Stream It or Skip It: ‘Falling for Christmas’ on Netflix, Where Lindsay Lohan Hopes for a Christmas Comeback

Lindsay Lohan is back in Netflix’s Falling for Christmas, this year’s holiday romcom headliner. It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost a decade since we’ve gotten a lead performance from Lohan on this big of a platform — and it’s been even longer since we saw her do “Jingle Bell Rock” in the Winter Talent Show. Can Falling for Christmas possibly live up to our expectations? Or should we just rewatch Mean Girls?

FALLING FOR CHRISTMAS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Lindsay Lohan plays Sierra Belmont, the incredibly spoiled daughter of an incredibly wealthy hotel magnate (Jack Wagner). He wants her to take on a role at the Belmont Summit Resort as VP of atmosphere (Honestly? Werk), but Sierra’s not so sure. Confusing matters even more is her truly vacant boyfriend, an influencer named Tad Fairchild (George Young) who has the audacity to critique Sierra’s singing voice. Before Sierra can make any major life decisions, though, fate — or actually Christmas magic — intervenes and sends her noggin on a collision course with a tree. Amnesia: it’s the gift that keeps on giving.

With no clue who she is and nowhere to go while she waits for someone — anyone! — to interrupt their vacations to identify her, Sierra opts to spend the days leading up to Christmas at the North Star Lodge, a cozy bed and breakfast run by a handsomely wholesome father and widower named Jake (Chord Overstreet). Sierra, now going by Sarah, gets a taste of the simple life — making the bed, doing laundry, flipping pancakes, being selfless! When her memory returns, will Sarah choose to stay at the North Star Lodge, or will she return to Sierra’s high cost, low substance lifestyle?

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: The overall plot of the film has major elements of It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol, which helps make the film feel irresistibly Christmas-y. Weirdly enough, the camp humor and scenes involving head trauma were giving me Death Becomes Her.

Performance Worth Watching: Y’know, I don’t usually give this to a movie’s lead, but I feel like there’s more than enough curiosity — some of it morbid — around Lohan’s big return to merit taking this opportunity to say that she’s very good here. She gets to do a lot in this film, including playing an aimless socialite and a blank slate amnesiac who learns how to be a person. She gets to do romance and broad — incredibly broad — comedy, and she does all of it with gusto. Who woulda thought that Lohan’s big comeback would be as a Netflix romcom lead, but this breezy, charming genre seems to be a perfect fit.

Memorable Dialogue: Love Tad scoffing at resort guest services worker Terry (Chase Ramsey) and saying, “Gondolas are for losers.”

A Holiday Tradition: In addition to being the home of a resort and a tiny inn, the town of Summit Springs has a Christmas market that hosts an annual toy drive and tree lighting ceremony. On top of that, the market has a second tree that’s reserved for Christmas wishes.

Two Turtle Doves: You can pair this film with Hallmark’s A Cozy Christmas Inn, another film built around the premise that inns are stressful money pits unless you get some magical intervention.

Does the Title Make Any Sense?: Not at all — at least not in any way that specifically links it to this particular film. Every holiday romcom features people falling for each other! Sure, “falling” is a play on how Sierra loses her memory, but that feels like a stretch. What about focusing on the lodging angle and going with Last Resort for Christmas or Inn Love at Christmas or B&B Merry?

Our Take: This is the sixth holiday season since Netflix really committed to the seasonal romcom genre and they have really figured out their lane. Like The Princess Switch trilogy, A Castle for Christmas (which gets an obligatory plug here), and The Knight Before Christmas, Falling for Christmas is a thoroughly watchable lark of a movie. It’s preposterous and goofy — so, consider the movie’s mission completely accomplished.

What’s most interesting about Falling for Christmas is how it adheres to Netflix’s (or rather production company MPCA’s) house style for holiday movies. Hallmark’s romcoms skew towards small towns while being incredibly polished. Lifetime’s romances feel more modern and the stories aren’t afraid of cities. And now there’s a Netflix style, which isn’t reliant so much on production value or setting as they are on comedy and tone. There’s a real broadness to these movies that can be super off-putting if zippy one-liners, pratfalls, and jokes about social media aren’t your thing — but they apparently are very much Lindsay Lohan’s thing. She handles the pratfalls and punchlines like a pro. Additionally, Chord Overstreet is a welcome addition to the holiday romcom genre. When he talks about his late wife, you really feel for the guy — as much as you can feel for anyone in a 90-minute Christmas romance.

Another staple of the Netflix holiday romcom: bizarre side characters who feel like they’ve been stranded in the wrong movie. George Young’s British influencer Tad goes on a slapstick journey that puts a strain on the movie’s already tenuous idea of realism — and I personally wouldn’t want it any other way. The bigger and weirder these movies can get, the better.

Overall, Lohan’s big return isn’t award-worthy and maybe it isn’t even worth repeat viewings. It’s hard for any film to become a watch-every-Christmas classic. But Lohan’s performance is incredibly solid, and I think it’s a good sign that she has another Netflix/MPCA movie lined up for next year. And Falling for Christmas? It bops along at a nice clip, hits all the right notes, and cues the credits before wearing out its welcome. If that sounds like faint praise, it really isn’t intended to be. If this kind of movie is what you’re looking for, then it gives you exactly what you want.

Our Call:  STREAM IT. Finally, a full-length Christmas movie starring Lindsay Lohan. It’s a miracle.