Written by: Dinah Eng
Starring: Eliza Taylor. Jake Lacy. Andie MacDowell, Michael Xavier, Neil Crone
Rating: [2/5]
Nothing quite carries the mystique of wholesomeness and warmth like a small town during Christmas. A time when people gather together and focus on community outside of the confines of the busy city life. It allows those who partake in the traditions to appreciate not only life but those around them. At least that’s what these cheesy Christmas movies want you to think. Christmas Inheritance is another one of those and it proves as predictable as any of these movies and equally forgettable.
In line to take over as CEO of her father’s business in Manhattan, Ellen (Eliza Taylor) gives off this attitude of being spoiled. In order to prove herself as the final step as the successor, she must deliver a letter to her father’s longtime friend and business partner in the small New England town, Snow Falls. However, she must do so without the financial support she has in place, which includes no credit cards and only $100 in cash.
Pretty much fitting the mold of every Hallmark-like movie where the big city girl learns about small town values and finds herself a humble man in said small town, Christmas Inheritance certainly does not seek to break the mold. As standard as it gets with these stories, it almost feels like a parody of the whole idea because of how much it plays into the stereotypical structure of these Christmas movies, where they demonize living in the city and hold up small town living as the standard. On one hand, Christmas in quaint small towns do evoke a cozy and warm feeling but big cities during the holidays are also pretty magical.
Sending off Ellen to complete this challenge with just $100 to her name ultimately operates as an exercise in humbling her and to accomplish something with none of her bumpers on the side. An intriguing effort by the father to ensure his daughter can handle the rigors of operating as a CEO. It certainly puts her in a position to have to work for a place to stay given that $100 will only take her so far just with lodging not including food. It puts her just in the right time and place to meet the owner of the inn she’s staying at, Jake (Jake Lacy). This leads to the typical romance of these types of films, and the narrative follows the exact beats one would expect. In fact, my wife pretty much predicted every single plot point from beginning to end, including a particular reveal meant to genuinely surprise the audience.
On one hand, Christmas Inheritance has elements that many genuinely love in cheesy Christmas films. Everything about it feels low stakes and one can mindlessly turn it on and not have a worry they will receive anything even remotely close to stress or real tension. However, it still needs to have some level of competence, which this film does not particularly display. It has all the trappings we know we will encounter with these types of films and never quite overcomes them with the cheesy acting and substandard plotting.
It genuinely surprised me to see actors like Jake Lacy and Andie MacDowell in this film given these types of films do not attract actors of this caliber to them. No offense to those who do star in these types of Christmas films, but this remains indisputable. They receive an unsurprisingly lackluster script to work with and their characters to portray, where they more so play archetypes rather than actual people within this story. They could not necessarily elevate the material but with roles like this, they just have to sit in cruise control and collect their check. A competent enough job given what they had to work with.
Nothing more than a forgettable Christmas movie that may serve as good background or a low stakes movie night during the holiday season, Christmas Inheritance packs no surprises nor excels in any particular category. It has an inherently silly plot carrying the most generic structure and could probably scratch an itch for some but ultimately does not carry any real weight or succeeds in presenting something that leave a mark or will be memorable past five minutes after the final credits roll.
Films with Josh 
