by Adam Thas & Alison Thas
Alison: Our 2023 Holiday Movie viewing season was off to a pretty rough start with back-to-back duds. Enter The Christmas Train. The cast boasted Dermot Mulroney, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Danny Glover, and Joan Cusack. While we were certainly burned on the potential star power of Best. Christmas. Ever., Adam and I felt a movie with this many recognizable names would be a safe bet.
Dermot Mulroney plays Tom Langdon, a seasoned war reporter who has moved to writing lighter pieces. Tom’s late father loved trains and Tom is hoping to get some inspiration for his next book, dedicated to his father, by taking a four-day train trip on the Christmas Train – a trip earning that nickname since it arrives on the morning of Christmas day. The passengers joining him are all quirky yet endearing. Our favorite was Agnes, played by Joan Cusack, who is constantly eavesdropping on all the important conversations and offering up unsolicited advice. Danny Glover plays Max Powers, a famed Hollywood director who has asked his favorite writer, Eleanor Carter (Kimberly Williams-Paisley), to join him. It is quicky revealed that Tom and Eleanor were romantically linked many years ago and still have some unresolved issues to sort out.
This movie is a solid example of what a charming holiday movie should be – a cozy, inviting setting, a handful of lovable characters, and a plot that clips along at a smooth pace. We all know how the movie is going to end but the path it was going to take remained a mystery that kept me entertained. Our two children, ages 7 and 10, watched the movie with us and enjoyed it as well. In fact, our Elf in the Tree (think Elf on the Shelf but tiny and confined to move throughout the Christmas tree) received the name Agnes based on Joan Cusack’s character. Everything was going really well until the climatic scene in the Rocky Mountains. It was here that the movie took a strange turn and the cohesion that was evident in the first two acts of the movie seemed to disintegrate in its final act. While I was not as thrilled with the end of the movie as I was with the beginning, overall this is a pleasant movie that I could see myself rewatching in the future.
Adam: When you think about the stereotypical holiday rom-com, it’s usually a busy business woman who finds love in a small town. In that sense, The Christmas Train is a departure from that stereotype with more of an ensemble cast contributing to the story. Where it stays the course with the usual Hallmark movie is that the romance is the driving force, and that it’s made on the cheap. 85% of the movie is shot on three train cars obviously giving it the ability to hire a bit more talent than the usual holiday rom-com. The entire format of the movie is borrowed from Murder on the Orient Express, complete with an avalanche and a twist ending as the mysteries set up along the way slowly become revealed before each commercial break.
I know it may seem like I didn’t like it, but as far as these movies go it’s in the upper half. The cast is great and since I would pay to watch Joan Cusack read a phonebook, having her in the movie automatically ups its standing. Yes, it borrows its format from Murder on the Orient Express but if you’re going to borrow a format, borrowing one from a great movie and an even better book by one of the most proficient writers of all time is a good path to take. It’s a good plot device to move the story and it wouldn’t be a holiday rom-com unless it added snow, holiday decorations galore, a wedding and not one but two marriage proposals. In the end (literally) is where I have my biggest beef. In the style of Murder on the Orient Express they add a twist ending that is, in a word, awful. Despite laying clues the entire time, the twist ruins everything that proceeded it. So here is my suggestion: Watch The Christmas Train (preferably without commercials), if you’re a fan of these types of movies, you’ll like it. When you get to three minutes left, just turn it off. End with the ending they should have ended with and you’ll like it a lot better than if you watched those last few minutes of the movie.
Adam’s List:
1) Holidate (2020, Netflix)
2) Love Hard (2021, Netflix)
3) Your Christmas or Mine (2022, Amazon)
4) Holiday Calendar (2018, Netflix)
5) Snowed Inn (2017, Hallmark)
6) The Princess Switch (2018, Netflix)
7) Falling for Christmas (2022, Netflix)
8) The Knight Before Christmas (2019, Netflix)
9) Midnight at the Magnolia (2020, Netflix)
10) The Christmas Train (2017, Hallmark)
11) Christmas Under Wraps (2014, Hallmark)
12) Reporting for Christmas (2023, Hulu)
13) The Princess Switch 2: Switched Again (2020, Netflix)
14) The Noel Diary (2022, Netflix)
15) The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star (2021, Netflix)
16) One Royal Holiday (2020, Hallmark)
17) Christmas on the Farm (2022, Hulu)
18) Holiday in the Wild (2019, Netflix)
19) Pride, Prejudice, and Mistletoe (2018, Hallmark)
20) Three Wise Men and a Baby (2022, Hallmark)
21) Best. Christmas. Ever. (2023, Netflix)
Alison’s List:
1) The Princess Switch (2018, Netflix)
2) Your Christmas or Mine (2022, Amazon)
3) Love Hard (2021, Netflix)
4) Holiday Calendar (2018, Netflix)
5) Falling for Christmas (2022, Netflix)
6) Holidate (2020, Netflix)
7) The Christmas Train (2017, Hallmark)
8) The Knight Before Christmas (2019, Netflix)
9) Midnight at the Magnolia (2020, Netflix)
10) Christmas Under Wraps (2014, Hallmark)
11) Pride, Prejudice, and Mistletoe (2018, Hallmark)
12) The Princess Switch 2: Switched Again (2020, Netflix)
13) Snowed Inn (2017, Hallmark)
14) Reporting for Christmas (2023, Hulu)
15) The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star (2021, Netflix)
16) One Royal Holiday (2020, Hallmark)
17) The Noel Diary (2022, Netflix)
18) Three Wise Men and a Baby (2022, Hallmark)
19) Christmas on the Farm (2022, Hulu)
20) Holiday in the Wild (2019, Netflix)
21) Best. Christmas. Ever. (2023, Netflix)
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