On the second day of Christmas, Netflix gave to me: Amy Smart and Mark-Paul Gosselaar in a holiday-themed ripoff of Groundhog Day. 12 Dates of Christmas is the story of Kate, who is having trouble getting over her ex; a friend sets her up on a blind date with handsome widower Miles, but things don’t go well and Kate winds up falling asleep on xmas eve with her dog in front of the shopping network. For reasons never quite explained, time reverses itself by about 12 hours and Kate finds herself reliving the day again and again and again.
Since we have all seen Groundhog Day, I think it is fairly easy to predict what happens after that: disbelief, worry, acceptance, and then trying to figure out what needs to change in order to move on with life. As Kate goes through these stages, of course she learns more about Miles, about her neighbours and family, and herself.
Is this a good movie? No, not really. It does feature Jayne Eastwood as one of the neighbours – I like to think she is the same character she played in Going Down the Road – and Gosselaar’s sensitive, hockey-playing, orphan-coaching, park-designing Miles is ridiculously endearing. For a few minutes I thought the film might do something unexpected and put Kate together with a different character, but no; not to worry. 12 Dates of Christmas is here to tell you that true love is waiting if you just be persistent and be willing to change everything about yourself.
