And “Switched for Christmas” is an entertaining holiday film. Is it my favorite Candace Cameron Bure holiday film, probably not (I enjoyed “A Christmas Detour” (2015) and “Journey Back to Christmas” (2017) much more). But it’s still a solid film, nonetheless.
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TITLE: Switched for Christmas
FILM YEAR: 2017
DURATION: 83 Minutes
CHANNEL: Hallmark Channel
Directed by Lee Friedlander
Written by Lee Friedlander, Tracy Andreen
Teleplay: Kelly Fullerton
Producer: Cary Davies
Executive Producers: Sherri Rufh, Charles Tremayne, Jeff Vanderwal, Danielle von Zerneck
Music: Michael Richard Plowman
Cinematography: Charles Lavack
Production Design by Sean Moore
Art Direction by Richelle Wilks
Costume Design by Kristin Somborac
Starring:
Candace Cameron Bure as Kate/Chris
Eion Bailey as Tom
Mark Deklin as Greg
Natasha Bure as Piper
James Jamison as Principal Sumner
Happy the Dog as Happy
There are certain talents that I expect to watch in a holiday film each year and they have established themselves as “Holiday Queens” or “Holiday Kings” because they are consistently starring in holiday films.
For the Hallmark Channel, there is no doubt that Candance Cameron Bure was the “Holiday Queen” for the channel for many consecutive years (her first being “The Heart of Christmas” back in 2011) before leaving on to become the Chief Content Officer at Great American Media.
I’m always confident that when you watched a Candace Cameron Bure telefilm, you are getting one of the bigger budget storylines. May it be her appearance on the “Aurora Teagarden” for Hallmark Movies & Mysteries or holiday films, or even her the “Full House” and “Fuller House” series, she has always been entertaining to watch and there hasn’t been one bad holiday film that I’ve seen which she has starred in.
With the 2017 holiday film “Switched For Christmas”, Candace Cameron Bure stars as two twins, Kate/Chris. Chris Lockhart is a single mother with two children who is the head of the art department at their school and has been planning for the Winter Wonderland event for the past decade, while Kate Lochhart is a city girl, making great money at a real estate developer job, but now is facing frustration of having to throw the office Christmas party thanks to her boss assigning it to her and having two weeks to pull it off.
Chris is the creative type and is very much into the arts, Kate is driven and is not into the arts. Both are opposites and while twins, they look the same but they are very much different.
Meanwhile, she finds out that her father is coming to the city and when she goes to visit him, her father brings her twin sister Chris and tells them that they made a promise to their mother before her passing that they would have their pre-Christmas lunch together but haven’t done so for two years (as they don’t talk). And their father tells them, now they are going to do it and leaves the two alone.
As the two talk, Chris talks about the challenge of her job of trying to put a Christmas Party for the school, while Kate tells her that she wishes she could do the party for her (as she would excel with it), which Chris tells Kate she shouldn’t complain about her job as she sports Jimmy Choo shoes and lives the good life and is pampered. While Kate tells Chris that running “Winterland” in sweatpants would be a vacation. Chris tells her that if she did her job with full creative control, she would rock it. And so Kate tells Chris, to prove it.
The two decide to switch and see how each would do in each other’s job. Afterall, they are identical twins and no one would find out.
So, when Kate (pretending to be Chris) goes to the school, she is introduced to Tom (portrayed by Eion Bailey), a guy that Kate liked when she was younger, who has donated money to make the Winter Wonderland event better because it has grown stale.
Meanwhile, Chris (pretending to be Kate) is shocked that she can run an event with a huge budget. She meets Greg (portrayed by Mark Deklin) and asks for him for ideas of what the company may be interested for the Christmas party.
Can these two become successful by switching lives for few days?
Of course, the storyline is easily to predict. But what is interesting is seeing how Candace Cameron Bure pulls off playing two different roles and seeing how the storyline deals with trying to feature her as two different characters. And for the most part, Bure does a great job playing the role. It’s one of the reasons why she is the “Holiday Film Queen” and why people grew up watching in Christmas telefilms. She’s great at it.
And “Switched for Christmas” is an entertaining holiday film. Is it my favorite Candace Cameron Bure holiday film, probably not (I enjoyed “A Christmas Detour” (2015) and “Journey Back to Christmas” (2017) much more). But it’s still a solid film, nonetheless.
