Last year, I decided that the Lifetime channel’s Christmas movies were worse than Hallmark’s. Basing my entire opinion on the two movies I have seen so far, this year might be different.
Staging Christmas stars Soleil Moon Frye and George Stults. (OK, Jaleel White also has top billing, for some reason, but his character is completely unnecessary.) Frye plays Lori, an interior designer who stages homes for sale. According to her, homes with Christmas decor between October and the end of December sell the best so she excels at decorating houses for Christmas. When her company’s annual Christmas party is left without a venue, Lori volunteers to find a new location - and hopefully nab a promotion in the process. Meanwhile, Everett (Stults), who owns the local coffee franchise, asks Lori to decorate his house for Christmas in order to cheer up his daughter, Maddie (Mia Clark). It turns out that they haven’t really celebrated Christmas his Everett’s wife and Maddie’s mother passed away. Luckily, Everett’s house is a perfect venue for the company holiday party. Can Lori pull off the perfect company party and help bring Christmas back to a grieving family?
I don’t think we’ve ever had a Christmas movie plot that required so much explanation. Especially considering that there weren’t really any obstacles to overcome. No one was trying to destroy Lori’s plans for the party or trying to win Everett’s affections or anything particularly bad. Everyone was nice and no one was left wanting. Usually this is where I would say that this leaves the movie with no conflict, making it boring. However, there was a conflict. It just wasn’t the main point of the movie.
The main conflicts come from the promotion that Lori wants, that would force her to move to New York, and Everett’s sister wanting to expand the company while cutting costs. Neither of these ever feel like the end of the world. Lori won’t get fired if the party is a failure. The coffee company would be perfectly fine if they didn’t open another branch. Instead, the movie could focus more on Lori, Everett, and Maddie and how they would all fit into each other’s lives.
Fortunately, it’s the cast that saves Staging Christmas from boredom. Soleil Moon Frye succeeds in bringing life to a dull script. And the chemistry that she has with George Stults is a nice change of pace. In most of these movies, you wonder why the leading couple is even together. This time around, they seem to actually like each other. I think the only thing I might have changed was Jaleel White’s role. If his name is going to appear before the title credit, at least give him something to do.
Should you watch Staging Christmas? Sure. If anything, it’s nice to see Punky Brewster again.