Lifetime
Who would have thought we’d have not one but two holiday TV movies this year very loosely based on the real life romance of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce? And in an attempt to one-up the Hallmark Channel, Lifetime has scheduled their version of the story to air first (although Hallmark’s is less about the couple and more about family) and it turns out to be one of the better films the network has broadcast this year.
Christmas in the Spotlight stars Jessica Lord as pop star Bowyn Sykes (her fans are called ‘Arrowhead’ — Bow and arrow, get it?), about to release a new holiday-themed single and album, recently split from selfish, fame-whore boyfriend Hudson Peters (who has recently scored himself a role in a major motion picture and needs to leech off of Bowyn even more), determined to focus on herself and getting this album launched with no time or desire to date anyone. Drew Gonville, a wide receiver for the (fictional) Bombers and whose brother is the star quarterback, is perceived by most people as a goof, a dumb jock without a serious bone in his body and a string of women behind him. Drew’s niece Aileen is a devoted Arrowhead, and Uncle Drew takes her to a Bowyn concert as a birthday gift, sneaking themselves backstage after the show so Aileen can meet her idol. But it seems Drew is the one who is starstruck/lovestruck when he sets eyes on the singer, but when he tries to take a selfie, her manager calls her and she turns her head as the picture is snapped.
With Drew obviously interested in Bowyn, he’s cajoled into posting the picture and tagging her, asking her out on a date if she happens to see it. Bowyn’s manager does see it and needs to impress on Bowyn how advantageous it would be if she did go on a date with him. It could bring the NFL fans to her music — presales of the Christmas album are not up to snuff — and it could also mean the manager gets to sit in the family’s box at the next football … because she’s a huge fan and knows the family is also pretty amazing. After doing a little of her own research, Bowyn does respond and invites Drew on a date, for which he has to dress in disguise on the way to keep everything low-profile. It’s a success and they arrange for a second date, promising that this is all just fun and nothing more serious, no falling in love, and it has to be kept on the down low because Bowyn just doesn’t want to go public with her personal life at the moment. Drew does begin to fall for Bowyn and their cover is almost blown when his brother and their teammates show up at the cabin where the second date is taking place. But keeping secrets is not setting well with Drew and the relationship is nearly put on ice, but they make amends with Bowyn more comfortable with going public, taking Drew to a big industry event where she gets swept away and he’s left to wander alone, holding her purse. He decides to leave when she finally returns, and then she’s cornered by her ex who pokes at her that the relationship is all about PR and selling records. She sarcastically tells Hudson that he’s completely right … and then gets real, telling him how much more of a man Drew is than he will ever be and none of this is for publicity. Unfortunately, Hudson was wearing a mic as he had a camera crew following him around, and he leaks the first part of their conversation, putting her not only in a bad light with the public but with Drew and his family as well, leading to a break-up. The only way to fix things is if Hudson releases the full recording, but he’s such a douche it’s hard to imagine he would. But will he?
Lifetime
Christmas in the Spotlight is pretty successful at depicting the very public romance of two very public personalities without it actually being about them. The writer of the film, Eirene Tran Donohue, is a huge Swiftie so she manages to sprinkle the story with references to Swift without making the Bowyn character just a carbon copy of the famous singer. Lord does a terrific job of making Bowyn a real person, not trying to imitate Swift, but giving Bowyn her own personality. Lord has the star power when she’s on stage and performing in music videos (the songs are actually pretty catchy to the point that I Shazamed them to see if they were actual songs — they were not and Lord did not sing, although she is a singer), and she feels really down-to-earth when she’s out of the spotlight. She’s also British, which makes her performance all the more remarkable.
Wallschleger (who happened to play The Gronk in American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez) is terrific as Drew. He pulls off the goofy and serious with great skill, showing Drew’s vulnerability when it seems the relationship is about to implode. He makes Drew someone the audience can’t help but root for, and we feel his pain when that recording is released. He’s also not doing a carbon copy of Kelce, which also helps make his performance feel more authentic. The movie succeeds or fails on the shoulders of its leads and they are both more-than up to the task.
Dennis Andres as brother Rob, Madeleine Cox as niece Aileen, Rob Stewart as dad Jay, and Stacey Bernstein as mom Mil, along with Haley Kalil as Rob’s wife, all contribute to making the Gonvilles feel like a real family. Bernstein in particular gives off some great mom vibes especially as she has to console Drew when it seems things are falling apart. Kalil is also pretty darned good considering this is her second role, the first with any substantial screen time. Also giving a really nice performance is Jeannie Mai. She’s Bowyn’s manager but she’s also a friend, and she balances both roles with great expertise and naturalness.
Director Michelle Ouellet handles the story well, letting it be its own thing even though we all know who it’s really about. But Taylor and Travis never really overshadow the story or the actors playing their inspirations. The cast does an excellent job of bringing the story to life so it will be very interesting to see how the Hallmark version of this story plays out. For now, this one is at the top.
Christmas in the Spotlight has a run time of 1 hour 30 minutes, and is rated TV-PG.
‘Christmas in the Spotlight’ Official Trailer
Lifetime
Share this post
