Northern Lights Christmas is one of those bad Hallmark movies that is just a jumbled mess and not fun to watch, even though it is filled with multiple laughable head scratching and cheesy situations. The leads have zero chemistry and the characters are have odd personalities and the plot...
This time around we find airline pilot Zoey (Ashely Williams) intent on buying her own plane and simultaneously inheriting a "reindeer farm" in Alaska. It's really more of an forgotten hobby farm with two reindeer living in the barn, but I digress. The airplane pilot sub-plot was refreshing, especially with it being the female lead. Unfortunately we see her bumbling around far more often than flying. The male love interest is a strange dude named Alec who is the farmhand taking care of the place. We learn two things about Alec right away: he can drive a Harley in the snow (and even on tiny ATV backroads in winter!) and he is VERY concerned about the welfare of the reindeer, above all else in life.
I'll be honest, Ashley Williams over-acting drove me nuts the entire movie and was grating to watch. She was highly one-dimensional, even for a Hallmark movie. She was constantly smiling, happy, positive, and outgoing - I thought she was permanently drunk or on drugs the whole time. Corey Sevier's Alec was no better, for opposite reasons. He started off being an unjustifed grump, then when it was time for the romance to start he completely altered his character and started to smile, flirt, and be interested in anyone and anything, moving on from his thing with the reindeer. Baffling you say...yes it is, but alas required for a romance to occur!
I had lots of questions beside how they ride Harleys in mid-winter in the Alaskan wilderness, such as how do they get such excellent cell service everywhere in the Alaskan bush? Why do the romantic reindeer meet at the airport? How does the reindeer keep escaping for that matter? Why does Zoey, so intent on buying her own plane, max out her credit card for a Christmas barn dance? Why do they need a generator to light the Christmas trees next to the house, what's wrong with their grid hookup? Why does Zoey wear a low cut red dress to an Alaskan winter barn dance?
There were also some funny quotes: "You own a farm full of trees and then go buy a Christmas tree from a store." THANK YOU Alec for calling this one out for the audience! Later on multiple people go up to Alec and directly tell him out of the blue "You look depressed!" No mid-western politeness in this Alaskan town! Then there was "You know what.....I have to work" said as an off the cuff reason why Zoey can't ever return after Christmas, said in the same tone as someone who would say 'sorry I can't go, I gotta pick the dog up at the groomer.' And the Grand Daddy - "I want to start a life with you." After knowing each other for less than two weeks, and Alec operating like a robot for most of that, he wants to START A LIFE with Zoey and she wants the same. That's some big commitment words. Starting...a...life...
Alas, the most interesting character in this entire movie was Gus, who was dead the whole time. Sadly our leading lady gives up on her dream of owning her own airplane and flying charters out of Seattle. She instead settles for leasing a bush plane and dealing with the hour and a half commute to Fairbanks. Alec gets to keep living in his little house and feeding the reindeer, I guess.
This time around we find airline pilot Zoey (Ashely Williams) intent on buying her own plane and simultaneously inheriting a "reindeer farm" in Alaska. It's really more of an forgotten hobby farm with two reindeer living in the barn, but I digress. The airplane pilot sub-plot was refreshing, especially with it being the female lead. Unfortunately we see her bumbling around far more often than flying. The male love interest is a strange dude named Alec who is the farmhand taking care of the place. We learn two things about Alec right away: he can drive a Harley in the snow (and even on tiny ATV backroads in winter!) and he is VERY concerned about the welfare of the reindeer, above all else in life.
I'll be honest, Ashley Williams over-acting drove me nuts the entire movie and was grating to watch. She was highly one-dimensional, even for a Hallmark movie. She was constantly smiling, happy, positive, and outgoing - I thought she was permanently drunk or on drugs the whole time. Corey Sevier's Alec was no better, for opposite reasons. He started off being an unjustifed grump, then when it was time for the romance to start he completely altered his character and started to smile, flirt, and be interested in anyone and anything, moving on from his thing with the reindeer. Baffling you say...yes it is, but alas required for a romance to occur!
I had lots of questions beside how they ride Harleys in mid-winter in the Alaskan wilderness, such as how do they get such excellent cell service everywhere in the Alaskan bush? Why do the romantic reindeer meet at the airport? How does the reindeer keep escaping for that matter? Why does Zoey, so intent on buying her own plane, max out her credit card for a Christmas barn dance? Why do they need a generator to light the Christmas trees next to the house, what's wrong with their grid hookup? Why does Zoey wear a low cut red dress to an Alaskan winter barn dance?
There were also some funny quotes: "You own a farm full of trees and then go buy a Christmas tree from a store." THANK YOU Alec for calling this one out for the audience! Later on multiple people go up to Alec and directly tell him out of the blue "You look depressed!" No mid-western politeness in this Alaskan town! Then there was "You know what.....I have to work" said as an off the cuff reason why Zoey can't ever return after Christmas, said in the same tone as someone who would say 'sorry I can't go, I gotta pick the dog up at the groomer.' And the Grand Daddy - "I want to start a life with you." After knowing each other for less than two weeks, and Alec operating like a robot for most of that, he wants to START A LIFE with Zoey and she wants the same. That's some big commitment words. Starting...a...life...
Alas, the most interesting character in this entire movie was Gus, who was dead the whole time. Sadly our leading lady gives up on her dream of owning her own airplane and flying charters out of Seattle. She instead settles for leasing a bush plane and dealing with the hour and a half commute to Fairbanks. Alec gets to keep living in his little house and feeding the reindeer, I guess.