“Next Stop, Christmas” is a wonderful original Hallmark holiday film that premiered on Saturday, November 6. Digital Journal has the scoop.
It will certainly put viewers in the holiday spirit a month early. Filmmaker Dustin Rikert did a solid job with the film’s direction. The synopsis of this new Hallmark holiday movie is as follows: Angie (Lyndsy Fonseca) is a successful surgeon in New York City but finds herself wondering what her life would be like if she had married her former boyfriend Tyler (Eric Freeman), who is now a successful sportscaster.
Angie takes the train home to spend the holiday with her family but when she arrives discovers it’s inexplicably 10 years earlier. At first, she’s naturally disoriented by her unexpected time travel but slowly acclimates.
With the advice of the train’s enigmatic conductor (Christopher Lloyd), Angie navigates her visit to this Christmas past as she tries to return to the present.
As she works to figure out how to get back to the future, Angie has the chance to reconnect with her family; she even teams up with her sister Kristen (Paige Herschell) to help her parents, Evelyn (Lea Thompson) and Marty (Matt Walton), rekindle their romance. Along the way, Angie gains a new perspective and discovers what – and who – is truly important to her.
The entire cast shines as a whole in this poignant movie: Lyndy Fonseca and Eric Freeman delight as Angie and Tyler respectively, while Chandler Massey is a revelation as Ben. Christopher Lloyd is superb in every scene he is in as the conductor and ticket agent, and Lea Thompson and Matt Walton are memorable in their roles as well. Acclaimed actress Erika Slezak (“One Life to Live” fame) is divine as Aunt Myrt.
Without giving too much away, “Next Stop, Christmas” is a heartwarming and pleasant original holiday family film that is worth checking out, and it garners an A rating. Well done.
