Operation Christmas Drop Synopsis: Congressional aide Erica forgoes family Christmas to travel at her boss’s behest. At a beachside Air Force base, she clashes with Capt. Andrew Jantz, who knows her assignment is finding reasons to defund the facility.
Erica (Kat Graham) is a Congressional aide sent by her boss to the South Pacific, where she’s to inspect the Air Force base and find reasons to shut it down. At the heart of the base is Operation Christmas Drop, a humanitarian effort that delivers supplies to dozens of remote islands.
The drop is organized by Capt. Andrew Jantz (Alexander Ludwig), who is assigned to show Erica the base and explain what it is they do. The two initially clash, but as Erica begins to understand the purpose behind Operation Christmas Drop, she finds herself conflicted between pleasing her boss and suggesting the base remains open.
Operation Christmas Drop is another holiday rom-com drop by Netflix that revolves around humanitarian efforts. Last year’s Holiday in the Wild dealt with the conservation of elephants. It’s very similar in its formula, and like with Holiday in the Wild; I found myself appreciating the message behind Operation Christmas Drop more than I did the romance angle. Graham and Ludwig had decent enough chemistry and did as well as they could with the flimsy script.
There are enough corny moments to make me cringe a little, including a colorful CGI gecko, but there were some pretty nice scenes as well, though I think the tropical setting had a lot to do with my enjoyment of them – snorkeling, island hopping, and of course, a tropical/romantic Christmas party.
Operation Christmas Drop is not a great movie, and like most of Netflix’s rom-com offerings as of late, it feels like it belongs more on Hallmark. The script is weak, and the acting is suspect, but it was mindless fluff that was quite nice to look at, so I can’t complain too much about it. Graham, in particular, seems to shine quite a bit in these movies (see The Holiday Calendar), so I hope she is eventually given a great script to really show her talent.
Watched: 11/18/2020
Notable Song: I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day by Echosmith
