Ah, the romantic Christmas movie. You all know what these are. These are the rather cheesy holiday movies channels like Hallmark just love pumping out at the end of the year to capitalize on the time period. They all share the same template and, in all honesty, a lot of them are just plain forgettable. That hasn’t stopped other networks like Netflix to try their hand at producing their own romantic Christmas flicks. After all, despite a lot of them being of rather dubious quality, they do tend to rake in viewership because of how family friendly and safe they are. They’re like the Toyota Camry of the movie world. They’re fine but won’t set the world on fire.

Netflix did try to up the ante with their latest romantic Christmas movie, Falling for Christmas. While we’re all used seeing actors and actresses who are, let’s just say, past their prime in these kind of movies, Netflix did get a very high profile actress for this movie. They got a returning Lindsey Lohan to star in Falling for Christmas. Eat your heart out, Hallmark? No, this is a genuine question. I mean, was it really worth getting Lindsey Lohan and is this the start of Lindsey Lohan’s big comeback? Well, Holiday-Palooza is here to check it out!

Falling for Christmas stars Lindsey Lohan as Sierra Belmont, a spoiled hotel/ski resort heiress who is in a personal dilemma as her father wants to give her a made-up job in his hotel empire. She is whisked away to the mountains by her boyfriend and social influencer Tad. As Tad proposes to Sierra, a gust of wind blows both of them down the mountain. Sierra hits her head during the tumble and get amnesia. She is rescued by Jake Russell, the widowed owner of the failing Northstar Lodge. As Sierra doesn’t remember anything, including her own name, Jake decides to take her in while she recovers from her amnesia. And you know the rest.

Honestly, Falling for Christmas is as cookie cutter as it gets, with a few little twists but never strays away from the path other Hallmark movies have paved. It’s still the same formulaic story of a girl who gets swept off her feet by the more down-to-earth guy and charm of living in a small town. While this is generally the case, Falling for Christmas actually sprinkles in more magical and fantasy elements. They also added some incredibly cheesy, cartoony and unrealistic bits of comedy more akin to a Disney movie, which does seem appropriate as that’s where Lindsey Lohan got her big break with the Parent Trap. So, on the surface, Falling for Christmas looks and feels like a Hallmark romantic Christmas film, it’s more like a Hallmark-Disney hybrid. It’s a mix that doesn’t work as well as it should.

This is especially true for most of the comedic bit involving Tad, the boyfriend. He is ludicrously dumb and unfunny. In fact, he comes off a very annoying as he doesn’t behave like a real human being. He’s just a caricature of the stupid but popular social influencer with no life skills. It’s a trope that’s never really funny and it feels like he was added here so the kiddies wouldn’t get bored. Which is a weird thing to do because that was never a problem with Hallmark movies. I guess they really needed that Disney demographic or something. Anyway, Tad is insufferable but, as awful as the character is, I can’t really fault George Young, the guy who plays Tad, as I’m betting that was the way he was directed to play the part.

I will say that most of the performances were… okay. It’s hard to really judge anyone’s performance as being good or bad as, well, it’s a made-for-television romantic Christmas movie. There’s nothing that stands out but nothing really comes off as terrible as well. The only exception, however, comes from Lindsey Lohan. Before her disastrous fall from grace, people forget Lindsey Lohan was a phenomenal actress. And she’s pretty good in Falling for Christmas, too. I wouldn’t say it’s a tour de force, showing off her range and she deserves to be nominated for all the awards. It’s still very reminiscent of your typical Hallmark or even Disney television movie. The script isn’t much as well. But there is that level of charm and earnest believability to Lindsey’s acting here.

I do have an issue with the casting choice of Jake Russell and it’s not really a slight on Chord Overstreet as an actor. He does do a decent job with the old “nice guy with a daughter” schtick. He’s just likable enough without coming off as too nice. But I just didn’t buy her chemistry with Lindsey Lohan. For some strange reason, he comes off as both too young and too old for her! It’s hard to explain but I couldn’t really believe them being a couple for some reason.

The weakest part of Falling for Christmas, or any Hallmark styled romantic Christmas movie for that matter, is the overall story. It’s still a story we’ve seen over and over again. You just know what’s going to happen next because it’s all been done before. Because of this, you’re never really invested with what’s going to happen with anyone because you know how everything is going to turn out by the end. It also doesn’t help that the story feels kind of padded with Tad’s sidestory of getting lost in the mountain. I also mentioned about the fantastical elements in the film which come off as unnecessary. These are events that could have been written with a more plausible and reasonable outcome instead of having Santa Claus using his magic nose to toss Lindsey Lohan off the mountain to start the film.

However, despite the rather predictable plot and just decent acting, I did have an okay time with Falling for Christmas. I mean, I didn’t groan or face-palm while I was watching it anyway. Not too much anyway. A lot of that is thanks to Lindsey Lohan’s acting chops. It’s a pretty serviceable romantic Christmas movie.

I know some people are going to be incredibly harsh on it, especially since this is supposedly Lindsay Lohan’s “big comeback movie.” A lot of people are going to knock it for being just another romantic Christmas film. But what did you expect? If it looks like a Hallmark-styled romantic Christmas movie and it turns out it is, then you would expect to get one. Going back to my earlier car analogy, if you bought a Toyota Camry, why would you be angry that you’re not driving home a Subaru WRX?

If the Hallmark type of romantic Christmas movies are something you despite, then just avoid Falling for Christmas. If you’re okay with this kind of drivel, then I say give it a watch.

Have you seen Fallen for Christmas? What did you think of it? Better yet, how does it stack up against the other romantic Christmas movies out there? Let me know in the comments section below!