Holiday Engagement movie review

TV Movie, on Netflix

2011, **.5, TV-14

Starring: Bonnie Somerville, Shelley Long, Jordan Bridges and Hailey Duff

This film is a nice, simple holiday movie that you can enjoy on Netflix. Hillary Burns (Bonnie Somerville, “Without a Paddle,” “The Ugly Truth,” “Labor Pains,” “Seven Below” ) is in her mid-30s and is finally engaged to a lawyer, which makes all of her mom's (Shelley Long portrays Meredith Hillary's mother) dreams come true. Her mother is so happy that another daughter's financially secure and on her way down the aisle. However right before Thanksgiving when Hillary's fiancé-lawyer, Jason (Chris McKenna, “In and Out,” “King of Ants,” TV’s “Private Practice”) tells her that he's going to be promoted and wants to move from New York to Pittsburgh, she doesn't like the idea one bit. He tells her it doesn't matter that you lost your job at the newspaper, you won't have to work, I make plenty of money and you'll have nothing else to do but be at home and take care of kids. Wow, what a shock to Hillary. Jason tells Hillary that he doesn't think the relationship is going to work out (after her reaction to moving to Pittsburgh didn't settle with her) and he believes it's best that they part ways immediately. This devastates Hillary but deep down, she really doesn't love Jason anyway (he's really a self-serving arrogant jerk, that only wants a thin-blonde wife who provides arm candy for him).

She wanted nothing more than to have her mom (Shelley Long, TV’s “Cheers,” “The Money Pit,” “The Brady Bunch Movie”) happy that she was with someone, financially secure, however Thanksgiving plans are now ruined because she was going to bring Jason home to meet her family, and finally get her mother's approval. Instead of going home alone, her best friend Sophie (Edi Patterson, “Mars Needs Moms,” “Waiting to Die”) suggests she put a videotape on a webpage that allows you to upload a video of why you need a fake fiancé. She does this, even though feels very stupid for doing so. She and Sophie only find out how many true weirdos there are out there looking for money. Her exchange for a fake fiance for Thanksgiving is to offer up a pair of tickets she won to a resort in Mexico.

It just so happens that David (Jordan Bridges, “A Good Funeral,” “J. Edgar,” “Love Takes Wing,” “Drive Me Crazy”) a guy that she was about to interview for a story before she got laid off from the newspaper, is one of the guys that responded to her video ad. So, she takes David to the family home rehearsing in the car about family members names and what to talk about and how to be very mild-mannered pretending to be a lawyer (like her ex Jason). Jason is however a struggling actor (so he feels a tad more confident he can pull it off).

As you can imagine, (just like in the movie “The Wedding Date” where Debra Messing hires Dermont Mulroney an escort to be her boyfriend for her sister's wedding in London) all kinds of craziness ensues, while trying to cover-up the fact that she's really broken up with her fiancé and that she has brought a stand-in (David) to the family home for Thanksgiving. He does rather well with his acting skills, and also plays the piano, and even gets Hillary to sing (something her mother is been wanting her to get back into for years).

All the crap hits the fan towards the end of the film when she realizes she's really in love with David and is totally over her ex-fiancé Jason. Jason shows up at the house, causing more commotion because the truth comes out that David is not really Jason like her parents thought. Her mother (Shelley Long) is in an uproar yelling at David telling him he should be ashamed for what he is done -- pretending to be Hillary's fiancé Jason. The family sends David packing, the real Jason stays, and within a matter of an hour Hillary is talking to her mother about the situation and tells her, she misses her writing job at the newspaper, and asks her if she's ever even read some of her pieces (which her mother Meredith a.k.a. Shelley Long had never even opened any of the packages of articles Hillary had sent her). Hillary is very emotional with her mother and basically tells her she's not in love with Jason is not the person that she's supposed to be with. And her mother soon realizes that David is truly a catch and a kind caring person that her daughter should be with and agrees. Hillary's family then throws Jason's things out the front door.

Hillary runs off to find David, catches up to him, and well you know the rest of the story from there, happily ever after. This is a great holiday film, and will brighten your day, even if your 2012 holiday season this year doesn’t seem to be bright.