Raul works as an accountant in Madrid. We learn through a series of flashbacks to his childhood that he has many reasons for hating Christmas so every year, he flies off on a tropical vacation to avoid the holidays, But this year his boss sends him to a small town in the mountains to conduct an audit on a sweets factory that needs to be done by the new year. His boss assures him his job won’t conflict with his holiday plans, but us Christmas movie viewers know better. Little does he know that the town is famous not only for its candy but also for its nativity play, and this year the people from the Guinness Book will be present to see if the play qualifies for world's biggest. He drives into town and immediately runs into and destroy the manger set, which also serves as the meet-cute moment with Paula, a perky woman who seems to have a hand in every town activity (most importantly, she runs the nativity play). Soon, Raul's Christmas-hating reputation is well known, with the townspeople calling him The Grinch, though it's done affectionately as they have come to like him, and soon romantic sparks are flying between he and Paula. But in addition to a Grinch, a Scrooge pops up: Pablo, son of the factory owner, who harbors an unrequited crush on Paula. Raul finds inconsistencies in the company's books and agrees to stay on a couple extra days while Pablo, who blames the problems on his aging father, tries to figure out what's wrong. But Pablo has actually cooked the books because he wants to sell the factory to Japanese investors who will probably close it down. To the townsfolk, it looks like Raul is the villain whose audit will be responsible for a shutdown, and they all turn against him. Will Raul figure out what's going and at the same time, regain his Christmas spirit and win the love of Paula?
The plot summary makes this sound like a fairly typical Hallmark-style Christmas romance, but it's actually from Netflix, and it was made in Spain (and in Spanish). And though the main plot elements are familiar (big city vs. small town, traumas of Christmas past, a community holiday event which must go on), the movie takes a disturbing turn in its last half-hour. Things get rather dark as the townsfolk turn against Raul in some rather nasty ways, and Pablo winds up throwing Raul out of a car to tumble down into a valley where he winds up bloody and unconscious. There's also a pregnant woman who, of course, goes into labor during the nativity play, threatening the Guinness certification. Luckily, some Santa magic (or, interchangeably, Hallmark-style magic) rights everything by the end. Tamar Novas (pictured) and Andrea Ros are charming and attractive in the lead roles (Novas does an effective girlish scream); Peter Vives makes a hissable bad guy, and the supporting roles of parents and friends and factory workers are filled nicely. IMDb says this is rated TV-PG, but that must be for the English dub as the Spanish version contains some coarse language, including an f-bomb, in its subtitles. [Amazon Prime]
No comments:
Post a Comment