Jake Lacy Saves ‘Christmas Inheritance’ From Being A Total Lump Of Coal

If you loved Netflix’s Christmas offering last month, A Christmas Prince, you’ll like Christmas Inheritance as well…just, a little bit less. Both holiday films follow a pretty blonde lady with a dead parent who sets out to prove herself in a place she doesn’t belong, using a fake name along the way, even though there’s a nice person who totally discovers who she truly is, and she ends up falling in love with the noble hot guy of the town whose last girlfriend was a total bitch, and they celebrate with an almost kiss in a romantic snowy location. And also it happens around Christmas time. Don’t worry, I didn’t spoil anything along the way — you already know how this one goes.

Eliza Taylor (The 100) stars as Ellen Langford, soon to be Ellie London, when she gets to a small town called, believe it, Snow Falls. She’s a privileged rich chick with a dick of a fiancé named Gray who says things like, “Tonight is the night for my office Christmas thing. I want us to make a bit of an entrance,” (don’t worry, he will just chat with “Karen” in Ellen’s absence), and, “You know I don’t do sugar.” If this couple actually got around to voting in 2016, their opinions on homeless people make it very apparent which way they went.

Ellen sets off for Snow Falls to deliver very valuable Christmas letters, and does so with only a crisp $100 dollar bill to prove to her father that she can be trusted and responsible. It’s a new experience for her, and not the only one. While she is exceptionally skilled at knocking things over, what follows is a list of basic activities she does not know how to do:

• Take a bus
• Dress for a cold climate
• Function without cell service
• Come up with a fake name
• Recognize a hot water bottle
• Use a vacuum cleaner
• Hold a baby
• Crack an egg open

As soon as Ellen arrives in the small town, which is technically a bus ride away from her home in New York City, but feels many solar systems removed, her suitcase is run over by Jake (Jake Lacy) who is the town’s cab driver/inn manager, and he hits her with a, “Trust me, I’m your best option right now,” which only becomes a truer and truer statement as the movie goes on. He’s a guy that has the basic human decency to care about other people and teaches Ellie that she should as well. You know this guy, he’s the kind that asks, “Is this the part where we’re supposed to kiss?” Lacy, who stole scenes and hearts in Obvious Child and How To Be Single, totally nails that aw shucks small town congenial guy vibe here, and his charm (and acting) are what truly save this film. Not just anyone could pull of being the guy that gets furious at the sound of “Silent Night.” Lacy brings a natural, genuine energy to Jake as the good guy with a wall around his heart, who is nice to everyone except snotty city types

Andie MacDowell is as sweet as a gingerbread cookie as Jake’s aunt Debbie, and once Ellen realizes she doesn’t have to be a snob, but can actually, you know, give a shit about people, Taylor makes the character much more sympathetic. At an hour and forty-four minutes, Christmas Inheritance is just a tad too long and could’ve benefitted from shaving a bit off along the way, as it drags in getting to the predictable place it’s heading towards, with very few fun surprises along the way. It might not become a classic you return to every December, but ultimately it remains a reliable Christmas romance that still manages to summon butterflies in your stomach where it counts.

Where to watch Christmas Inheritance