One of the Christmas movies I like to revisit almost every year is Undercover Christmas. It’s a neglected and deceptively good movie. At first glance, it’s just another Lifetime or Hallmark Christmas movie, and some jaded critics have seen only that. What makes the movie enjoyable for repeat watching though, is the depth of its characters. Also Jamie Gertz, one of my favorite, underrated actresses.
Gertz’ character plays a somewhat slutty cocktail waitress trying to catch a rich asshole and ride off into the sunset in his limo, and Shawn Christian plays an uptight FBI agent trying to catch the asshole and his embezzling family of crooks. The plot is the standard, introduce Eliza Doolittle into the FBI agent’s family of rich snobbish upper class denizens at Christmas time, and have her bring a human touch into the frozen family. But if plots were what mattered, no one would pay attention to Shakespeare who stole his mostly trashy plots from whatever garbage can he could find them in.
No, what really starts to set this movie apart is the scene where Gertz’ character can’t sleep and finds herself in the kitchen where Tyne Daly, who plays Christian’s mother, is diligently preparing special dishes for the upcoming party she throws every year. Until now Daly’s character has played the matron of local high society whose main interests seem to be keeping up appearances and yoking her reluctant, dysfunctional family together despite themselves. After offering to help and then admitting her complete lack of culinary skills, Gertz’ character asks sincerely, “What does it take to become the person everybody depends on?”
After that, the characters start to reveal themselves beyond their surface stereotypes, and the movie acquires a much greater depth.
[UPDATE] I also posted this to imdb.com, but they flagged the review for inappropriate language. Interestingly, it was not the word “asshole” that they objected to, but the word “slutty”. How gallant of them to allow men to be described as “assholes”, but object to a woman’s behavior being called “slutty”. Another sign that the patriarchy has trained the AIs? I report. You decide.
Musings of a Restless Mind 