Poinsettias for Christmas (2018)
The Martian, but make it Christmassy
For the horticultural storyline. Beyond that, there’s no comparison.
Our protagonist Ellie (Bethany Joy Lenz) has returned home from the big city (always from, never to) to help out on her family’s poinsettia farm in the run-up to Christmas. There’s a crisis (there always is) when the plants’ bracts (not leaves) aren’t changing colour in time for their delivery for the big Christmas parade (there’s always a parade or a festival). Cue a physical run-in (again, a common occurrence) with handsome stranger Shawn, who has been working on the farm. Together they save Christmas/the farm, and Ellie realizes that she really doesn’t want to be a city planner but to live out her days on the poinsettia farm instead.
I’m not sure why this was even on my list to be entirely honest… I try and maintain a “nothing released before 2020” rule when it comes to reviewing these. As these go, and this was a Lifetime movie, not Hallmark, it’s pretty average. I probably PVR’ed it because BJL is typically pretty engaging, but I’d recommend you watch Five Star Christmas, A Biltmore Christmas, or even An Unexpected Christmas instead.
You’ll like this if…
You like your Christmas movies with low stakes, ho-hum storylines, and no magical occurrences. And filmed in Vancouver, as many of these are.
