Going Very Far North for Christmas
It was two of the stars who drew me to Christmas Under the Northern Lights, one of Great American Family’s Christmas offerings from 2024. It’s a good thing I wasn’t expecting too much from it because it turned out to be average.
Erin (Jill Wagner) is a writer who hit it big with her first book, a non-fiction piece about the history of Boston as told through its streets. But she’s struggling to find a compelling subject for her second book. Her editor asks her to come up with something by the new year.
Hoping that some time away will help her do that, she agrees to go with her father, Doug (Bruce Boxleitner), to his home town of Aurora in Canada’s Northern Territory. She’s excited about getting to see the Northern Lights at Christmas. He’s there to see about the offer to buy his parent’s house.
He’s also hired a tour company to help get them reacquainted with the area and make sure they see the lights. Trevor (Jesse Hutch) is their guide, and his company isn’t quite what Erin was hoping for. But as they begin to spend time together, Erin begins to warm up to him. Will she find a topic for her next book? Will the two of them warm up to each other? Will Erin get to see the lights?
It was Jill Wagner and Bruce Boxleitner that drew me to this movie. I enjoyed getting to see them here. The cast is fine. The performances helped keep me in the movie. Likewise, I didn’t find the dialogue too clunky.
However, the story itself was pretty pedestrian. While I can usually figure out the big beats in these movies before we get to them, there’s usually a twist or two I didn’t expect. In this case, there was about only one thing I wasn’t expecting going into the movie, and that became obvious early on as well.
Unfortunately, I found the story flat. Yes, it went where I was expecting, but it just felt like it was going through the motions. The characters got together because we expected it. I didn’t feel like the story was really drawing them together.
And I have questions. So many questions. If Doug still owns the family home, which is filled with his family photos, why are he and Erin staying at a B and B? Why do they need to hire a tour company if that’s where he grew up? I mean, I get it that neither has been there for years, but come on! Obviously, that just happened to allow Erin and Trevor to interact.
On the other hand, the sets in this movie scream Christmas. Almost comically at times.
As I’m writing this, I realize it sounds like I absolutely hated the movie. That’s not true. While it is easy to see pick on the flaws, the movie isn’t horrible. It’s also not a movie I would choose to watch again.
If you are curious about Christmas Under the Northern Lights, give it a shot. But don’t go out of your way to watch it.
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