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| Images Courtesy of Hallmark |
Janel Parrish
(Pretty Little Liars) traded in her Mean Girl viciousness for
feel good Hallmark cheesiness several years ago and the result has been a
plethora of Holiday cheer. This year she returns with Christmas on
Duty, another paint by numbers entry into the legions of holiday fodder
provided by the network that once again manages to endear. It is often
said that there are only a few stories and everything else is simply a
different way of telling those tales. This is the mantra of Hallmark, and
this latest offering yet again embraces the tried-and-true formula to produce a
paper-thin romance, generational feuds, and an apocalyptic (not really)
snowball fight.
Blair and Josh are Marine Officers who are both rivals and possible love interests for one another whose relationship is dashed by their competitive natures. Years later, after a holiday party calamity, the pair are forced to be on duty during Christmas which leads to both a mission to save the holiday for families on the base and to a possible reconciliation of love and happiness. Alexis Siegel's script actually splits from the Hallmark herd in several areas. Despite a glaring lack of military knowledge, there is no Christmas festival, no climatic ballroom declarations, and no big city vs small city sentiments. Here the pair of officers is 90% of the focus. Parrish’s performance is admirable as Blair and her chemistry with Parker Young's Josh feels as natural as one can get within the synthetic Hallmark funhouse.
Peter Jacobson returns to the genre, this time as Blair's father, who is a retired Marine officer that has a bitter rivalry with Josh's father. The entire plot is essentially revealed with that revelation; however, viewers do not consume these films to be surprised, they do so to be comforted and reminded of the importance of the holidays, families, and love, and Christmas on Duty is an adequate delivery mechanism for such basic, essential needs.
Brandon
Christensen's cinematography embraces the elegiac format of the network with
ham handed abandon, lensing everything as an imaginary Quantico that is in fact
Colorado, another genre standard. The final candy cane is the inclusion
of a USAA holiday segment, bringing product placement into the discussion
for future entries. The final yield is a mediocre, but heartwarming
addition to the holiday pantheon.
Now available
for digital streaming (Hallmark Channel subscription) or rental, Christmas
on Duty continues the tradition of refusal to reinvent the wheel in favor
of cloning said wheel over and over and over, but it does so with the carefree
warmth of its endless sea of brethren, delivering exactly what connoisseurs of
these morsels desire: heaping helpings of holiday cheer.
--Kyle
Jonathan