Director: Kirk D’Amico
Rating: 3/5
Holiday Joy is a new film on Netflix, and the story surprised me. I did not pay attention to the title of the film when I decided to watch it, but to the description. In the description, it said that the grass is always greener on the other side so I assumed it would be some family drama. That is also how the film looked like from some scenes I saw in pictures of the film. I did not watch the trailer though.
As it turned out, it was a Christmas film with a typical Christmas story of magic and getting the message of what truly matters during the Christmas time. Nothing we haven’t seen many times before. It is also a film presented as 2017 but on IMDB it says 2016. Thus, once again it is new for Netflix customers such as myself but perhaps not for everyone who may have seen this elsewhere.
Joy (Bailee Madison) wishes to have a life of her neighbour Eve (Natalie Ganzhorn). Eve runs every morning with her father and her loving mother stays at home and looks after both of them. She sees smiling and loving family and wishes to be a part of it. This is because she lives with her father, two brothers and a dog, and basically she looks after everyone after her mother left the family and her father shifted to a never ending status of a breakdown. Everyone relies on her but not many appreciate enough everything she does nor anyone seems to bother how she feels and what is happening in her life.
Therefore, when she gets hit by a car (accidentally it is her ‘happy’ neighbour that causes the accident) she wakes up only to realise she is the super popular girl who plays volleyball for the school, has the hottest guy in the school as a boyfriend, a wardrobe full of the most fashionable clothes and loving and rich parents. She wakes up as Eve just that she is still called Joy, and she becomes the older sister of Eve who is her unsuccessful sister.
However, while she initially enjoys all the benefits of the happy family slowly she realises not everything is so perfect and that everyone has their own challenges. In addition, she realises she is attached to her real family and does not want them to be harmed…
Nothing new, but well-made and relaxing. If you are a fan of Christmas films, go for it.
Thank you for reading.