Falling for Christmas is Netflix’s kick-off for its seasonal programming and Lindsay Lohan’s return to headlining movies.  It’s underwhelming on both counts.

I didn’t have any expectations for Janeen Damian’s rom-com, but it was a bummer to see Lohan reprise an outdated stereotype as Sierra Belmont.  Belmont lives a luxurious lifestyle with assistants assigned to her by an overprotective father (Jack Wagner).  The audience should be excited to see Lohan, but the gaudy wardrobe and her condescending scoffing has at-home viewers making a Christmas wish for another comeback role.

Thankfully, Falling for Christmas starts creeping upwards in quality when the plot clicks into gear.  Sierra suffers from an accident where she plummets down a steep snow slope and knocks herself unconscious;  separating her from fiancé Tad (George Young) and losing her memory.  The distance between these characters is much appreciated since they feed off of each other’s opulence, but the movie still feels the need to cut back to Tad and milk his inexperience with the outdoors.  A little of Young’s over-the-top performance goes a long way.

Sierra is rescued by local lodge owner Jake Russell (Chord Overstreet from TVs Glee, who’s acting suggests that he’s been wanting to play a charming, holiday-loving, single father for a while now).  Lohan and Overstreet don’t exactly nail the tension between the opposite qualities of Sierra and Jake, and I think it’s because Jake’s too much of a sweetheart and Sierra’s clueless.  However, after spending some time together, their chemistry carries this formulaic rom-com.

Falling for Christmas levels out as an average Christmas movie, which may still be disappointing to those who ended their holiday run on Netflix last year with the exceptional Single All the Way.  Either way, the movie does improve on itself and I’m thankful for that.  And, isn’t being thankful what Christmas is all about? 

Oh, that’s Thanksgiving?  Okay, whatever, Falling for Christmas is fine.

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Addison Wylie: @AddisonWylie