Like many Generation X’ers, I have been watching the career of Candace Cameron (Bure) for thirty years, since her debut as teenager DJ Tanner on the classic 80’s sitcom “Full House.” Now a wife and mother, Cameron seems entrenched in her acting career as a Hallmark Thespian, starring in seemingly every other Christmas movie that the channel airs.“A Christmas Detour” is her film this holiday season and while perfectly quaint and excellent as a Christmas movie the whole family can enjoy, it falls short of entertaining anyone beyond that perfect demographic of married to high school sweetheart with 2.5 kids.
Cameron plays Paige Summerlind, a writer for a bridal magazine who flaunts her engagement to the romantically loutish Jack in a way that makes the rest of the world cringe. After completing an article titled the 100 ways to find true love (or something to that effect) Paige boards a plane for New York where she will be spending Christmas with Jack and his family – meeting her future in-laws for the first time.
Seated next to Paige is Dylan (Paue Greene) a romantically pessimistic negative Nancy if ever there were one. Dylan pouts about the concepts of true love and soul mates, and when Paige tells him she has a fiancé, the look of disgust on his face is a thing of priceless beauty, one that only a single guy will truly appreciate.
A blizzard diverts the plane to Buffalo, NY, stranding Paige at the airport and making her rethink her intentions of marrying her one true love.
“A Christmas Detour” has a theme similar to the classic “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles” in its depiction of its characters attempting to make a seemingly routine trip and being thwarted by a host of variables along the way.
The snow storm, which is so vast it closes “all airports from Washington DC to Portland, Maine” is the first blockade in Paige’s journey. The budding spark between her and Dylan and the awful behavior of fiancé Jack, whom she clearly loves and he clearly seems to not care, adds the dilemma to her travels. Toss in the comical couple Frank and Maxine (David Lewis & Sarah Strange) and you have a, wait for it, a full house of characters.
“A Christmas Detour” plays out like many Hallmark type tales. Paige is cute, and naïve to life outside of her seemingly perfect relationship. Dylan has personal demons that cause him to shy away from love and companionship, referring to the snow storm as his “get out of Christmas free card.” The story is dry and predictable.
I understand the limitations of such a production, though other Hallmark releases don’t all suffer from these pitfalls. The pacing is far too slow to keep the viewer interested with a plot they doubtless already know the outcome of. And the writing is suspect at best. Do the producers know going in its not “The Godfather” and just don’t bother trying?
Cameron and Greene are decent actors, but I have to scream out loud at several things. How does a woman like Paige manage to stay in a relationship with a complete fool like Jack long enough to get engaged? And when she inevitably dumps Jack on Christmas Eve in favor of Dylan (oh yeah…spoiler alert), why does he take it so well? Most guys, myself included, would flip the table over and go land a knuckle sandwich straight between Dylan’s eyes. But not Jack. He shrugs it off as it he knows he’ll have another fiancé by next Christmas, which based on his regal looks and family wealth, he will.
“A Christmas Detour” doesn’t deserve such a lashing. Its a good wholesome family movie, just like Cameron’s iconic “Full House.” I loved “Full House” as a kid, but couldn’t get through three minutes of it now. “A Christmas Detour” is quite similar.
by – Matt Christopher
