A California Christmas (2020)

It is time to start revving up the holiday cheer, and suspending belief whenever possible. This is the season of Santa Claus and elves at the North Pole, so anything is possible. is better than expected. Truthfully, it is not much of a Christmas film. Christmas is more a deadline than a feature, with the story being set in the run-up to Christmas. With good performances from the majority of there cast and a story that, though predictable, is well told, A California Christmas is an enjoyable Christmas-esque romcom. Here is the basic outline--a playboy who is more of a love them and leave them kind of guy than much of a worker is tasked by his CEO mother of their family company with the job of getting a stubborn farm family to sell their farmland so as their company can build a new warehouse. It is an all or nothing assignment, where if he doesn't get the task accomplished by Christmas, he is going to be sidelined and maybe also cut off . The task is made more difficult when he gets to the farm and is mistaken for a farmhand, a mistake he does not correct. He pretends to be the farmhand in the hope of getting closer to the stubborn daughter and lots of the comedy comes from him not knowing one thing about being a farm hand--they have both land to care for as well as animals. He gets some help not making a complete botched job of it by getting help from the real ranch hand--who is perfectly happy to live in hte upscale accomodations rented for him, while he stays in a broke down camper. The whole thing works out much better than could be expected, and while not strictly Christmasy, I would recommend for holiday viewing--streaming on Netflix.