I randomly came across this movie one Saturday night (I think it was Dec 10th) on a religious channel. I had originally planned on watching Home Alone, but I got so absorbed into this that I watched it all the way to the end. Although I do like Home Alone, it's still a typical Hollywood film of the late 20th century. Once the Golden Age of Cinema ended, movies were no longer wholesome and started conveying negative messages. Home Alone starts out with kids being rude to one another, then a kid is rude to their parent (there's a scene where the boy, the main character, calls his mom a dummy. If he was my child, he would've been picking his teeth up off the floor), and there aren't any consequences or lessons learned when it's all said and done. The only reason the movie is funny is because the kid sets various traps for a couple of burglars. Otherwise, when you take all of that away, it's just a film about a rich, dysfunctional family who's going to spend their Christmas in Europe, and they happen to be white. If they were black and dysfunctional, there's no way the movie would've became popular. As a black woman who's young and a Christian, I can identify with the characters in Our Christmas Love Story so much more than Home Alone. Plus I'm not even a fan of romance movies, but I thought it was so endearing! Even if you take race out of the equation, it's realistic in its portrayal of what it's like to date as a God fearing man or woman in modern society. But if you're going to examine the topic from a racial perspective, the main character's feelings resonated with me because I'm cynical when it comes to men, and I think it comes from the simple fact of who I am. As a black woman, my experiences with men are different from women of other races. Either they act creepy towards me, or as they get to know me over time, they give off the impression that they find my intelligence threatening (pardon me for reading so much). I thought this movie was highly inspirational. Kendyl McCray plays Daphne, a beautiful woman who is dealing with the emotional pain of a failed relationship. She's put up a wall around herself, until she meets Trent (Reggie Gaskins). After several encounters where she acts standoffish, towards the end of the film he prays with her, and she's so moved by his prayer, that she finally realizes he's the man God placed in her life to marry. Daphne's friend Michelle (Stephanie Charles) is having boyfriend problems, and starting to lose hope, so Daphne and Trent spend the evening telling her the story of how they met each other. If you love Christian films and the holiday season, I recommend adding this to your Christmas movie collection.
