Heaven Down Here (2023)
Stranded in a Diner
Inspired by the Mickey Guyton song of the same name, this movie follows four strangers stranded in a diner on Christmas Eve. Imani, a single widow trying to support her children. Dan, her jerk of a nepobaby boss who’s biggest challenge is that his family doesn’t think much of him, so instead he hides in a back room gaming away his evening. Clara, a hospice home health nurse facing an imminent empty nest, struggling to imagine what the next phase of her life will be like. And Felix, a pastor with fewer and fewer parishioners and more and more needy to feed come Christmas Day, and an estranged son.
A lot of the traditional tropes get hit here:
Christmas church service and Nativity play
Snowstorm that strands the foursome in the diner and prevents rescue until the morning
Secret family members
Decorating with a “make do” attitude
But it isn’t enough to surpass a fairly weak plot. Maybe basing an entire movie off a song doesn’t always work? Not to mention, this treads very close to what GAC is doing and which Hallmark had tried to steer clear of in recent years.
You’ll like this if…
You need something on in the background that you don’t really need to pay attention to along the way.
