Rent Christmas Comes to Willow Creek on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Peter L. Keys (suggested by material by), Michael Norell (teleplay), Michael Norell & Andy Siegel (story)
Directed by: Richard Lang
Starring: John Schneider, Tom Wopat, Kim Delaney, Zachary Ainsley
Rated: TV-PG
Watch the trailer
Plot
Two feuding brothers and one's son face blizzards and their complicated past as they take toys from California to Alaska in a big rig for Christmas.
Verdict
The first third of the movie makes it a mystery of how exactly everyone is related. That could have been clarified much earlier and easier. Once that's figured out it's a lot of cross country driving interspersed with a few fights in a failed attempt to prevent this from being too boring. The conclusion is a big dose of Christmas magic, that solves all the problems while also generating many questions if you think about it for longer than a second. It's such a shallow movie that only appears to reach a resolution, but I'd guess this exists just to capitalize on the season and the stars.
Skip it.
Review
John Schneider and Tom Wopat are best known for playing Bo and Luke Duke in The Dukes of Hazzard.
Economically depressed Alaskan town Willow Creek has few prospects after the cannery closed down There are no jobs and Christmas looks bleak. Former resident Big Al (Hoyt Axton) who now owns a trucking company in California plans to bring toys to all the town kids, driving a truck with Ray.
Pete (Tom Wopat) is also a trucker and in some kind of feud with Ray (John Schneider). They have to put that behind them to drive to Alaska when Big Al falls ill and asks Pete to fill in. The real mystery is how all three of these people are related. If it wasn't for the plot description, I wouldn't know they are brothers. Pete ends up bringing his son Michael (Zachary Ansley) as he promised they'd spend Christmas together, and there's nothing like spending the holiday in a truck cab.
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| John Schneider, Tom Wopat play Ray, Pete |
We're forty minutes in before we figure out how Big Al is related to Pete and Ray. Al tells his secretary as he's at home lying in bed. I think she's there only for the exposition. Al and the men's father co-owned the trucking company. The feud between Pete and Ray is over a woman, Jessie (Kim Delaney). That plot point is also teased for way too long. She joins the trip as the truck wasn't crowded enough.
Al is adamant they must get the truck cargo to Willow Creek by Christmas, but they keep stopping. Two-thirds in I was growing bored. A lengthy driving montage doesn't help.
They finally reach Alaska, somehow on time, but get stuck in a snow bank during a blizzard at night. Their radio goes out just after contacting Willow Creek and the truck won't start, so they're properly stuck. That's when a shepherd appears out of nowhere. That's handy as Jessie is actively in labor. The shepherd uses his sheep knowledge to deliver the baby which also gives Pete and Ray a chance to clear the air by fighting. When the town of Willow Creek arrives to dig them out the next morning, the shepherd and his nearby house are nowhere to be seen. It's a nice happy ending with a Christmas miracle via Christmas magic.
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| John Schneider, Tom Wopat play Ray, Pete |
Al's gesture is nice, but it doesn't seem like it will fix the town. Except he included ingredients to make lots of chili and Ray is great at making chili. He's going to stick around and re-open the cannery to make chili. I don't see that being sustainable. That sounds nice but is lacking a few logistics.
This magic shepherd does make this more confusing if you question anything. He's a quick shortcut to solve all the problems, and then we see his shepherd's crook at Al's house in California during the final scene only to prove the events did happen. That's the only reason for it to appear; that and it's a direct copy of a moment in Miracle on 34th Street.
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