Thanks for the memories!

A Major Disappointment

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

We watch this every December it is very funny! We always just keep laughing!

The plot to this Christmas television movie is pretty flimsy. It relies upon characters to act completely illogically. For those of you don't know it already, I'll give a rundown. Basically, Melissa Joan Hart is a screw-up whose parents nag her about her life. She somehow manages to snag a rich, good-looking boyfriend. He dumps her right before they are supposed to meet her parents at a cabin for Christmas. So she has what I would call a psychotic break and kidnaps Mario Lopez. How she does this is the beginning of many far-fetched happenings in the movie. Basically she plans on using Lopez as a stand-in for her boyfriend at Christmas with her family.The movie is surprisingly funny and the characters likable. However, prepare yourself for lots of convenient lapses of logic in order for the plot to work. Lopez allowing himself to be taken prisoner. Lopez not trying very hard to escape. Hart's family believing her ridiculous excuse for why Lopez is claiming to be kidnapped. Lopez getting a phone and not calling 911. After alerting his girlfriend about what happened, he decides to go along with Hart's plan. His reasoning made no sense really but it's needed to allow his hostility towards her to cool for the inevitable happy ending. Still, it works more than it should, in large part due to the likability of the cast.Give it a shot if you see it on TV. It's better than most TV movies these days. But if you have ever been in a relationship with someone as unstable as Hart is here, you might feel less generous about the film and its premise.

Television veterans Mario Lopez (Saved By The Bell) and Melissa Joan Hart (Sabrina The Teenage Witch) star in Holiday In Handcuffs which despite its title is not a Christmas bondage story. The story is about the Bohemian non-conformist daughter of an overachieving family who is so tired of getting asked why she isn't settling down that on an incredible impulse she kidnaps Mario Lopez out of a convenience store and brings him home to her rural family farm house to show off to the family the boyfriend she promised to bring home for Christmas, but who in fact had dumped her before the action of the film started.If you can wrap your mind around the concept of Melissa without Sabrina's magic kidnapping hunky Mario Lopez than you've got more imagination than I have. But a funny thing happens, from as incredibly stupid a premise as this one starts with Holiday In Handcuffs does kind of grow on you. Even Mario starts to sympathize with Melissa after meeting her family consisting of parents Markie Post and Timothy Bottoms, brother Kyle Chandler, sister Vanessa Lee Evigan and grande dame grandma June Lockhart.Of course Mario is also slightly engaged to Gabrielle Miller, but in these kind of family films things like that do have a way of resolving themselves or just going away.Holiday In Handcuffs has become a staple on the Hallmark Channel in the past two years. I suspect it will remain so for young folks in love and those in love with love who dream that a boyfriend like Mario Lopez is a pistol and restraints away.

Trudie Chandler (Melissa Joan Hart) is a poor NYC artist who works as a waitress to make ends meet. Unfortunately, her parents (Markie Post and Timothy Bottoms) are stuffy, rich, and demanding. With the holidays coming, Trudie feels glad that this year she will be bringing a boyfriend along, for her parents are forever hounding her about career AND marriage. And, because her mother likes hair that is "out of the face", Trudie gives herself a tight perm and dresses conservatively for the first big get-together with the folks. Bad luck, however, arrives. Her boyfriend turns out to be a rat, who dumps Trudie on her last afternoon of work. Knowing she has to face her parents in mere hours, Trudie goes a bit "nuts". Pulling out an old, antique gun, she grabs a very cute customer, David (Mario Lopez) and "kidnaps" him for the journey ahead to her parents' upstate New York home. Naturally, he is fit to be tied, no pun intended, as Trudie secures his hands and feet in the car. Things do not improve when they get to the Chandlers grand home but, because the house is isolated, the weather is snowy and cold and Mrs. Chandler has forbidden cell phones for the holidays, he has no choice but to play along. But, once Trudie has her hair redone by her sister, begins to dress more attractively, and reveals her true sweet self, David discovers that he may have eyes for the young artist. Can you really fall in love with your kidnapper? This film is truly made for the insatiable romcom fan, of which I am one. It is totally implausible but totally irresistible at the same time. The actors, too, are quite fine, with Hart, Post, Bottoms, June Lockhart, and the rest making the most of their "stilted" characters. As for Lopez, he is the true star, for he is incredibly handsome, funny, and sensitive. The scenery in upstate New York is lovely, the costumes are well chosen, the script is absurdly snappy, and the other film amenities more than adequate. So, romantic comedy lovers, if you don't get cable (this was originally an ABC Family film), try to find this one before the next holiday rolls around. No one will have to handcuff you to the sofa, for you will be completely enthralled with this tale of Xmas love.