Christmas Wonderland
High school loves reunited. And painting.
Heidi (Emily Osment, of The Sixth Sense Osments) returns to her hometown to take care of her niece and nephew while their parents are away and, surprise surprise, runs into her high school boyfriend. Would you believe that they still have feelings for each other? Shocker! I know!
Heidi is supposedly an artist, though she’s referred to as a painter (artist friends - is this almost like a slur to refer to someone as a “painter” vs “an artist?” I honestly don’t know - please teach me!), though her artistic contribution to the film is essentially a giant paint-by-numbers mural.
Honestly, this was just kind of blah and forgettable, though I do appreciate seeing someone in these movies who cannot bake (her snowman cookie come out like giant blobs) and just goes to the grocery store instead.
Wait! Why do I recognize that person?
IMDB tells me that Emily Osment was in Hannah Montana so if you’re a young ‘un, maybe that’s where you know her from? Older folks who watch The Kominsky Method might know her from that. For those of us in between, she’s basically an unproblematic Jamie-Lynn Spears.
SCORE: 3/10
Tell me more!
Heidi, who initially left her small town of Pleasant Valley with the dream of one day becoming a successful painter, has put her own art on hold to excel as an art gallery curator. Now, a week before the gallery’s big Christmas party, she must return home to watch her niece and nephew. She comes face to face with her high school love, who is in over his head after he must find a new last-minute location for the Christmas high-school dance. Heidi offers to help him and together they discover a beautiful place for the dance, capturing the Christmas spirit. With Christmas fast approaching, Heidi soon becomes torn between the life she built in the city and the life she is surprisingly charmed by back in Pleasant Valley. Starring Emily Osment, Ryan Rottman, and Kelly Hu.
