User:Yorkie17/Christmas in the Heartland

Christmas in the Heartland, also known as Southern Christmas and The Christmas Trap, is a 2017 family film that was directed by Harvey Lowry and distributed by Ascension Media and BCF Film Group, as well as Big Rights S.L in Spain and New KSM in Germany.

The film stars Sierra McCormick as Kara Gentry and Brighton Sharbino as Jessie Wilkins, two teenage girls who are each meeting their respective grandparents for the first time during the Christmas holidays.

Plot
The film follows the characters of Kara and Jessie, two teenage girls who want to spend the holidays with a loving family. Kara is being sent via plane to spend Christmas with her grandparents but wants to spend it with her father, who refuses as he hasn't spoken to his father in years. Meanwhile Jessie has been staying with her cousin Ashley's family after the death of her mother, as she's never met her traveling musician father, and is reluctant to make a plane trip to visit a grandmother she doesn't know. Due to a series of events both girls end up sitting next to each other during the flight and quickly bond with one another. They decide to switch places for the holidays since neither of their respective grandparents know what they look like and there should be no one else present that would be able to visually identify them either. Once at their destination, Jessie is taken to Kara's grandparents, Elsa and Bob, while Kara is picked up by Jessie's grandmother Judy.

Both girls enjoy spending quality time with the other's family although some issues begin to present themselves immediately, as Judy surprises Kara by revealing that her father Jim has decided to leave his life on the road and spend time getting to know his daughter. The two girls stay in touch with one another and during one conversation Kara tells Jessie that her family wants her to live with them permanently. Elsa has also posed somewhat of an issue as she is heavily opinionated and is intent on forcing her ideals onto Jessie, which includes controlling what she wears and when she eats. Both girls enter the town's beauty pageant, however Jessie only does so because she is more or less forced to do so by Elsa. This prompts an argument between Elsa and Bob, the latter of whom states that her actions drove their son away from them. During the argument Elsa claims that she kept Bob from making a "mistake" with a girl and that his success in life is due to her choosing everything for them. As the date of the pageant grows close, Bob and Elsa grow further away from each other as Elsa insists on positioning themselves above everyone else, even those from the same social circle. Elsa also discovers that Judy and her grandaughter will be participating, which causes some tension. Unbeknownst to Kara and Jessie, Kara's father Jeff has changed his mind and books a flight to spend Christmas with his daughter and parents. Once there, he delays going into the house because of his nervousness on how his parents will react.

Both girls compete at the pageant and Kara wins the prize money, which she plans on using to buy presents for the children of Judy's nephew Roy, whose wife is deployed in Afghanistan. However soon after Kara's father shows up and Jessie is notified of a change in her flight, which prompts Kara to admit everything to Judy. Together with Judy, Kara and Jessie go to Bob and Elsa's home to let them know what has happened. During this time Kara's father arrives with his girlfriend. Bob takes the news well, however Elsa does not. This prompts Kara to confront her over how Elsa treated her parents. It's then revealed that Judy is Jeff's true mother and Elsa pressured her into handing over her child, making the two girls cousins. Elsa leaves, and the rest of them enjoy the holiday together.

== Cast ==


 * Sierra McCormick as Kara Gentry, a teenage girl heading to her grandparents, who she's never met, for the holidays. When she meets Jessie Wilkins during her flight the two agree to switch places for the week.
 * Brighton Sharbino as Jessie Wilkins, a teenager girl heading to meet her grandmother for the first time over the holidays. When she meets Kara Gentry during her flight, the two agree to switch places for the week.
 * Bo Derek as Elsa Gentry, the grandmother of Kara and wife of Bob Gentry. Though it is revealed that she doesn't have any blood ties to Kara, as Kara's father Jeff is not her biological son.
 * Shelley Long as Grandma Judy, the grandmother of Jessie as well as Kara as it is later made known. She is also the sweetheart of Bob Gentry.
 * Christopher Rich as Bob Gentry, the grandfather of Kara, wife/ex-wife of Elsa, and sweetheart of Grandma Judy.
 * Joe Don Rooney as Jim Wilkins, a musician and the father of Jessie and son of Judy

Production
Filming for Christmas in the Heartland took place in Guthrie, Oklaholma during February and March 2017, under the working title Southern Christmas. Of the character Jim, Joe Don Rooney stated that "My character is pretty much 75 or 80 percent there ... It's kinda my life. Jim Wilkins is in my DNA, basically."

Reception
Common Sense Media panned the film, rating it one out of five stars and calling it "uninspired".