Cynical reporter Tom Langdon (Dermot Mulroney) decides to take the Christmas Train from Washington to his girlfriend in LA for the story. The train is full of characters. Agnes (Joan Cusack) is the nosy passenger and a Christmas Train veteran. Max Powers (Danny Glover) is a famous movie director and he has brought onboard script doctor Eleanor Carter (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) to write him a script. Steve and Julie are eloping on the train. It turns out that Tom and Eleanor are combative exes with a rocky past.
It's a Hallmark movie with a couple of bigger stars. It's rather flat. The combative banter between Tom and Eleanor needs to be funnier and zippier. One would expect better energy from these veteran actors. Nevertheless, it's a functional Hallmark Christmas romance until the final reveal. It's almost a cheat where the supposed magic from the Christmas Train is sapped away. Whatever good it has is retroactively revoked. There might be a way to make the twist cool but it's not here and it's not for Hallmark.
It's a Hallmark movie with a couple of bigger stars. It's rather flat. The combative banter between Tom and Eleanor needs to be funnier and zippier. One would expect better energy from these veteran actors. Nevertheless, it's a functional Hallmark Christmas romance until the final reveal. It's almost a cheat where the supposed magic from the Christmas Train is sapped away. Whatever good it has is retroactively revoked. There might be a way to make the twist cool but it's not here and it's not for Hallmark.