Holiday in Santa Fe

In typical romcom holiday style, we get big city executive Belinda Sawyer (Emeraude Toubia) heading west to broker a deal for her company to buy out a small local business in Santa Fe, New Mexico. One there, Belinda is charmed by the oldest son Tony (Mario Lopez) and their buiness while the rest of the family is far more unsure about giving up their autonomy.

Toubia, who also produced, is the highlight here, although I also enjoyed Lucifer's Aimee Garcia as Tony's far more interesting sister Magdalena who has the weight of the business' artistic legacy on her shoulders. A bit staid, while ignoring the large age gap between Belinda and Tony, the film might have produced more sparks had the romantic angle been between Belinda and Magdalena allowing the former's arrival to act as a muse to the latter's artistic block.

As expected, the script calls for a late romantic obstacle for Belinda and Tony to navigate, although the one Holiday in Santa Fe chooses is a bit perplexing. After learning her company is planning to corrupt to brand new after acquiring it with some truly awful designs (something that makes no sense whatsoever), and alerts Tony to the situation before contracts are signed (allowing this all to be prevented), he shuns her for reasons passing understanding.

Of course, as a holiday romance, everything turns out in the end complete with a big Christmas ceremony that unveils Magdalena's new creations, which, while interesting (although unfortunately added to a pretty lackluster tree display), can't live up to the hype of the revolutionary new offering needed to cement the family's legacy and sell the end of the film.

Shot in Santa Fe, the movie attempts to make the most of its locale (to the extent you would expect from a TV-movie) without every exploring anything outside of the local downtown area. Holiday in Santa Fe received mixed response from locals with some feeling it missed the boat on capturing the true feel of the region and their Mexican Christmas traditions. That, along with the questionable casting of Lopez and the lack of the "wow" moment to close out the film, makes Holiday in Santa Fe feel like a missed opportunity that might have led to be more than just another average holiday romcom with a likable star.

• Title: Holiday in Santa Fe
• IMDb: link