Lindsay Lohan‘s latest comeback attempt has begun and it started off on the right foot. Falling For Christmas, her first movie for Netflix, debuted with a surprisingly strong response from critics. At one point, it had an 80% fresh rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, although that has since dropped to 56%. It still has a positive response from fans, with an 82% audience score on the site.
Falling For Christmas follows the format familiar to Hallmark Channel movies, which only makes sense because it was made by Motion Picture Corporation of America, the same studio behind Hallmark movies. Lohan stars as Sierra Belmont, a spoiled hotel heiress who gets total amnesia after a skiing accident. Blue-collar lodge owner Jake Russell (Chord Overstreet) and his daughter take care of Sierra in the days before Christmas. Of course, she is going to fall in love with Jake. Falling For Christmas was written by Jeff Bonnett and Ron Oliver, with direction from Janeen Damian.
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This is not the last we will hear from Lohan on Netflix. Falling For Christmas is the first of two movies Lohan signed on to make for the streamer. The second movie will be the St. Patrick’s Day-themed Irish Wish, which will also be directed by Damian. This time, Lohan will be Maddie, who dreams of marrying her best friend’s fiance. One day, she wakes up and the dream comes true, but Maddie soon learns that her heart should really go to someone else.
Scroll on to see what critics are saying about the new movie.
The ‘Citizen Kane’ of Netflix Christmas movies?
IndieWire critic Samantha Bergeson wrote a positive review of the film, calling it the “Citizen Kane of Netflix Christmas movies.” Lohan “is the film’s North Star, and we’ll follow her wherever she goes,” Bergeson wrote. She gave the film a B-.
A ‘Ho-Hum’ holiday movie
The Hollywood Reporter‘s David Rooney was not enthusiastic about the film. Rooney found the film to be a poor take on the Goldie Hawn-Kurt Russell comedy Overboard. “If you’re going to do an Overboard knockoff that slides into the generic sludge of sentimental holiday-season rom-com, then at least find a couple of leads with the charisma and chemistry to pull it off,” Rooney wrote.
It brings out Lohan’s comedy skills
Lohan is earning the lion’s share of the film’s praise, with critics noting how her comedy chops come alive. “Is Falling for Christmas in itself a good film? No,” Collider‘s Emma Kiely wrote. “It looks like it was made on the cheap, it reuses jokes (one very clearly stolen from Dumb and Dumber), and has a completely unoriginal plot. But, is it an hour and a half of Christmas fun that can be enjoyed on a cold evening with friends? Absolutely.”
It could have been worse!
Vanity Fair‘s Richard Lawson pointed out that Falling For Christmas could have been much worse. “In a more profound sense, it is heartening to see Lohan looking and acting well,” Lawson wrote. “It’s been a bumpy road for her for the better part of two decades, and this little movie gives one the (perhaps naive, perhaps condescending, perhaps overly invested) hope that she is well and fully on the path to better.”
‘Great to see Lohan on my TV again’
Rotten Tomatoes users were overall much more kind to the film than professional critics. Some were also excited to see Lohan back at work. “Really great to see Lohan back on my tv again, I think she’s back to the place she shouldn’t have never left,” one person wrote. “And who doesn’t love a silly but really cheerful Christmas movie? One of the best ones of the genre on Netflix.”
“The goal of a Rom-Com is to provide the audience with a break in life and allow us to smile and dream. This moving was exactly that,” another wrote. “Lindsay Lohan is back! She knows the genre and delivers. A new Christmas cult classic.”
‘Off-the-production-line’ script
The Guardian‘s Benjamin Lee wrote a harsh review, giving the movie two-out-of-five stars. “While [Lohan’s] presence in Falling for Christmas might raise expectations above those one might usually have for a film of this caliber (subterranean at best), the script is as off-the-production-line as they come, indistinguishable from any of the red-and-green guff that gets churned out at this time of year,” he wrote.
