Christmas In Palm Springs (2014)
Joe and Jessica Brady are divorced. Joe is a playwright and Jessica is in advertising or something, and their two children, Zoey and Dylan wish they would get back together. So much so that when Mom is out for a business meeting with Ian, her boss, and Dad is two hours late to stay with them, they hide in the bushes watching Jessica talking to Ian in the car and hack her phone. When Dad finally shows up bearing pizza Mom is annoyed and glowering at everyone.
Jessica finds out she and Ian have an opportunity for a contract with the city of Palm Springs, so she makes plans to take Zoey and Dylan to California for the holidays. Never mind that Joe will be left by himself with no family over Christmas…or will he?
Not so fast, folks. Joe’s agent, Teddy is pushing him into taking a meeting with a movie studio that wants to buy the rights to his latest play. Joe is reluctant but Teddy won’t take no for an answer. He just keeps yelling and staring at Joe out of unusually unflattering reading glasses as if he wants to bore holes into him.
When Dylan and Zoey find out about these little developments, Zoey calls the studio pretending to be Joe’s secretary and asks if the meeting can be moved to Palm Springs. She and Dylan want to get their parents back together, and they’ve got some tricks up their sleeves, including planting a listening device on Jessica while she’s out and trying to keep Ian as far away from Jessica as possible.
Joe is annoyed when he finds out about their scheme but quickly gets on board, crashing a charity art auction Jessica and Ian attend with the mayor of Palm Springs and taking Jessica and the kids out to look at Christmas lights. Problem is, it’s a toss-up as to who needs to work on themselves more before these two can get back together.
Sigh. I’ve been watching a lot of newer Christmas movies lately, which I usually never do because most of them are cliched and boring, but this year some intriguing stuff has popped up that I thought I would give a chance. And a goofball movie is good blog fodder (Find some of that here).
Heh. I’m partially regretting that choice because my brain feels fried and I’m tired of bad movies, at least for now. It begs the question: Would I have liked Christmas In Palm Springs better had I not binged on similar movies?
Nope, although I feel as if I should have. While it has a good cast that includes a lot of familiar faces, it’s a weak movie. It’s not well thought-out. It’s pretty forgettable. It should be a mashup of Spy Kids, Miracle on 34th Street and The Parent Trap, but instead it’s unfunny and irritating. None of the characters are particularly likeable and it doesn’t leave anyone to root for.
Plus the movie messes with the viewer’s credibility way too much. How did Zoey and Dylan get the name and number of the specific secretary who called Teddy about Joe’s play? It’s not as if studios put that kind of information out there for the public. And how is it that these kids were able to put a listening device on their mother without her noticing? The thing is the size of a Sixlet and somehow tucked in the fold of her sleeve. It’s all a bit too far-fetched and not in a fun way.
It seems like it has potential, but in the end Christmas In Palm Springs is just OK, and that’s fine. It is what it is.
Christmas In Palm Springs is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. Not rated.
My grade: C
Principal cast: Patrick Muldoon, Dina Meyer, Ian Ziering, Bill Cobb, David Chokachi, Erin Gray, Kirsten Dorn, Devin Lawrence
Directed by Fred Olen Ray.
Written by Fred Olen Ray, Jeffrey Schenck, and Peter Sullivan