She’s a shitty friend who flakes on plans and a snitty sister/aunt who eye-rolls and needs to be brow-beaten into fulfilling family obligations. But rather than offering a complicated heroine, The Holiday Calendar forgot to give Abby any positive qualities that made me root for her. I turned this on hoping for a winsome holiday treat. Hooray for a man’s love and money saving the day! And surprise bonus: He’s also rich! So now she doesn’t need her shitty survival job and can focus on her dreams without having to work for it. (Looking at you, Set It Up!) But this time, I was left wondering what does Josh see in Abby? She’s a self-centered and dedicated buzzkill who has no interest in him until she thinks their romance might be the solution to her dissatisfaction. Too often when watching this kind of cheesy rom-com, I wonder why the female protagonist is at all interested in the blandsome love interest who’s tossed in her path. And when the hot doc comes into her life, she’s quick to bail on movie plans with Josh, even after he dropped everything to play an elf and help her at work. She also scoffs at the idea that she’d actually read his travel blog. When her best friend finally returns from his travels and proclaims he knows now what he wants to do with his life, she cuts him off to talk about herself. When her family gathers together for their holiday photo, she grouses. Happy families beam excitedly for her camera she offers a bored expression and a brewing frustration. My bigger issue with The Holiday Calendar is that it takes for granted that we’ll root for Abby, even when she’s introduced as being a selfish jerk. There were ALSO Christmas trees and nutcrackers around when they were working together at Santa’s photo op! WHO WOULDA THUNK!?īecause it’s a holiday movie, hokiness is part of the package. But a bit more galling is the big “twist,” when Abby realizes the calendar hasn’t been pointing her to the rando single-father she met through his reckless driving, but to the way hotter boy-next-door who’s been chilling patiently in her blind spot. Faster than you can say “Frosty,” she’s gone from cynical to that breathless girl at a party who’s talking about signs from the universe and insisting she can tell your astrological sign based on your outfit. So when Abby is quick to find DEEP meaning when she spots a nutcracker, it’s a bit of a headscratcher. But the device itself is woefully hokey and flawed! The toys within the calendar are all pretty standard holiday stuff. Meanwhile, her charismatic bestie who is endlessly supportive is left out in the cold.Ĭentered around a festive and magical McGuffin, the premise is charming, and is bolstered by Jones’s warm smile and Brown’s easy affability. Abby begins to believe that the calendar is pointing her to happiness, and she thinks that means hot doc Ty (Ethan Peck). A Christmas tree comes the same day as her meet-cute with a handsome doctor, who doesn’t know how to properly secure a pine tree to his car. A pair of boots happens to appear on a day where Josh gives her some posh boots from his travels. Each day, a new wooden figure is revealed. All this has her Grinching pretty hard until her beloved Gramps (Ron Cephas Jones) hands down her late Gram’s antique advent calendar.Īn ornate house made up of 25 little wooden doors, the advent calendar has a bit of magic inside. And with holidays upon her, it’s time to don her elf apparel so she can take an endless stream of pics featuring candy-smudged children posing with Santa. It pays the bills but doesn’t feed her soul. While her best-friend Josh (Quincy Brown) was globe-trekking and travel-blogging, she’s stayed in her quaint hometown and settled into a job at a family portrait studio. This twenty-something aspiring photographer is in a rut. But their youngest daughter Abby (Graham) isn’t feeling the holiday cheer. Snow is on the ground, and the Sutton family is decking the halls with gleeful abandon. So in the spirit of giving, I give you a Pajiba review of Netflix’s The Holiday Calendar (A.K.A.
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