Written by: Amyn Kaderali
Starring: Kat Graham, Quincy Brown, Ethan Peck, Ron Cephas Jones
Rating: [2/5]
Finding a partner that checks plenty of boxes such as financial security and a good job fills the need for the basic needs one would want in a relationship. However, finding the person who makes you laugh, but also believes this mysterious advent calendar you received from your grandfather has magical powers and won’t laugh at you for believing in it matters as well. A key distinction in the decisions made in this lackluster but almost laughably ridiculous Christmas film, The Holiday Calendar. Just quite the silly film that felt like it moved like a snail even with its short runtime.
Having a passion for photography but afraid to pull the trigger in diving full into the endeavor, Abby (Kat Graham) is excited her best friend Josh (Quincy Brown) has returned from his travels. A photographer in his own right, Abby feels a bit of a spark between them even if Josh has long held reciprocal feelings for her. When she receives an advent calendar from her grandfather, Abby begins to realize that with each passing day, whatever the calendar reveals happens to also occur in her life, making her believe it to hold some magical abilities.
Fitting right into the Christmas canon of cheesiness, I do want to take a moment to point out that this premise does have potential in the horror genre. The idea of an advent calendar predicting things will transpire but instead of positive they happen to be horrific events the protagonist fights to prevent. A silly idea but if we’re going with magical advent calendars, it deserves a shout-out if we’re applying it to something so positive. As crazy as it sounds, the idea of this magical advent calendar plays an integral part in not only the events that transpire but who Abby decides she wants to settle down with. She has the choice of a handsome doctor, who happens to be a great single father or her longtime fellow photographer best friend Josh.
Abby finds herself trying to choose between them and you would not believe the importance of who believes in the magic of this calendar has bearing on her ultimate decision. I suppose it relates to something larger but it further proves that at times true love gets defined by what seemingly crazy ideas and beliefs a significant other can stand to agree with. It certainly plays out that way in this feature. With all of this in mind, The Holiday Calendar seeks to move beyond the elements of magic centered on in the feature and move into Abby’s passion as a photographer and taking the dive necessary to find true success in it.
This ultimately serves as the main character progression for her where she sees her best friend go out and travel doing photography while she mainly just does the photo ops for the local Santa Claus when the kids sit on the old man’s laps. Getting to the place where she can embrace this passion needs work and ultimately her friendship and eventual romance with Josh sets the stage for her to progress not just in her interpersonal relationships but also intrapersonal within herself. Now, the film does not necessarily do a deep dive in regard to this but the idea exists within the movie.
The film does struggle when it comes to piecing this narrative together, especially with the ridiculousness of this calendar. With the way the story plays out, it leaves plenty lacking in the effort of making this experience anything other than cheesy. We know exactly where this film will go and it’s up to the film to have us entertained throughout and The Holiday Calendar does not quite do that. For all the cheesiness it brings, it cannot make it stick as something worth holding onto and we’re left with some lackluster acting on top of writing that certainly needs some work. For as much as these actors try to bring some life to these characters, they certainly did not receive a screenplay that did them any favors. Even with the positive elements it holds, it still wildly struggles as a whole and ultimately exists as one of those forgettable holiday films that have their shine in the moment but no one remembers by the time the new year hits.
Films with Josh 
