Holidays On The Lens: The Flight Before Christmas (dir by Peter Sullivan)

Posted on December 4, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, we present to you 2015’s The Flight Before Christmas!

Mayim Bialik and Ryan McPartin are both on the same Christmas Eve flight. Bialik plays a woman who has given up on romance. McPartin plays a man who is flying to Boston to ask his girlfriend to marry him, even though it’s obvious that they’re not right for each other. At first, our two main characters don’t get along but then their flight is temporarily diverted to the most romantic place on Earth …. Bozeman, Montana!

You can guess what happens. You’ve probably already guessed that it occurs at a quaint Bed & Breakfast. But did you guess that Brian Doyle-Murray plays a jolly man named Noel Nichols and that …. oh, you did? Well, good for you.

It’s a cute movie, nonetheless. If there is a Santa Claus, I hope he’s played by Brian Doyle-Murray.

Lifetime Film Review: Deadly Daughter Switch (dir by Ben Meyerson)

Posted on July 28, 2020 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Does it never occur to anyone in a Lifetime movie to not let a stranger move into their house?

That was my main thought as, earlier today, I watched Deadly Daughter Switch. Deadly Daughter Switch, which I DVR’d off of the Lifetime Movie Network back in April, tells the story of two families. One family is rich and lives in a really nice house and sends their daughter to a really nice school. The other family is not rich, which means that they live in a slightly smaller house and the mother has to work at a coffee shop.

When Brooke (Lindsay Hartley) and Carter Jenkins (Matthew Pohlkamp) discover that their teenage daughter, Hailey (Tu Morrow), is not actually their daughter, they take their story to the media. They ask that anyone who was born on the same night and at the same hospital as Hailey take a DNA test. It turns out that Hailey is actually the daughter of Alexis (Hannah Barefoot) and that Alexis has been raising Brooke’s biological daughter, Breanne (Jane Widdop)!

If that’s not complicated enough, a counselor at the hospital comes up with the bright idea that Hailey should spend time with Alexis while Breanne should spend time with Brooke and then the girls can decide by whom they ultimately want to be raised. Alexis points out, quite reasonably in my honest opinion, that Brooke obviously has more money than her and that she probably lives in a better school district and that the end result of this experiment will probably be Brooke having two daughters and Alexis having no one. Still, they all agree to take the counselor’s advice because I guess the counselor is the voice of God or something and you have to do what she says even if it doesn’t make any sense.

Anyway, it turns out that Alexis was right about Breanne wanting to get away from her. However, it’s not just that Alexis has less money than Brooke and Carter. It’s also that Alexis is a little bit insane. Alexis loses her job at the coffee shop after she kills her boss. Then Alexis kills the volleyball coach who she claims is Breanne’s biological father. Then Alexis kills her alcoholic, white trash boyfriend. Alexis, of course, manages to make all of these deaths look like accidents because Alexis may be poor-ish and she may be dangerously unstable but she’s not stupid.

Anyway, seeing as how everyone in her life is dead, the Carters invite Alexis to come stay with them. “Do you think we trust Alexis too much?” Brooke asks Carter. Gee, Brooke, why would you ask that? Is it because Alexis is obviously plotting to murder you?

Anyway, if it sounds like I’m being critical of Deadly Daughter Switch, I’m not. I actually rather enjoyed it. A part of loving Lifetime films is that you come to accept all of the strange premises and the melodramatic plot twists. You don’t ask why. You don’t question logic. You just accept it and follow it to its conclusion. These films are meant to be the cinematic equivalent of a paperback novel that read over the course of an afternoon. Hence, the more melodramatic the better. Hannah Barefoot was an energetic killer and the Carter house was really big and nice and it looked like it would be a fun place to live. And really, isn’t that all you need?

Seriously, though, don’t invite just anyone to come live with you. You never know what they might be secretly plotting.

Cleaning Out The DVR: The Flight Before Christmas (dir by Peter Sullivan)

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

After watching The Spirit of Christmas, it time to continue cleaning out the DVR by watching The Flight Before Christmas. The Flight Before Christmas originally aired on December 5th on the Lifetime network. I was at a Christmas party and I totally missed it.

The Flight Before Christmas is perhaps the epitome of your typical Lifetime holiday movie. Stephanie (Mayim Bialik) has never had much luck in love but things are finally starting to look up! She is planning on moving in with her boyfriend and she has already called her mother and let her know that she won’t be home for Christmas this year. But then Stephanie’s boyfriend shows up and says that he’s changed his mind. Not only will they not be moving in together but he wants to break up as well.

That’s it! Stephanie decides. No more love, no more romance, no more risk of heart-break! And, since she’s not going to be having hot, just-moved-in-together-sex this holiday season, she might as well just go back home to Connecticut. She rushes to the airport and manages to get tickets on a flight back home. Also, at the airport, she meets a jolly fat man with a twinkle in his eye. His name is Noel Nichols (and is played by Bill Murray’s older brother, Brian Doyle-Murray) and … well, if you can’t guess what’s going on with Noel Nichols then you really haven’t seen that many Christmas movies.

Meanwhile, Michael Nolan (Ryan McPartin) is on the same flight as Stephanie. Originally, he had seats in first class but, acting out of holiday generosity, he suddenly decides to switch seats with Noel Nichols! (Are you sensing a pattern here?) Michael ends up sitting right next to Stephanie.

Well, immediately, Michael and Stephanie don’t get along and we all know that means that they’re destined to fall in love. However, Michael is flying to Boston so that he can ask his girlfriend, Courtney (Trilby Glover), to marry him. No, Michael, she’s not right for you!

Fortunately, the plane runs into turbulence and is forced to land at the most romantic place on Earth … Bozeman, Montana. Seeing as how they’re going to be stranded for a day or two, Stephanie finds a room at a local Bed and Breakfast. She manages to get the last available room and then, despite claiming not to like him that much, she invites Michael to share the room with her…

Okay, so you’ve read the plot and you already know what’s going to happen. There’s nothing surprising about The Flight Before Christmas but then again, holiday movies aren’t supposed to be surprising. They’re light-hearted and somewhat silly and hopefully, you’ll feel good after you watch one. The Flight Before Christmas is a sweet film that, for me, didn’t quite work. Try as I might, I simply could not imagine Michael and Stephanie as a couple. However, I did think that Brian Doyle-Murray did a great job as Noel Nichols. If I ever meet Santa, I hope he’s just like Brian Doyle-Murray,

(Incidentally, this film ended with a dedication to Mayim Bialik’s father, Barry, who passed away earlier this year. It was a sweetly sincere moment.)