Lifetime Kicks Off the Holidays with THE CHRISTMAS CONSULTANT

Lifetime is expanding their collection of original holiday movies this year with several new titles set to debut over the next few weeks as we celebrate the season. The network’s first example this season is the David Hasselhoff-led movie entitled The Christmas Consultant.

The basic premise of this film focuses on suburban workaholics Maya Fletcher (Caroline Rhea) and her husband Jack (Barclay Hope), who are just too busy to get into the holiday spirit. As their Christmas “to do” list grows and deadlines fast approach, holiday spirit is at an all-time low in their household.

In an effort to land an important international client for her new employer, Maya off-handedly mentions that she and her family will be having a huge holiday party at their home with family and friends attending. The new client – a Russian cosmetics leader – is deeply interested in learning more about the typical American celebration surrounding the holiday and invites himself to the festivity.

The one problem: Maya has no time to plan the fete and the situation isn’t much better for her over-worked attorney husband Jack. With only 10 days left before Christmas Day, Jack and Maya somewhat reluctantly hire a “Christmas Consultant” named Owen (Hasselhoff) to help them with all the holiday preparations such as decorating the house, caroling and planning a family pageant.

As family members begin to arrive at the Fletcher home, Owen is introduced as a friend of the family so as not to embarrass Maya in front of her own mother and the in-laws – not to mention her judgmental younger sister. Slowly the family is won over by Owen except for Maya, who just wants to be the supermom “who can do it all”. She desperately wants to spend time with her family, but she also needs to land a million dollar perfume account for her boss. That’s a tall order to fill to say the least.

Needless to say, if you are at all curious about how the story ends, you will need to tune into Lifetime this Saturday, November 10 at 8/7c to see how the Fletcher holiday turns out on The Christmas Consultant; but please be forewarned that the best laid plans don’t always work out.

There are snowball fights, impromptu singing by Owen (for those unaware David Hasselhoff is known throughout Europe as a singer first and an actor second) and even some flying fruitcake used against a neighborhood bully. Unlike the holiday films from the Hallmark Channel, this particular Lifetime movie is heavy on cheesy moments that last a little too long, a script that is, sadly, predictable and at times just hard to watch. But, I am sure the fans of the “Hoff” will watch and enjoy; but if you really want to see what a true holiday-themed movie is all about I would suggest you flip the channel and watch the Hallmark Channel.