| The Christmas Ticket is a sweet, feel-good, classic Christmas rom-com even if it is a bit hokey and slow. Alana (Violet Bennett) grew up poor with a constantly moving father after her mother died, gradually losing touch with her grandfather. Years later as an adult, Alana might be a bit more settled in New York City but she’s still broke and jobless and then she finds out she’s the benefactor of her recently departed grandfather’s cabin. | | 2025
Directed by: Vincenzo Conrorio
Screenplay by: Vincenzo Conrorio
Starring: Violet Bennet, Travis Laughlin
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She might also be the benefactor of her recently departed grandfather’s winning lottery ticket, if she can find before it expires on Christmas Eve. There are lots of problems with this set-up, but at the same time, it’s easy to forgive and ignore them all since Alana is so sweet. The film hits on all the right feel-good moments that it hardly matters which missteps in the plot it’s covering up.
Alana finds out about her inherited cabin from a realtor who messaged her about a job interview. When she arrives, he doesn’t really explain himself, so she assumes maybe this is a date set up by her roommate, he then responds, “it could be” before finally explaining that his company wants to buy the cabin from her, and then proceeds to ask her out on a date. Worse, is that Alana agrees and her roommate also thinks that’s a good idea even though any reasonable person could see the flashing red flags a mile away. Small spoiler: at least that guy is unemployed by the end of the movie as he should be.
Meanwhile, at the cabin in upstate New York, Alana isn’t all that cut out for country life but luckily meets a very cute, very nice next door neighbour, who also hasn’t an adorable dog and is single. The movie seems to think she has two suitors, I don’t – she has 1.
Alana spends a few minutes looking for the lottery ticket and then appears to give up. When she gets a new idea, she then spends the day with Luke, and gives up again. This lack in urgency or even hope in finding the ticket does not help the film with it’s pacing problems. But also, good romances are supposed to be slow. Their relationship could have used a bit more time, but when the film hits every formulaic note possible, there just isn’t any more time.
We have a big city girl moving to the country to find a ruggedly handsome and charming neighbour who likes helping out from the goodness of his heart, an evil developer coming in threatening to buy and destroy the small town, and good people who can’t afford to keep their business running anymore at exactly the same time developers show up and a magically winning lottery ticket which may or may not be found in time.
I told you The Christmas Ticket is hokey, but it’s also very sweet and very cute.
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