Ion is not my preferred stop when it comes to Christmas movies, but sometimes even it bests Hallmark on the diversity front. Rent-an-Elf does what “the heart of TV” almost never does and features an interracial couple like it’s no big deal, because it isn’t. Kim Shaw and Sean Patrick Thomas, however, wouldn’t be my ideal casting choices and take awhile to warm up to one another. Nevertheless, they’re likable as two lonely hearts who find love over the holidays.
Shaw plays Ava, the owner and director of her own party planning company. It’s a miniscule operation with other two employees, Sahara (Rachel Grate) and Jimmy (Luke Jones), who assist during the Christmas season. By the look of things, they manage a holiday party a day, sometimes a fancy corporate do and sometimes just a family gathering. When a new client calls, however, Ava magically clears her schedule in order to plan and oversee a whole raft of new Christmas events.
Liam (Thomas) is in need of some holiday help after his wife walked out on their family during this time last year, right after he returned from a company event that Ava organized. He wants something fun and festive so that his son, Nathan (Yohance and Zakai Biagas Bey), won’t feel too sad about his mom’s absence. Since Ava loves kids and has a thing for Liam, she quickly draws up a packed schedule with a “12 Days of Christmas” theme, which means the two of them will be spending a lot of time together.
There are a lot of details you just have to accept for this plot to work. Ava dives into this full time presumably at the expense of her other clients. I don’t know how she’s managing other events during what I assume is her busiest and most profitable time of the year. I also wonder how far Liam has to dig into his pockets. Ava essentially becomes Nathan’s substitute mom during this period, and while that’s sweet, that’s also super expensive.
Lazy narratives are kind of a given in this genre though. A bigger hurdle for this movie is character development, a problem that might be solved with a different set of actors. I like both leads – Shaw is far more animated than she was in her most recent effort and Thomas still sends me back on a Save the Last Dance nostalgia trip – but they don’t have immediate chemistry. Ava and Liam labor through their courtship, if you can call it that, and at best, they come off as great friends.
The stranger relationship, however, is between Liam and his wife, Jojo (Nicholle Tom), a character that is at once inspired and totally bonkers. When we meet her halfway through the film, it’s immediately clear why she left her family but not at all clear why she married Liam in the first place. Jojo, a free spirit, likes kombucha, healing crystals, and yak hair stockings and is not exactly one to settle for a buttoned-up architect and life in the burbs. Their relationship has the odd effect of making Ava and Liam look like the more plausible couple. It’s hard to shake off Jojo though, and Tom’s committed performance has me wondering what Jojo and Liam did see in each other. I wished they would have dug into the complexity of that relationship, turning what is mostly a bizarre situation into a compelling one about change and loss. I still admire the film for some bold choices, and Debbie Morgan as Liam’s mom is a whole mood, but you’re not missing out if you opt for something else.
Alt Title: The Christmas Elf
Released: 2018
Dir: Nick Lyon
Writer: Sam Jackson
Cast: Kim Shaw, Sean Patrick Thomas, Nicholle Tom, Debbie Morgan, Yohance Biagas Bey, Zakai Biagas Bey, Rachel Grate, Luke Jones, Rod Sweitzer
Time: 80 min
Lang: English
Country: United States
Network: Ion
Reviewed: 2019
Fits of Fury 