A much better movie about coping with loss is 2011’s Christmas Magic, a simple little tale with a supernatural angle from director John Bradshaw again. Following a fateful car crash, work-obsessed Carrie (Lindy Booth) is sent back to the land of the living as a guardian angel to help a widower turn his restaurant business around in time for Christmas. It’s never explained why, specifically, restaurant-owning sweetheart Scott (Paul McGillion) is more deserving of divine intervention than, say, a homeless person, but it’s a Christmas movie so we go with it.
McGillion, who just happens to be from my birthplace of Paisley in Scotland, is great as the sorrowful restauranteur trying to raise a child on his own. He’s not your typical Hallmark bland hunk, being a little older, heavier, and dare I say it, normal-looking, giving a touching performance, full of humility, pathos and charm. Likewise, Kiara Glasco is another thoroughly likeable, precocious child actor who's great as Abby, Scott’s daughter who takes a shine to their heavenly helper.
The plot feels like Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, albeit with a supernatural bent and a lot less swearing. I’ve worked in a few restaurants in my time, so parts of this feel familiar, like the owner stuck in his ways, too scared to try new things. Naturally, with the help of an angel, things begin to look up and Scott and Carrie start to fall for each other. Thing is, she’s only got until Christmas day to complete her mission, when she’ll then go up to heaven, so their relationship is a bit more complicated than most, I’d say.
Again, it’s a film that doesn’t focus too much on Christmas, but features characters who act like they hate the holidays,while deep down totally love it. It wouldn’t have hurt the film to have included a little more festive imagery, considering Carrie’s an angel after all. Still, it makes some salient points about the commercialism of the season, pointing out that workplace ‘Secret Santas’ can be totally pointless. You spend money you can’t afford on people you don’t like, to get them ‘gag’ gifts they’ll probably hate – what’s that all about?
This was a little harder going than most, with some harrowing hospital scenes, culminating in Scott trying to use his sweet singer-songwriter skills to croon Carrie out of a coma. I realise that sounds so sentimental and lame, but the earnest likeability of McGillion and the quality of the ballad he sings somehow totally sells it. I find myself thinking that with the wrong cast, this film might have been unbearable, but with these guys, it works. Christmas magic indeed.
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