Christmas Cupid

Christmas Cupid is an original ABCFamily movie this season, and will premiere this Sunday at 8pm ET/PT as part of their "25 Days of Christmas," though you can see more of a full holiday schedule here. Below, you can read a half-summary, half-commentary about the movie, so you know what to expect! So, spoiler alert. ;)

Spencer Sloane (Christina Milian) is a cut-throat power player in PR in Los Angeles. The film opens with her strutting her stuff and acting like she rules the world when it comes to everything from organizing a press event to ordering a latte to tricking people out of an elevator. We soon learn that she's dating the heir to the agency, Andrew (played by Burgess Jenkins). Previously, she dated co-worker Jason (played by Ryan Sypek), who is also her biggest competitor for an upcoming promotion.

We first see Caitlin (Ashley Benson's character) via the internet... where she's drunk. Sloane needs to get this video down ASAP, and Caitlin storms into the office moments later, claiming to be the victim in the situation. The careless party-girl attitude continues as we learn more about her.

Fun little role by Jackee Harry (whom I remember most for her role as the mother on Sister, Sister) as Sloane's mother, who is sad that her daughter needs to work on Christmas. Minutes later, Ashley Johnson is seen as Jenny the caterer (I love seeing her grown-up after Growing Pains). They're friends from college (when they were roommates), and Sloane promises to help her with marketing.

Caitlin chokes on an olive (from her martini) on a dance floor, and dies... to immediately haunt Sloane, helping her find love. Sloane goes to the hospital to see Caitlin's body, and at the hospital we meet Patrick, a doctor (played by Chad Michael Murray), and another past lover of Sloane's. They go to see the body, and Caitlin again speaks to Sloane, with Sloane making a comment about "seeing dead people," LoL. Turns out that only Sloane can see Caitlin, who has the hobby of disappearing and reappearing around Caitlin's life. Caitlin can, however, affect other people, like throwing a drink in Andrew's face.

Sloane is late to a meeting, misses another, and is constantly distracted by Caitlin interrupting every moment. I'm not really sure as to why Sloane doesn't just ignore her. Christmas is Saturday and only three days away at this point. The movie premiere that Caitlin was starring in and Sloane was planning now has to double as a memorial, and Sloane needs to get all kinds of A-listers there. She's clueless, but Caitlin suggests they go to her place, as she has contact info for many celebrities. Patrick starts acting as a major distraction for Sloane, but not as big as the visit from the first ghost!

We're introduced to Brad, Sloane's first boyfriend and sex partner, from high school. He's the ghost of her Christmas past, as we use a play on words for X-mas and Ex-mas. Sloane broke Brad's heart. Sloane blew off Derek for Brad, and it was the first of many times that she'd leave one guy hanging for a better one. She left Brad for Patrick, and Patrick for her career. She up and left without even saying goodbye, crushing Patrick, who was about to propose. She then traded up several times before Jason, before leaving him for Andrew. The ghosts reveal that Andrew is shopping around, too... and Sloane is shocked. So they break up, but the next night Sloane asks Patrick to dinner, only to have Andrew show up and propose. Andrew's money, influence, and power are apparent when he has nearly everyone in the restaurant in on the proposal, but it leaves Patrick even more heartbroken than before.

Now we have the Ghost of Ex-mas Present, hosted by Jason. We see a mother (who is an assistant at the firm) apologizing to her child about having to work on Christmas. We see Jenny upset about how her business is failing... and we find out that Sloane forgot to include the gift certificates in the 2,000 gift bags to try and bring business to Jenny. We see Sloane's mom upset about how she'll be alone on Christmas, and how she will console herself by buying another dog. We see Patrick looking in on freshly-engaged Sloane, who we learn was being ignored while Andrew was on the phone instead of talking directly to her (tricky earpieces!).

The Ghost of Ex-mas Future is led by Andrew, dressed as Santa. We see Sloane's mom with three dogs, one of which is named Sloane. She's had five husbands at this point, and all five have left her, so she has nothing more than dogs in her life. Jenny now works at Applebee's as a waitress. Andrew is her future ex-husband, who loses half of the company to her in the divorce. Her wealth and success left her lonely in a hospital bed.

Now it's Christmas Day and Sloane is dying to make amends before it is too late. I wasn't in love with the idea of her changing clothes in the car, but okay. I loved Sloane's earrings, even though I didn't adore that pink one-strap dress. So she sees her mom long enough to drive her to Jenny's house and drop her off... okay. She gets Jenny's gift certificates into the gift bags, and promptly breaks up with Andrew, who doesn't seem to care all that much. She and Caitlin part ways, and we see a strange montage of Caitlin as a ghost. Jason isn't thrilled that Sloane got the promotion, especially since she leaves the party early to "get a life." She shows up at the hospital to apologize to Patrick, and mentions that she knows about the ring he once had for her. She makes a case about how she's still the same girl she was in college, and shows him the photo of the two of them on Santa's lap from so many years ago. He kisses her and they take off for Jenny's party, where she has a martini, LoL.

Caitlin's role is very movement-specific, and Ashley comes off beautifully in it. Without commercials, the movie runs an hour and 25 minutes, and I think the pace flows pretty smoothly, considering all of the different things that take place. There are some great lines that take place, including "Damn, I am one hott corpse" (Caitlin), "you know I only got two hours of sleep because of you and your damn ghost parade" (Sloane), and "Screw you, Santa. Of course I care about love. I'm engaged" (Sloane).

So, either watch of DVR Christmas Cupid, since it was pretty cute... and eye-candy like Chad Michael Murray only make it better.