2022, Gabriela Tagliavini (Without Men) -- Netflix
HERstory: Angelina (Aimee Garcia, Dexter) is an aging latin superstar. I hate that I have to add "aging" but that is a focus of the movie. She's a J Lo analog, but presented as a contemporary, and I imagine someone more steeped in the Latin pop scene would have a better pop star to compare her to, who has her best hits behind her, and is under immense pressure to write a hit Xmas song, something that will bring her back into the eyes of the general public. Garcia plays her to perfection, a cliché mix of excess, living apart from reality, going everywhere in dysfunctional designer clothing and body glitter.
The problem is that her well has run dry, and while her manager Monique (Zenzi Williams, Black Panther) is ever her ally, her fake-BF (a telenovela heart throb) Ricardo (Gabriel Sloyer, Inventing Anna) and her producer "Billion Dollar" Barry (Lawrence J Hughes, FBI: International), hound her constantly for the new hit, which will bring her (and them) back into the spotlight. Angelina and Ricardo have actually broken up, but play the part of couple for the fans, and Barry already has his new spotlight popstar, which drives Angelina to write That Hit even more.
But she's not feeling it. So, she trolls her own fan posts on the socials and comes across the heartfelt post by Cristina (Deja Monique Cruz, Manifest Evil) singing an Angelina song while remember her Dead Mom. Angelina decides the Best Thing Ever is to drive out to the burbs (a lame attempt at a PST) and generate some buzz by connecting with the teenager. Monique hesitantly agrees, and they head out as a snowstorm starts. Oh, we know where that will go.
So, yeah outrageous popstar in tacky, glitter covered clothing & impractical shoes in the driving digital snow. She puts bags on the high end, custom stilettoes, and attempts to convince Cristina and her dad Miguel (Freddie Prinze Jr, 24) she was moved by the video and not to generate social media activity. She wants to get / give a few selfies and head back, but... SNOW STORM ! Guess who's staying the night! One feeble attempt at a family dinner (the meal was just pozole?) and a tequila fueled night with abuela (Socorro Santiago, What We Do in the Shadows), leaves Angelina starting to feel the family warmth. The best bit though, is watching Moni whole heartedly take it all in; for a moment, I was hoping they would connect Miguel and her together, because they do connect almost immediately.
Prinze as Miguel comes off as the stable, well put together single dad, who isn't phased in the least that a silly popstar is staying the night in his home. He loves how well his daughter reacts to her, and even allows Angelina to poke around his new song. Yoinks, his "new song" is a single line and a bar, but Angelina sees gold in it! So, she decides to stay longer, to work on the song with Miguel.
So, she's staying a bit longer, so the pair get to know each other, and the rest of the family. Cristina is going to have her quinceañera soon, so Angelina attends one of their dance practices, aweing cousins and friends with her presence. And we get a tamale making session, where Angelina admits she sacrificed most of her youth to pop stardom, but it allows a damn endearing scene where Miguel shows her how to make one, while the family (and Moni) look on knowingly.
Eventually the song is written and Angelina is drawn back to The City for a gala event, which she invites Miguel and Cristina to. The song is a hit, especially since she invites Miguel on stage to share in the debut. But a hit song just complicates matters. She is booked for Saturday Nite Live, which means she will miss Cristina's quinceañera, which she promised to attend. Miguel is unhappy with Angelina's choice, but cannot fault her success, but he also says rather bluntly that he thought the two had begun to connect. He may have been out of the game since his wife's death, but he's not a dumb or unconfident guy. But Angelina choses career and success over love.
But does she really? It doesn't take too long for her to realize her mistake, give up the night on SNL and run back to whichever suburb this was, to attend Cristina's special night, and reconcile with Miguel.
The Formulae: Not a whole lot actually. And the ones we get are less the classic holiday Hallmarkie ones, and more just the cliché romance ones. Two generally disconnected people meet due to a life interrupted, and are drawn together. Eventually they have to choose love or life, and briefly chose life. There is a holiday event, if the charity gala counts?
Unformulae: This was not Hallmark, not even Lifetime, so I guess they don't have to beholden to the tropes, but it also begs a pondering of the different types of of Hallmarkies. I am nore steeped in the Xmas one, and to be honest, this movie is barely even Xmas. I mean, we don't see any of the classic Xmas events such as ice skating, or decorating or cookie making (do tamales count?) but I don't have any issue replacing hot chocolate with tequila. But snark aside, there is still a formula for the low-key romance movies and if I was more aware of them, this might fit the mould?
True Calling? Does it? I mean, its the song title, but do they actually spend Xmas together? Again, we don't even really SEE Xmas take place. So, no.
The Rewind: Yup, she put bags on her shoes. And while he doesn't even seem to take his boots off in his own home (you know, cuz its NOT really winter outside), she is polite enough to remove the bags.
The Regulars: Nobody really.
How does it Hallmark? No, it doesn't. Again, unless it fits the off-season mould more so, this is not a Hallmarkie in any sense other than Netflix marketed it towards that crowd at the Xmas season.
How does it movie? So, if we view it just as a seasonal romance movie, how is it? Not very good. This is where I see there is still a formula being adhered to, as the structure of the plot and the way the romance plays out (and how very little happens outside that), it is not a very good movie. Sure, Prinze is very very believable as the protective, sincere Dad who while he admits was a fan of Angelina in his youth (remember, she is considered old), he is not phased by her success or stardom - he still treats her like a person and a guest in his house. BUT beyond that, the movie is extremely toss away.
How Does It Snow? (ooops didn't write this before I published) Digital snow. LOOOOTS of digital snow. And probably some shipped in ice rink shavings poured on top of old snow for the suburban scenes.
It sounds like a Hallmarkie quick-and-cheap knock-off of "Marry Me" (the JLo/Owen Wilson one from earlier this year), stripped down and localized to a few locations.
ReplyDeleteBut I see a trend in these of late where they try to focus so much on story/character/romance that they kind of forget about the Christmas side of things. But then the Hallmarkies have beaten Christmas tropes into the ground so it's hard to keep them feeling fresh and non-derivative.