Get Him Back For Christmas | 2024 Christmas Movies

Great American Family really does love their husband-wife pairings this year. We had Mario Lopez and his wife in Once Upon A Christ, now we have the PenaVegas in Get Him Back For Christmas. Oh, Mario Lopez does appear in this movie as well…as himself. Great American Family really needs to branch out some more with their actors.

Bella (Alexa PenaVega) is an up-and-coming singer who recently came into the spotlight thanks to her rockstar boyfriend, Sage Majors (Alan Powell). When Sage breaks up with her, Bella goes back home for the holidays. She meets up with her old songwriter friend, Jack (Carlos PenaVega), in the hopes that they can write a new song together that will help her win Sage back.

Get Him Back was both interesting and boring at the same time. There were some cute scenes: playing around with outfits in the Salvation Army store Jack worked at; Jack’s brother, Matt (Kevin Valdez), trying to figure out if Mia (Abbey Romeo) likes him and whether he should ask her out; and some of the performance scenes were cute. But then they are followed by ridiculousness: Bella setting up a solo performance for Jack in the Dallas Cowboy stadium with the Cowboy cheerleaders was unbelievable; all of the scenes of Jack and Bella writing songs was cringe-worthy; and the sheer misuse of comedic virtuoso Victoria Jackson was heart-wrenching. It leaves me unsure if I actually liked the movie itself or if I only enjoying the actors. Either way, the movie could have definitely used another go-round with the editors.

Rating: More Victoria Jackson, less Mario Lopez

Once Upon A Christmas Wish | 2024 Christmas Movies

Don’t let anyone tell you that Great American Family doesn’t love nepotism. Many of the actors in Once Upon A Christmas Wish are from the same family. And the only other child with lines in the movie is related to the writer/director. This was a bad decision.

Brian Ortega (Mario Lopez) is the mayor of Long Grove. As he prepares the town for Christmas, he finds his 4th grade letter to Santa, complete with wish list. Surprisingly, the items on his wish list begin to come true. When his former classmate, Nina (Courtney Lopez), coming back to town, his wish list really can be complete.

In case you didn’t know, Mario and Courtney Lopez are married. Their son, Dominic, plays Joey, a writer for the school newspaper. And the director’s daughter plays Hannah, a girl at Joey’s school who made a box to gather letters for Santa. To be honest, none of that works. Even though their actors have been married for over a decade, Brian and Nina barely seem to like each other. They only hang out and talk because they haven’t seen each other in a long time. You wouldn’t think they are boring but they are.

Also, this movie is a musical. It’s not marketed as a musical but it is. Normally, I love musicals. But Mario’s dancing in this is so wooden that, every time he is given choreography, I am immediately taken out of the movie. Courtney, meanwhile, gets all of the singing that isn’t delegated to a children’s choir. She’s a decent enough singer but the song she sings over and over is bad. I will give her credit that she is a better dancer than Mario. But that isn’t saying much.

Rating: Santa wasted his powers on this wish list

Steppin' Into The Holiday | 2022 Christmas Movies

I didn’t realize how much I missed Cheri Oteri’s comedy until I watched Steppin’ Into The Holiday. She may not be the lead of the movie but she is definitely the best part.

Billy Holliday (Mario Lopez) is a former Broadway star who just got fired from his hit TV show, “Celebrity Dance Off.” As he returns home, he reconnects with Rae (Jana Kramer), the daughter of his former dance teacher. Rae now runs the local studio and is running into problems trying to organize her winter recital. Billy steps in to help and the two fall in love.

To be honest, there were only a couple of times I found myself interested in Steppin’ Into The Holiday. One: The scenes with Billy’s manager, Dallas, (Cheri Oteri), and her dog, Shakira. Two: The scenes where the kids were dancing. Sorry, Mario, you looked ridiculous in most of your dance scenes. Even Billy’s nephew, Junior (Enzo Rodriguez), didn’t look great in the dance scenes. I’m talking about the kids that were dancing during the recital. There were some good dancers in there.

Other than those couple of times, I found the movie to be the same middle of the road fare we always get. It wasn’t terrible. Mario Lopez is rather charismatic so that helps. But it wasn’t great either. It always feels like he’s trying not to overact, which makes him overact. Jana Kramer is fine but she isn’t really given any room to be present. She’s there to dance and make googly eyes at Mario Lopez. Shrug.

If you decide to watch it, and I’m not telling you not to watch it, do it for Cheri Oteri and Shakira. They seriously are the best parts of the movie, even if they only have like three scenes.

Holiday In Santa Fe | 2021 Christmas Movies

It’s that time of year again! Mario Lopez Christmas movie time! I know you have all been waiting with bated breath for Holiday In Santa Fe.

Tony (Mario Lopez) runs a Christmas-themed décor shop with his father: Jose (Efrain Figueroa), and his sister: Maggie (Aimee Garcia). A greeting card company is thinking of purchasing the company so they send their executive, Belinda (Emeraude Toubia), to Santa Fe to check out the store.

Like most Mario Lopez movies, Holiday In Santa Fe is unoffensive. There are a few groan-worthy references to his previous Christmas film, Feliz NaviDAD, but the rest of the movie is perfectly fine. My favorite part of the movie is Aimee Garcia as Tony’s sister, Maggie. I loved Garcia as Ella in Lucifer and it’s nice to see her bring a similar sort of energy here. In my opinion, she carries the movie.

Like Feliz NaviDAD, unless you are a big Mario Lopez fan, there isn’t much here for you. He’s not a great leading man and Toubia is boring as a leading lady. I wish the movie featured the family members more. We didn’t get nearly enough of Jose’s crazy antics or Maggie goofing off with her daughter, Frankie (Gia Lopez). I would vote to keep this one in your back pocket for a boring night where there is literally nothing left to watch. You might be a little sad you wasted your time on it otherwise.

A Recipe for Seduction | 2020 Christmas Movies

Kentucky Fried Chicken has now gotten into the romance Christmas game. Who needs a 30 second commercial when you can have a 15 minute show?

When Jessica’s (Justene Alpert) boyfriend, Billy (Chad Doreck), proposes to her at dinner, she refuses to answer. Even though she isn’t sure if she truly loves Billy, her mother, Bunny (Tessa Munro), wants her to marry Billy for his money. Instead, Jessica falls in love with the new family cook, Harland Sanders (Mario Lopez). Jessica’s life is torn apart when she can’t decide between love and money.

A Recipe for Seduction is set up as an English-language telenovela - a soap opera with extreme situations and reactions. Mario Lopez plays a hunky version of the KFC man himself, Colonel Sanders. While in this version he isn’t a famous chicken man yet, there are frequent references to his secret recipe and how it will change everything. And, yes, there is some chicken eating going on. But the crazy conflicts come from Bunny and Billy, who team up to get Jessica to marry him instead of Harland. In 15 minutes, there is a kidnapping, an attempted murder, a sort of incestuous relationship, and a huge bribe. Oh, and a wedding. Let’s just say there’s a lot.

Needless to say, this movie was never set up to be serious. You need to go into the movie knowing that it’s going to be ridiculous and kinda stupid. It is poking fun at telenovelas, Christmas movies, and KFC itself. If you can go into it knowing that it will be “so bad that it’s good,” I think you’ll enjoy it. This was the funny break I needed from all of the cheesy Christmas movies this year.

Feliz NaviDAD | 2020 Christmas Movie

Do you think Mario Lopez knows how to not be cheesy? I think cheesy-ness must be in his DNA or something.

David (Mario Lopez) is a high school principal who also delivers packages during the holiday season. Sophie (AnnaLynne McCord) is a musician visiting her father (Herb Mendelsohn), who happens to be one of David’s customers on his delivery route. David’s daughter, Noel (Paulina Chávez), sets David up on a dating app, where he matches with Sophie.

I guess I knew Feliz NaviDAD was going to be cheesy thanks to the stupid pun in the title. I don’t think I realized just how cheesy it was going to be. David acts like one of those parents who is trying way too hard to be the “cool parent.” And, supposedly, his teenage daughter thinks he’s cool. (Reality check: No one’s teenager thinks they are a cool parent. Every teenager ever is embarrassed of their parents.) So we end up with things like - David has a ‘secret handshake’ that he does with one of the students at his school; when he first meets Sophie, he basically tells her that she must think he’s hot in his delivery uniform; he makes comments on other customers’ holiday decorations. Just a bunch of very cringy things.

There, honestly, isn’t a whole lot to talk about in this movie. If you have seen a Mario Lopez movie, chances are you already know how this one is going to go. Unless you have a serious crush on Slater from Saved By The Bell, skip Feliz NaviDAD. You’ll thank me for it.