to grow closer to Derek and his daughter Olivia while doing so. She soon discovers that Derek is actually involved with a two-faced jerk called Jillian who wasted no time pouncing on Derek after his wife passed away. This provides us with a nice little love triangle to drive a little conflict into our story.
Like all movies in this genre, the main character has a few personality flaws to overcome. In Dear Santa Crystal starts out possessing the traits of love, understanding, compassion and service but lacks a space to express and use them. She begins to find joy and happiness as she works at the soup kitchen and develops friendships with it's patrons. As Crystal and Derek begin to fall for each other Jillan's jealousy rages and she does all she can to prove she's the one for Derek and that Crystal is hiding something. As you can guess, it all comes to a head and nothing but the magic of Christmas can help all parties follow their hearts, learn about forgiveness and selflessness and find true love.
I assure you that aside from the rocky beginning and the stalker sequence this is one of the best Christmas rom-coms I've seen this year. The actors have real skill and the dialog feels natural. You find yourself rooting for Crystal and reveling as she finds the strength insider herself to love and mother Olivia. It's going on my list to not miss every year for sure.
I give Dear Santa a 9 for it's genre and about a 6 in real life. If you can make it through the first few minutes, you will love this one! Dear Santa is available to stream on Netflix.
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