Let me begin by saying that I think I'm being too generous in my assessment as it is.
I'm not familiar with the book of the same name that this is based on, but if Sally Meyers' adapted screenplay is any indication, it's the exact sort of light, ham-handed fare that would have been in my grade school curriculum for its treatment of this or that. I don't know that 'Christmas for a dollar' has any such specific value, but it was definitely cut from the same cloth. Dialogue, scene writing, and the narrative at large are very direct. From start to finish it's filled with varying soft touches of forced drama, artificial charm, mildly refreshing warmth - and gaudy, unnecessary Christian moralizing. It's the sort of simple, unsophisticated storytelling about finding courage, bringing others joy, good deeds as their own reward, and so on and so on, that is designed to impart gentle lessons to impressionable youth. I don't think the movie is an absolute loss, but it's a very mixed bag.
Two thoughts immediately leap out to me about the film. The first is that this is, like too many others, the type of feature that only really exists because its characters bear intelligence that comes and goes as the story incredulously demands. At times one individual may demonstrate blithering ignorance, yet at another illustrate astounding and unlikely knowledge, or vice versa. Only with the most basic and scarcely considered writing is such a roundly blunt flaw possibly as prevalent as it is here.
My second immediate thought is that while at least some of the chief cast (Melanie Stone, Danielle C. Ryan, Brian Krause) are known to me, and have surely shown their abilities elsewhere, they are reduced to performances here that are all but stripped of meaningful depth or personality. That goes for the rest of the cast, too. I don't know if it's John Lyde's direction, Meyers' screenplay, or the source material, but the characters are written with an astoundingly even, blasé waxy sheen, a pretense of unfailing good will and predictable happy endings. With such frankly smarmy roles to fill, the actors mostly seem to coast by without truly feeling anything, let alone conveying it; moments of presumable import pass with nary a blip. It's like these accomplished players have been replaced with pod people who, instead of blank expressions, wear unwavering smiles. It's... kind of disconcerting, actually.
And with that: to the extent that these two immediate thoughts can be applied, in their own ways, to the rest of the film, this is indeed the best description of 'Christmas for a dollar' that I can give. It's noncommittal in its approach to storytelling, and there's little or nothing here that doesn't feel wholly contrived and artificial. For another example: in some instances I enjoy the attention to aspects like costume design, vehicles, and set design and decoration that look good in the first place, and furthermore tend to help cement the setting of the Great Depression. Yet at other times, even these elements seem plainly fake, manufactured on a soulless, automated assembly. Consider, too, the music, which to these ears seems to consist entirely of the same indifferent theme for the full runtime.
What it really comes down to is that as much as this wants to be a family friendly, feel-good slice of wholesome Americana, it's so unflinchingly unyielding in its would-be charm that as a result, there's almost none to be had. It tries so hard, within that slant, to produce value, that as a result there is almost none to be had. The only especial worth that I see is that despite the extraordinary, curious constraints placed on the actors, the adults (Stone, Ryan, Krause, Heather Beers, and others) do somehow manage to be endearing in the hamstrung portrayals they turn in. Which, if you think about it, is all the greater credit to their abilities.
There is an admiring audience for this picture, and I'm not it. I get it. Still, even among the countless holiday-themed features that share many of this one's general traits, 'Christmas for a dollar' strikes me as an especially self-important, self-involved mess. On the one hand I want to like this more than I do; on the other hand, I'm probably being much too lenient.
Recommendable, possibly, only to audiences who adore everything Christmas, or for whom the tawdrily superfluous Christian messaging is held as a bonus. For most anyone else, even if you're a particular fan of someone in the cast or crew, you don't need to watch this.
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