Film Review: 'Second Chance Christmas'

Once upon a time, Caroline (Katrina Begin) and Jack Harkin (Tilky Jones) were a couple deeply in love. But now, Caroline finds herself unhappy with the direction her marriage is taking. Having hit a rut when it comes to his illustration career, Jack appears to have resigned himself to a life spent glued to the couch playing video games while the house falls into a state of permanent mess--putting him at odds with the work-prioritized and organized Caroline. After finally deciding that Jack won't change, Caroline decides her only option is to file for divorce.

However, on her way to filing the papers, Caroline is suddenly struck by a car, with Jack discovering what she was planning to do before getting hit with another bombshell: the accident left Caroline with retrograde amnesia. After realizing Caroline can't remember her plans for divorce or the problems in their marriage, Jack plots to recreate the better times of his and Caroline's relationship to win her back. But as Caroline's memory slowly begins to return, Jack will be forced to face the true problems in his marriage--and himself--if he doesn't want to lose his wife.

Something to be said at the front of this review: Second Chance Christmas, when it hits its stride, is a sweet-natured film about a couple confronting the problems in their relationship and working to fix them. As played by Katrina Begin and Tilky Jones, Caroline and Jack have enough chemistry between them in their sweeter moments that you can believe that despite their flaws, they do love each other and want to be together. The film also at least tries to equalize the flaws in the Harkin marriage, by showcasing both Jack and Caroline's flaws and showing that both ends of the relationship need to improve to fix their relationship--a message on compromise that is sure to speak to a lot of people.

However, to get to that stride, you have to sit through an uncomfortable two acts that boil down to a man manipulating his amnesia-stricken wife into believing she loves him as a lazy, inconsiderate man-child--a facade that is supported and facilitated by his wife's own parents. While Jack justifies his actions by claiming he's following the doctor's orders of not stressing Caroline and is wanting to recreate the earlier blissful moments of their marriage, his informed intentions are betrayed by him instead lying to Caroline and claiming she had no complaints about his behavior before the accident and his outright stating that he hopes she never recovers her memory. This, the willingness everyone in Caroline's life shows to helping Jack deceive her, and Jack ultimately resorting to stalking Caroline as she begins to recall the truth, makes much of Second Chance Christmas uncomfortable to watch. At times, the movie feels like someone stumbled across the script for an "I Married A Psycho" Lifetime movie and haphazardly rewrote it as a holiday romance comedy.

Even when the film calls attention to Jack's flaws and his need to change, there are times when it feels Second Chance Christmas tries too hard to downplay Jack's actions and place too much blame on Caroline for her marriage falling apart. While Caroline is certainly show to have flaws of her own (her initial interactions with her assistant Joey post-amnesia hint at her past as a controlling and overly snide woman and she does open the movie tricking her husband into signing divorce papers), the film is too quick to use this as justification for the horrifically amoral actions of Jack and everyone else in Caroline's life. Thankfully, though, my initial suspicions that the film would villainize Caroline for being a driven career woman were assuaged when the film went about stating that Caroline's problem was not having a career, but rather prioritizing her career ahead of everything else--her loved ones included. It's far from perfect, but for the most part, the third act of Second Chance Christmas greatly makes up for the cringe-inducing acts that followed it.

The film's cast, however, remains consistently solid throughout the film, even when their characters make you want to strangle them. Begin makes Caroline a likable protagonist despite her character starting the film on a bad foot, and Jones makes the most of Jack's more vulnerable and authentic moments to make up for the moments when his character makes your skin crawl. Alexandria Collins gets a few authentic moments of her own as Caroline's old friend Terry, as do Sawandi Wilson and Steven Ted Beckler as Jack's friend Mac and Caroline's father Bill--both of whom deserve some credit for at least outright voicing the moral issues with Jack's plan.

Charlene Tilton, however, sticks out as the weakest link of the cast, bringing a perpetually nonchalant air to Caroline's mother that only compounds the film's events making her out to be a self-centered and callous mother putting her son-in-law's needs ahead of her daughter's--with her behavior going completely unconfronted. The surprise jewel of the cast is Ryan Munzert as Caroline's assistant Joey, with Munzert bringing an adorkable charm to Joey and striking up instant chemistry with Begin, allowing their scenes together to serve as a respite from the cringe as you get to see Caroline spend time with someone who serves as nothing less than an ally for her and who never lies to or manipulates her.

(It was enough to make me wish, despite knowing well where the story was going, that the film would end with Caroline successfully leaving Jack and getting together with Joey.)

Second Chance Christmas is definitely a hard sell for me, as the strength of the film's third act can only do so much to make up for the first two acts that the viewer will spend squirming at the morally reprehensible behaviors of the film's leading man (and by extension, much of the supporting characters). But with a cast that does their all to bring charm to the film's unsavory moments, there's a chance they'll be enough to keep you watching. The odds are even, but if you're willing to work through the cringe, Second Chance Christmas gives a strong closing act as reward.

Score: 5 out of 10 dinosaur story balloons.