‘Tis the holiday season, bringing along everyone’s annual scavenger hunt for the next Christmas movie to enjoy. As star Lindsay Lohan makes a reappearance in a new film for the first since the early 2000s, it’d be easy to pick Lohan’s “Falling for Christmas” out of the selection to watch; however, according to opinions from the press and my own, the new film has brought nothing but a disappointment to the public.

Netflix released the movie as its first Christmas release of the year, and the movie expecting to come in hot with the surprise return of movie star Lohan. Lohan’s last lead part had been back in 2007, which was about 15 years ago.

With her break from the film industry being so lengthy, fans had been anticipating her return for quite some time. Because of her iconic hits, such as “Means Girls” and “Freaky Friday,” it had great buildup toward the release.

Therefore, the problem with the movie wasn’t Lohan’s comeback, but instead the turnout of her return with the poor attributes of the film.

On the popular review website, Rotten Tomatoes, comments were filled with what the media didn’t like about Lohan’s performance, which tended to be her lack of compatibility with the part and character fitting. 

Some of the things that critics had said were that “Lindsay Lohan’s comeback movie is easily already jostling for the position of Worst Festive Film of 2022,” (Writer for The National) “There is zero chemistry between Lohan and Overstreet and a decidedly half-hearted attitude to the pratfalls,” (Editor for Times UK), and “Is ‘Falling for Christmas’ Lohan’s ‘Citizen Kane’?” (Critic from IndieWire). 

Many other 1-star reviews scour across the site on different parts of the whole movie, ranging from the plot to actor performances to graphics. After having watched the film, it was easy to agree with those opinions.

One of the things that made the film weak from my perspective was that it had an extremely predictable storyline, ruining any elements of surprise or emotion as a viewer. Following the same archetypes and plot as dozens of other previous Hallmark movies, it feels as if Lohan’s grand appearance was scammed upon in producing excitement.

Throughout the movie, all the characters, music, as well as setting felt as though they were all recycled scripts and scenes seen in many other films. 

The difference between this movie and others that have done the same mediocre storyline was the hype surrounding “Falling for Christmas” for the expectation that the film would be dedicated to making it unique due to the appearance of the star. 

Sadly, this was not the case and was not the only issue with the movie.

Another complaint was that the acting performances were not up to the standard, especially for Lohan. The poor reviews for Lohan resulted in because of her facial expressions and acting not being expressive through a limited range of motion and emotion shown, failing to emphasize her character. Renowned as a talented actor, it seemed that her theatrics weren’t very attentive and thoughtful in putting together the character.

Without the main lead fitting the persona trying to be portrayed, it was difficult to make the other surrounding parts shine. Therefore, credit can be given to the other actors, while none of them did stand out in the end, adding to the film’s inferior outcome.

For those looking for a cheesy, light-hearted, and average Christmas movie, “Falling for Christmas” could be a fine option; however, the plot didn’t stand out to me, nor others, as anything special, along with Lohan’s comeback being very anti-climatic and disappointing to many. Therefore, it would not be this winter’s recommended choice based on analytics. 

The hope that Lohan plays in other lead roles to make up for the film is the goal, but for now, this season will have “Falling for Christmas” falling down nothing but the rabbit hole of mediocre Christmas films.