Movie Review: A '90s Christmas (2024)

Synopsis: Chicago divorce attorney Lucy's hard work has paid off with a Christmas Eve promotion to partner at her law firm. It has, however, come at the expense of her relationship with her family, her best friend, Nadine, and the guy she was once in love with, Matt. When she bumps into Matt at a cafe, it brings back old feelings and soon after, she is transported back to 1999 by a magical rideshare driver. At first, Lucy thinks it is an opportunity to correct the mistakes she made when she was 19 but she soon learns if she makes any changes, it will drastically alter her future and cost her the promotion.

Who's in it? The movie stars Eva Bourne, Chandler Massey, Katherine Barrell, Alex Hook and Jenny Raven.

Review: I've had A '90s Christmas in my movie library for about a year and as I was looking for a movie to watch, I decided to finally give the Hallmark movie a try. Overall, I think I can safely say it was better than I expected.

I don't say this about a lot of Hallmark movies, but this one had a surprisingly unique plot. The whole traveling back in time at Christmas thing has been done before but, unlike so many other movies with that theme, it wasn't nearly as predictable as expected. 

The main reason for this was there was no clear objective for Lucy (Bourne). It wasn't as simple as her traveling back to kiss Matt (Massey) under the mistletoe but each time she made even the slightest change, her promotion letter would disappear, and the mysterious Grace (Barrell) would warn her against it.

There was also the mystery surrounding why "12 Days of Christmas" kept playing in the background. The movie hints about how memorizing the song will help you find true love, but it was unclear how that would result in her getting from point A to a still uncertain point B.

While better than expected, the movie did still fall a bit short in some areas. For one, the whole "successful woman doesn't have everything unless she has a man" thing does get a bit old, even if it is a Hallmark movie. 

Not helping with this was I was having a hard time liking Matt. I'm sure it wasn't intentional, but he came across as a bit too pushy, trying to influence Lucy's college decision and even being willing to end their friendship if she didn't choose his preferred university. I'm sorry, but as a dad, I would never want my daughters to date and certainly not marry someone like that.

I'm also not a big fan of the ending. Yes, it was technically a happy ending but it's also one that glosses over a whole lot of stuff in the process, including what I would expect to be a very confusing 25-year timeline for Lucy that would be filled with events that happened differently than she remembered or didn't happen at all.

Oh well, it is a Christmas movie.

Final Opinion: It's an OK film with a plot that isn't as predictable as expected but also relies on an ending that you shouldn't spend too much time thinking about and a love interest that could, at times, be a real jerk.

My Grade: B-

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Here are some reviews of other holiday movies:

Movie Review: A Christmas Carol (1984)

Movie Review: A Kismet Christmas (2022)

Movie Review: A Christmas Class Reunion (2022)

Movie Review: Office Christmas Party (2016)