Christmas Land

Oh dear. What were the creators of Christmas Land thinking? Generally, Hallmark Christmas movies are very predictable, which is fine. At least you know what you're getting. However, bizarrely this one has the oddest ending of any feel-good movie I've seen. But before I get to that I'll give you a quick rundown of the story itself.

Jules Cooper (Nikki Deloach) is working as a brand executive in New York. It's the run-up to Christmas and after receiving a call from a lawyer, discovers that she has inherited her Grandmothers estate – a bit like Christmas Inheritance. That turns out to be Christmas Land on 200 acres of prime land. Unsure about what to do Jules heads to Christmas Land and plans to sell it. Her boyfriend is a lawyer and gets on the case of trying to find a buyer.

In the meantime, Jules becomes quite friendly with Tucker Barnes, the lawyer, and goes about restoring Christmas Land so make it a more attractive proposition. Despite doing next to no work whatsoever, suddenly Christmas Land has been restored to its former glory. It's like a tiny Christmas miracle (insert appropriate eye-rolling emoji here!). Jules also agrees to head to Chicago to meet with Mason Richards, who wants to buy the property.

In what is one of the most ridiculous scenes of all time, Richards offers Jules $1.7m if she signs over Christmas Land on the spot. So even though her lawyer boyfriend is beside her, she barely reads the teeny weeny contract and instead signs it without asking a single question. No surprise then that Richards wants to pretty much bulldoze Christmas Land and build apartments. Of course, when Jules discovers his true intentions, she is furious and demands that he hand Christmas Land back. No such luck.

SPOILER ALERT: Greedy Mason Richards instead proposes that he will flip it back to her if she can come up with an additional $1.3m by the end of the week. So basically, she now needs to pay $3m for a property she owned free and clear the day before. Seriously! Determined Jules comes up with some of the money and at the last minute is saved by the residents of the town. Apparently, they have hundreds of thousands of dollars just knocking about in a tin can. And for some unknown reason, she hands the $3 million dollars over and Mason Richards becomes the saviour despite extorting the money out of her. It's just ridiculous nonsense.

Christmas Land is cringe-worthy, low budget, and the most un-Christmas movie made. Thankfully, the same creators pretty much remade it with a better ending in My Christmas Inn. That film is also available to stream and, like October Kiss, is a whole lot better so check that out instead!