What would happen if you took the comedy classic Planes, Trains and Automobiles and made it a Christmas romance movie? Yep, you get Cross Country Christmas.

Lina (Rachael Leigh Cook) and Max (Greyston Holt) are both heading from from New York to Colorado for the holidays. Due to inclement weather, their flight is forced to land in Ohio. The pair do everything they can to make it back to Colorado in time for Christmas.

Of course there is a lot going on with this movie. It’s pretty much built into the premise. All of Lina’s plans go wrong and Max is awfully stand-offish throughout the beginning of the movie. Max’s personality does soften as they travel but Lina never does get her plans to work. Which is interesting since she’s supposed to be a professional problem solver or something. If that’s true, she must be terrible at her job.

While this premise does make a great buddy comedy, I don’t know that it makes a good romantic comedy. It doesn’t work as a Hallmark romantic comedy. There should be more “accidentally bumping into each other” or “forced to stand way too close to each other” type of tropes to show us that this couple is falling in love. As it stands, it seems like Lina only loves Max because his dad died recently. That isn’t a reason for a romantic relationship.

As much as I want to tell you to watch this, I can’t. I love Rachael Leigh Cook as an actress but the movie just doesn’t work. And, even though it isn’t Christmas themed, go watch Planes, Trains and Automobiles instead. It is so funny. You can’t go wrong with Steve Martin and John Candy. Just pretend that it’s Christmas, even though it’s a Thanksgiving movie.