Holiday in the Vineyards
By Jennifer Green,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Frothy holiday romcom has drinking, kissing, innuendo.
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Holiday in the Vineyards
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What's the Story?
In HOLIDAY IN THE VINEYARDS, wealthy playboy Carter Baldwyn (Josh Swickard) is sent by his fed-up businesswoman mom, Margo (Eileen Davidson), to close the deal on a struggling vineyard looking for a buyer. Trouble is, this is the last remaining independent vineyard in a valley where Baldwyn Wines has bought out everything and raised low-quality grapes for cheap wine. Needless to say, the family business doesn't have a great reputation, so Carter has to go in secret. While undercover, he befriends the vineyard's current owner, single mom and widow Valentina (Sol Rodriguez), her best friend Cindy (Carly Jibson), and local shopkeeper and garage winemaker Moe (Omar Gooding). Carter realizes there's good wine to be made in the valley, not to mention a better life to be led. But how will his new friends react when they find out his real identity?
Is It Any Good?
There's nothing unpredictable about this wine country-set, holiday-themed romance, but this one is a notch above others. Talents behind Holiday in the Vineyards also worked on the two A California Christmas films, A Hollywood Christmas, and That's Amor. In fact, they seem to have created a cottage industry of formulaic romcoms with a mostly Northern California setting. It's Hallmark meets Netflix. Big-city boy encounters down-home girl in wine country and learns about the simpler pleasures of a life dedicated to land and family rather than wheeling and dealing.
Star Swickard is a regular in these films, sometimes across his real-life wife Lauren (with whom he has a lot more chemistry than he does with his Vineyard costar, the Argentina-born Rodriguez). The film is built on his on-screen charisma. Much ado is made of his physique: he's regularly posed shirtless or in a tight tee for the ladies to ogle, so much so that his character says he's "feeling objectified." One of his oglers suggests reality TV has made people believe the world is "filled with sexy carpenters." Reality TV -- and Netflix romcoms.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the setting of Holiday in the Vineyards. Where are the biggest wine cultivation areas in the United States? What are "garagistes," and do they really exist? Where could you go for more information?
Nurse Cindy suggests the people she's worked with who are close to death sometimes have regrets about opportunities they didn't exploit in life. What lesson does Valentina take away? Do you think Cindy's advice is good? Why or why not?
Why do Valentina, Moe, Cindy, mom Margo, and former fiancée Emma all forgive Carter? Do you think he earned their forgiveness?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming: December 12, 2023
- Cast: Josh Swickard , Sol Rodriguez , Eileen Davidson
- Director: Alex Ranarivelo
- Inclusion Information: Female actors, Latino actors
- Studio: Netflix
- Genre: Romance
- Topics: Friendship , Holidays
- Run time: 106 minutes
- MPAA rating: NR
- Last updated: December 14, 2023
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