If you love the Hallmark or Lifetime format for holiday romance movies, Christmas in the Rockies will not disappoint.
Katie Jolly wants leave smalltown Homewood in the Rocky Mountains for her dream job in New York, but the set-up alone lets you know that isn’t likely to happen: The relationship between her father and grandfather is frosty at best, and prospects for the family lumber business are even colder than that. As Katie is on the road to the airport, she spies a host of ambulances and emergency vehicles headed the opposite way — the only way into town and way more than would be needed for a minor injury or illness.
She hangs a U-turn only to learn that her father has suffered a serious leg injury. The paramedic trying to treat him is a bit rude to Katie, but also ruggedly handsome, so go figure what happens next. That’s right — Katie puts the dream job on hold to tend to daddy and the family business, and that rude paramedic … well, he starts to grow on her slowly and surely. The family business needs more money than Katie can supply under ordinary circumstances, so it’s about to go under.
Unless, of course, there’s a televised lumberjack contest that pays $50,000 to the winner, just enough for Katie to defy all reasonable odds by winning and saving the company, right? At least that’s the plan, but surprisingly enough there are a few twists that keep Christmas in the Rockies from being completely predictable. If nothing else, since Fox is throwing its hat in the ring with its first hol-rom (that’s holiday romance for the uninitiated), otherwise inexplicable cameos by Fox & Friends hosts Steve Doocy and Ainsley Earhardt add a little holiday spice to the formula that the other networks can’t bring.
Unlike many other hol-roms, this movie is to be applauded for its commitment to diversity in its casting. Like other movies of this genre, which Hallmark and Lifetime have perfected by repeatedly churning out, this effort meets its prerequisites in family-friendliness, snowy landscapes and happy endings, and merits the Dove-approved Seal for All Ages.
The Dove Take:
Fox Nation enters the holiday romance arena that would make Hallmark and Lifetime proud.
