Surprisingly Sweet Holiday Romance
The premise for To Have and Holiday was what caught my attention. I thought it sounded like it could be fun, but I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting much. So I was surprised at just how sweet it turned out to be.
Celeste (Madeleine Arthur) and Jason (Robert Bazzocchi) have only been dating three months. They hadn’t planned to spend Christmas together, but at the last minute, Jason decides to go along with Celeste, surprising her parents, Judith and Mark (Kate Drummond and Eric Close).
That first night at dinner, the subject of the church that Mark pastors comes up. Due to structural problems, it is going to close after the first of the year to be renovated. Celeste is disappointed since it means she won’t get to get married in the church she grew up in. That is until Jason proposes that they get married on Christmas Eve – three weeks away.
Naturally, Mark is less than enthused, but he goes along with it. However, he has his usual condition – Celeste and Jason must go through his marriage bootcamp – something he makes all couples go through before he marries them. Will they prove they are ready to get married?
I’ll admit, going into this movie, I was expecting lots of awkward scenes as Jason and Celeste get to know each other better. We had a little bit of that, but not nearly as much as I was expecting. And Jason makes some mistakes since he doesn’t know the traditions of the town. But they are fun and funny and not embarrassing.
Instead, this movie is more about Mark coming to terms with his daughter being her own person and leaving home. And it is truly a sweet film. Even when he goes too far, it is never embarrassing and Mark does take responsibility for his actions when confronted with them.
As I’ve been saying, this movie is sweet. Charming and heartwarming, too. But it does that without being too over the top. Oh, it is a Hallmark Christmas movie, so factor that in. But it’s not nearly as bad as it could be.
There are some low budget cheese moments, but they are kept to a minimum. The cast does a good job overall with the material they have.
Yes, I saw most of the plot points coming early on. And there were another couple that I should have seen coming. But I was having fun, so it really didn’t bother me. And you have to go along with a lot to even think about them pulling off this wedding in three weeks. But that’s movie magic, right?
I really do wonder exactly how this marriage bootcamp would work if it weren’t Christmas. They activities are in keeping with the holiday. I get it, this is a Christmas movie. But what would they do if they were getting married in the summer? I’ve got to hand it to the writers, however. The tasks actually do show various aspects of a good relationship.
If you’ve missed To Have and to Holiday, do your best to fix that. You’ll be charmed as you watch.
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