"It's a good thing I don't believe in fate."
Hello everyone!
Like in previous seasons, each year I choose movies and books specifically themed around Christmas to read, watch and review for you on here, and most of the time we even have plenty of hits (even if we have a couple of misses along the way too).
Tonight's choice is no different.
Somehow, I've been lucky, because I usually manage to hit the jackpot with the first choice each year, and this one's no exception.
Of course I also always (or almost always) turn to Hallmark to provide all my holiday celebratory movies, so it should come as no surprise that that's where tonight's choice is from.
Countdown to Christmas on this blog begins right now, with My Norwegian Holiday!
I'll be linking other movies down below as we go through the season, but for the previous years, you're very welcome to click on the link "Christmas" at the very top of the page, and you'll find just about everything I ever reviewed connected to the holiday.
On with the show!
My Norwegian Holiday has us meet JJ (Rhiannon Fish), sitting in a coffee shop and grading some exams while she unwittingly becomes witness to a "breakup". This is then followed by the guy who gets broken up with taking the coffee meant for her, accidentally spilling the second one later down the street (along with scattering her tests), before finally getting her a third one which she can ACTUALLY drink.
The guy's name is Henrik (David Elsendoorn), and to top it off, the girl from the coffee shop? Shared her name with JJ, which makes it easy for him to offer her a plane ticket to Norway he had bought in said name (also no, she wasn't his girlfriend, just his assistant, but we only learn that later).
Why, you ask? Well, he sees a carved troll on her desk at work, recognizes it's from his home town, Bergen, and says that maybe she could figure things out if she went there. JJ is vehemently opposed, having very recently buried her grandmother (whose troll that was, by the way), but her department chair for whom she's writing her PhD dissertation draws a line: she goes to Norway and he MIGHT give her another extension.
So, off she goes, and ends up swept into the chaos but lovable laughter that is Henrik's family, as well as a minor mystery because it seems that people recognize Henrik, and not all of them are friendly. She asks, but he doesn't immediately provide many answers, and she's initially distracted by all that's going on.
This ranges, but is not limited to her being invited along to a school performance of his niece, helping out with preparations for his sister's wedding, and staying at his grandmother's house because his family can't let her stay at a hotel called The Viking, since it's so bad that they have no clue how it's still open.
Through it all, JJ asks around about her little troll, getting nowhere in a hurry until the night of the bachelor party which she helps with, by getting Henrik over there since he would have otherwise just stayed at home.
See, this is his deal, and if you're European OR follow alpine skiing competitions, it'll be no surprise: Henrik was all for downhill racing and competed for Norway, until the point where he hit a bad jump and suffered a nasty fall at 130 km/h (for all you Americans, that's 81 m/h). He had to have extensive rehab for his injuries and fled to the States for it, avoiding everyone, feeling that he let Bergen down, and so everyone is rightfully mad at him.
Turns out, his teammates definitely aren't, even though you could argue skiing is like drinking for the Norwegians and they prize it above all else, so this plotline kind of tracks for them in some aspects, but it's the coach that he's still ashamed to face.
Said coach actually helps JJ out though, because after discovering three initials on the back of her troll's hat - AAA, and no, this has nothing to do with alcoholics anonymous - Henrik's grandmother recognizes them and takes her to ... the coach.
Anders (Conor Mullen) explains that yes, he met Florence, JJ's grandmother, when she came to Norway to help her cousin with her children for a season, and the two became inseparable soon after. However, he had mandatory military service (this was in the sixties) and was then slated to compete in skiing afterwards, so the pair went separate ways, unwillingly.
He carved her the troll, and she gave him a medallion that he's carried with him ever since, but the best bit? Unexpectedly, Anders and JJ realize that some dates align: Florence left Norway in January, and JJ's mother was born in June that same year.
Overwhelmed, JJ flees the scene, but the grandma's savvy enough to send Henrik after her so she isn't alone, and it's such an emotional shot seeing him run over towards her after spotting her, losing the limp in his leg as he goes and is more agitated about the girl he's (obviously) falling in love with.
They attend his sister's wedding together, at which JJ's given the grandmother's traditional outfit to wear since she's practically part of the family now (don't worry, they have a conversation about cultural appropriation and grandma's like, gurl, I'm offering you this to wear, and I'm Norwegian, it's FINE, plus I can wear the other one from MY mom while I'm at it), and we see some really fun moments between the characters.
Eventually, JJ's prepared to talk to Anders, and she tells him her mother's name was Andrea, possibly named after him; he's invited to the Christmas celebrations, where he gifts JJ the scarf Florence was knitting (badly, as it turns out, just like JJ's kinda bad at the knitting thing), and she gifts him back the troll that's finally come home.
They also decide they don't really need a DNA test, both agreeing that this has to be more than even fate, and JJ's super happy to find she has family since she's always had a pretty small one (her mother passed when she was very young, and it was just her and her grandmother).
Anders also takes this opportunity to speak with Henrik, explaining that he was never mad or disappointed with the guy, passing along his good-luck charm from Florence and saying that the only reason he hasn't retired yet is because he's been waiting for Henrik to come home and take his place.
All that settled, our couple go on a meandering walk through Bergen, where they finally admit that all the shenanigans and holiday spirit has gotten to them in the form of love, and share a kiss under the starry sky as JJ admits that staying in Bergen is actually something she'd be more than happy to do.
The end!
Light, fluffy, but interspersed with flickers of Norwegian culture people will either recognize or be happy to learn about, My Norwegian Holiday is a lovely inclusion in the Countdown to Christmas lineup. Now, I don't know exactly if ALL the traditions are 100% accurate, as I'm not Norwegian myself, but I can honestly say that I haven't heard a lot of chatter online about them NOT being correct.
Plus, it's a window into another culture, and they definitely nailed it with the skiing. The Norwegian Alpine team is one of the best in the world and usually dominates in downhill racing, unless there's random left-fielders that come out of nowhere. There's a reason for that, too, and skiing is literally in their blood.
Henrik does start off as a bit bumbling, but he grows on you, as an acquired taste, like his grandma would say, and I really enjoyed watching the actress who plays JJ. Overall, this is a heartwarming journey of self-discovery and found family, and I couldn't be happier about my first pick for this year's holiday reviews!
10/10 recommend.
xx
*images and video not mine
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