Film Review: 'The Christmas Edition'

Jackie Evans (Carly Hughes) has always been a hard worker with her eye set on the prize. A journalist for the Sunshine Chronicle in San Diego, Jackie is hoping that all her dedication and talent will earn her a promotion to news editor. But to Jackie's dismay, her aspirations end up being for naught when Melanie Dower (Marie Osmond)--the CEO of media conglomerate Dower Media--suddenly purchases Sunshine Chronicle. Despite Jackie's skills and the high praises of her boss, Melanie believes she doesn't have the skills required of an editor, instead only offering Jackie a position as a staff reporter. Stunned and unwilling to take such a demotion, Jackie quits.

Thankfully, a new opportunity has already presented itself to Jackie: Lantern Grove Press, a small-town newspaper in Juneau, Alaska in need of a new operator. Eager to take charge of a newsroom and prove Melanie wrong, Jackie packs up and heads for Alaska. Welcoming Melanie to the town is local glassblower Finn Thompson (Rob Mayes), the son of the newspaper's late owner who wants to keep his father's legacy alive. Upon seeing the outdated equipment and minuscule crew size, Jackie realizes she has her work cut out for her if she wants to bring Lantern Grove Press back to its former glory. As Jackie works with her staff to get the newspaper back on its feet, she begins to fall in love with the town--as well as Finn. But when Melanie comes back into the picture with a tempting offer for Jackie, will her choice spell an end to her time in Lantern Grove?

For my final Christmas review of 2020, I decided on this Lifetime feature coming to us courtesy of some familiar Lifetime faces. In addition to director Peter Sullivan, there's his usual posse of producers and Anna White (of The Secret Lives of Cheerleaders fame) serving as the writer. Plot-wise, White has come up with a story that--when boiled down to its basic elements--has been seen before many times. If I had a dollar for every made-for-TV Christmas movie about a hard-working woman traveling to a small town and finding love, I'd have enough money to buy a newspaper company myself. But thanks to a charming main cast and a few surprising touches White gives to her script, The Christmas Edition becomes a fun feel-good movie perfect for capping off the year with.

Given how my last review of an Anna White penned Lifetime movie wasn't particularly glowing, I figure it's only fair to start this one by talking about her superior script for this movie. While much of The Christmas Edition's runtime is spent on watching Jackie rebuild Lantern Grove Press and get involved in the town's Christmas festivities, White's script keeps things moving at a consistent pace. Such a pace keeps things from growing dull, and the compelling cast plays a big hand in keeping it that way. More surprising, though, is how White ends up subverting a couple of divisive Christmas movie tropes.

Most notably, Jackie Evans isn't portrayed as a holiday curmudgeon who needs Lantern Grove and Finn to teach her the true meaning of Christmas. While she's got a bit of the "Overworking, Christmas-Indifferent Careerwoman" archetype going on for her, Jackie's dedication to her career isn't portrayed as a bad thing she needs to correct. In fact, it's because of her fierce determination and work ethic that Lantern Grove Press is able to rise from the ashes. While she has her overly stuffy moments, Jackie is ultimately just a work-oriented person whose ambitions and desires change as Lantern Grove gives her her first taste of a traditional Christmas. Additionally, for all the conflicts Jackie has throughout the film, we never see her have an ounce of doubt about her journalistic abilities. It all comes together to make Jackie Evans an exceptionally likable and empowering protagonist--especially if you're also a writer.

WARNING: Spoilers Below

Another notable trope-defying move of White's is how the third-act complication that comes in the form of Melanie Dower is handled by the main characters. Knowing that it was coming, I was bracing myself for another nerve-grating Third Act Misunderstanding. So imagine my relief when that avenue is left completely untouched. Jackie is not only forthcoming to Finn and her employees about Melanie's job offer and desire to buy the press, but they all take the news with level heads and even encourage Jackie to take the job. Even though it means losing Jackie and Lantern Grove Press as they know it, Finn and company care enough about Jackie to not want to stand in the way of her career. It makes for an immensely touching final act, with more weight being brought to Jackie's decision to stay due to how her newfound friends (and boyfriend) earn their happy ending through their compassion and empathy.

Spoilers Over

Most importantly, White's script allows the viewer to feel all the heart her story has to offer, whether it be from Jackie and Finn's budding romance or the camaraderie that forms between the staff of Lantern Grove's revitalized press. The cast works hand-in-hand with the script to do so, with The Christmas Edition serving as Carly Hughes' debut to Lifetime. While she has moments where her delivery stiffens up, Hughes otherwise makes a strong first impression as a confident journalist who finds a new passion project and love over the Christmas season. Rob Mayes (previously seen on my blog last year in my review of a Lifetime thriller) is easy to love as the relatively uncomplicated Finn Thompson, with Mayes and Hughes quickly sparking engaging chemistry. It is a bit weird, though, how the film treats Jackie and Finn as though they started out disliking each other; Jackie even outright says at one point that she didn't like Finn when she first got into town. Apart from some light snarky pokes at each other, you never get the sense there's any real animosity between them.

Regardless, the bond between Jackie and Finn is sweet to watch unfold, with Finn's backstory regarding his father and his decision not to follow in his footsteps as a "newspaperman" adding a layer of heart to that bond. With the mild flak he gets from the townspeople for not taking over the newspaper and the implication that he was at one point estranged from his father because he had no interest in running the family business, Jackie's praise of Finn's beautiful glassblowing creations and assurances that she'll maintain his father's legacy feel more significant. Hughes and Mayes are joined by an uber-charming supporting cast, with the best of the bunch being Aloma Wright as Edna. Wright plays Edna with just as much witty sass as she does earnest motherly warmth, bringing authenticity to the fast friendship she forms with Jackie.

In their shared full-length film debut, Emily Alabi and Langi Tuifua are adorable as photographer Dolores and her culinarily inclined husband Teddy, with Alabi effectively tapping into Dolores' emotions for her heavier scenes. While his character's 1800's-esque getup is a bit too over-the-top for this otherwise grounded movie, Rick Macy brings some nice charisma to Mayor William and his minor subplot with Edna, while James Jamison makes the most of his limited screentime as Jackie's lovingly supportive father Benny. While this may be a surprise to some, the broken Christmas bulb of the cast (for me, at least) was Marie Osmond. Her performance is consistently unemotive and her deliveries alternate between flat and tonally erratic. She's not helped by the fact that Melanie Dower is written in a similarly inconsistent way, as if White flip-flopped between writing her as a villain and writing her as a mere obstacle for Jackie to overcome. This confusing writing and Osmond's cringey acting combine to make a confounding concoction of a character (try saying that five times fast).

(Also, a scenery-based nitpick: there are moments when the added-in-post-production "Christmas lights" become distractingly bright. The ones on display as SPOILER ALERT Jackie and Finn prepare to head to the Christmas party Spoilers Over are memorably ridiculous-looking)

Osmond/Melanie Dower ends up being a small dark spot on an otherwise excellent holiday film about friendship, love, and the joy of a small-town Christmas. Barring Osmond, the cast does a great job bringing their characters and the film's merry atmosphere to life. Aiding in that is the script, which not only keeps the plot steadily moving, but refreshingly avoids a few Christmas movie conventions that have dragged other films down. With The Christmas Edition, I'm happy to report that this year's string of holiday reviews is ending with a front-page-quality movie.

Score: 9 out of 10 gingerbread cream puffs.