Christmas at the Golden Dragon

Christmas at the Golden Dragon (2022) - Hallmark

Reviewed by Lisa Sue

Well next up on the movie roulette is “Christmas at the Golden Dragon” which has gone with a large ensemble plot, versus the focus on one specific career driven girl’s mission to find a man at Christmas. We will start by introducing you to the 3 main families before delving into how they all intertwine, at the Golden Dragon Chinese restaurant in Wichita, Kansas.  First up is the Chen family that owns said Golden Dragon. Dad is the chef, mom is I think the hostess. And the two adult kids are Romy and Rick, who have sacrificed having the “typical” Christmas to work the holiday year after year at the Golden Dragon. Romy seems to be quite resentful of this fact, driving her to spend this Christmas with her boyfriend in Vermont chasing that childhood dream of having a winter wonderland fantastic Christmas. Man Child Rick actually doesn’t mind the sacrifice, in fact he loves the restaurant more than he ever says, owing to some spectacular communication failures/breakdowns between him and the rents.

Frequent customer to the restaurant Jane (and Hallmark stalwart Barbara Niven) is having a hard time this Christmas, her first since the passing of her husband. Ma Chen asks how is Jane’s daughter Veronica handling her dad’s passing, to which Jane replies she doesn’t understand how she does it, but Veronica just went back to work, as if nothing happened. Reading between the lines, not great lines of communication between Ma Roberts and daughter either. Second frequent customer is overwhelmed dad Nate, who’s caring for his 2 daughters by himself as their mom…appears to be in Hawaii? More will come out about that family dynamic but needless to say Nate can’t cook and depends on Golden Dragon to keep the girls and himself fed; and his link to the rest of the cast is he works for the same company as Veronica. That particular relationship set up is that Veronica is some big wig who recently got a big promotion, and Nate is a lowly, albeit talented engineer at some faceless company in town. Then there is Miguel who is the food delivery guy for Golden Dragon. He goes between these families to help give the plot some cohesiveness. Got all the characters? I mean this is approaching Lord of the Rings character list.  I kid of course but really this is the first ensemble type Christmas movie I’ve watched, and boy was it a lot of drama packed into 84 minutes.

So we first meet Romy in NYC pitching some customer that Christmas is about honoring our roots and reveling in the present, and that the best way to achieve Nirvana is to buy Harlow home furnishings. She’s about to head home to Wichita and the Golden Dragon, but she knows it’s going to be wall to wall sesame grease, folding dumplings, and boxing take out. Read- she isn’t that psyched about the trip home, and that’s where she talks about her wish to have a real Christmas, like the ones we’re programmed to believe happen to everyone else because we’re watching these Christmas movies(well not this movie, but the other Christmas movies on this blog). Her parents are sympathetic to her plight, and when they hear her boyfriend Blake has invited her back to Vermont for a winter wonderland Christmas, they see it as their chance to assuage their guilt at not having gotten her that Barbie dream house as a kid for Christmas. 

So off Romy trots with Blake to Vermont, high on expectations. And what happens when we have high expectations? Well, we’re here to report the backfire was swift on poor Romy who interrupts Blake’s family nirvana of watching football by insisting they build Gingerbread Houses. The family agrees, and make foundationally sound homes, which can’t be said for Romy who’s house promptly collapses with the addition of extra icing. Still seeking that Christmas high, Romy then insists that Blake’s family go caroling. In Victorian clothes. Rather than greeted by the Christmas joy typical of these movies, Romy, Blake, and rest of the Bennett family are met with shut doors and annoyed neighbors. Which is what happens in real life, not this made up fictitious Christmas world, because in 2022 we don’t open doors for strangers whether they are caroling or not. And the Victorian clothes doesn’t help matters. 

Utterly distraught by these epic fails, Romy is about to be gut punched by the news Rick passes along that Ma and Pa Chen are closing up the Golden Dragon! They didn’t want to tell Romy till after the holidays, again wanting her to have that magical Christmas she’s been wishing for. Mind you, they didn’t tell Rick either, but he was told along with the rest of the staff, that he will be jobless and since Ma and Pa are moving to AZ, and that he will also be homeless. Told you some epic communications failures happening in the Chen family. But Rick isn’t doing Romy like he was done, and he tells her the sad news. To which Romy immediately drops everything she’s doing and decides to go back to Wichita on Christmas day. Blake, being a very patient and understanding boyfriend goes with her and the rest of the Bennett's are super supportive. They say it’s because she’s family, I’m thinking they’re glad to get rid of this crazed Christmas obsessed chick so they can get back to watching football in peace.

Ok, next we will delve into the Roberts family. Work-a-holic daughter Veronica is too busy to eat, and some assistant/receptionist takes the Golden Dragon take out from Miguel to ensure Veronica is eating. Everyone deals with grief differently, Veronica by burying herself in her work while her mom Jane is floundering. But Jane is determined to have her annual holiday party, the first without her husband. Veronica misses most of the planning for the party, but when she does drop by to see Mom she tells mom to make the house feel more like her and less like Dad’s. Veronica tells her Mom it’s time to take down all the basketball trophies from Dad and to get rid of his favorite recliner. We infer that Veronica’s relationship with her dad was complicated, having felt that that Dad (a basketball coach) put the basketball team ahead of his family and Veronica screams that Dad never appreciated the sacrifices that Mom made to make both the family and all of the Coach’s wins possible. What is driving all this hostility? Partially it’s the hormones as Veronica has gone through several unsuccessful IVF treatments and her mind is all over the place.  I will just add that wise neighbor drops this nugget of wisdom on Veronica about dealing with her infertility, saying that “making meaning of a loss is both empowering and healing” We presume this puts her in the right head space to get a man, cause why else say it? 

We later learn that some of Veronica’s behavior is due to guilt; Dad left a voice mail for Veronica planning a cruise but Veronica was too busy to take the call or even call back; assuming this was just another empty promise her dad was making. Turns out that was the last thing Dad ever said to Veronica. Cue the tears, no melo here. Just straight up drama. Mom cancels the party, she just couldn’t go through with it but at least that’s when she and Veronica start to open the lines of communication. I think by the end of the movie we learn that Dad was serious about the cruise and it was his way to make it up to his wife for all her sacrifices. Jane was going to finally going to see Copenhagen, Paris, and Prague that she had dreamed of visiting but that she had given up when she didn’t take her own promotion. Well there’s a lot more Roberts drama, but cut to not having party meant Veronica was able to support Nate and his girls at their Christmas pageant. And of course, when Jane and Veronica get the call to help the Chens open the Golden Dragon at Christmas, they jump to help. Because they are family.

I’m going to skip a lot of the Nate drama, cause again you read this blog so you don’t have to suffer. But know that Nate and his spouse are separated, a fact not explicitly told in the movie, unless it was on the postcard from Hawaii that mom sent and I just wasn’t paying that close attention? But the story goes Nate can do no right by his daughters.  The roasted chestnuts are sold out by the time they get there, he burns a lot of cooking which we presume includes any holiday cookies, and in general he’s an embarrassment to his eldest. They think he’s too busy and isn’t listening. But come Christmas morning, he makes it up. He got the perfect Christmas gift, and his eldest daughter realizes what a brat she’s been and that for all his faults, Nate does listen. And while he can’t make mom’s famous cinnamon rolls, he does make Chex Mix which serves as a plug for both Chex as well as Wal Mart, where the ingredients were procured. Way to shoehorn in some product placement into nonstop family drama! Anyways, with Nate and his girls sorted, it means they are ready to answer the call when Miguel asks for their help at the Golden Dragon.

Quick recap on Miguel’s drama, he’s hiding his acceptance letters to Ivy League colleges because he doesn’t want to upset his dad, since he knows the family can’t pay for college. His only option is to get a scholarship that Veronica is the interviewer for. Poor Miguel is late for the interview because he’s too busy fixing a light for Jane (yes, that would be Veronica’s mom) and rips his suit jacket and by the time the interview starts you can tell Veronica has it in for the poor kid. She then goes on to ream him about not having extracurricular activities, volunteer stuff, internships on his resume, you know... things that prove that he is an involved with the community. I’m sure Miguel wanted to scream he doesn’t volunteer because he literally needs the money, so why would he work for free? But he is nicer than that, and says nothing about why he’s late or how he literally helps everyone else in the show (Veronica’s mom, Veronica’s neighbor, Veronica herself with constant Golden Dragon deliveries…etc) Miguel’s dad finally sees the acceptance letters that Miguel has been hiding (what kind of person hides the fat envelopes? It’s the skinny rejection letters that are hidden) and they hash it out over smores.

Ok, we’ll try to now wrap up all of this up now that we have Romy, The Roberts, Nate’s family, and Miguel drama tied up enough for them to help the Chens. What Romy has planned is to open up the restaurant for Christmas dinner, for all the holiday orphans. Those who must work, those who don’t celebrate, or those who just don’t want to cook on Christmas. These people (and Romy) need the Golden Dragon to serve one more dinner but this time with Rick as the chef.   Turns out while he hid his true calling and passion from Dad Chen, sister Romy has known for a while.  With the Roberts, Nate and his family, and Miguel’s family all pitching in to help prep, cook, and serve. This is what we do for family. And we save the best drama for last, Rick and his high school crush Sadie. Back in high school Rick stood Sadie up on prom, for reasons that the movie tries to explain but really it is just Rick being a douche. Then for even more inexplicable reasons Sadie doesn’t mind spending time with Rick now, all these years later, to the point that poor misguided Sadie invites Rick to some charity thing, which Rick was in the process of sneaking out of the kitchen to go to when he’s caught by Dad. More responsible, better communicating, and more functioning adults would simply explain to Dad Chen that he’s got plans and that he will be back shortly. Instead, Rick says nothing, can’t even text Sadie to tell her the situation because Dad Chen takes his phone. Well that does it for Sadie, who does tell Rick if he’s not happy with his life he has to take responsibility for it. Change what you can and work on the rest; welcome to adulting Rick. We have no idea what Rick is hearing but what he winds up doing, in between cooking the big goodbye dinner at Golden Dragon, he has a side hustle to give Sadie the prom dance that she missed. Poor girl even is asked to wear the same (cursed) prom dress  to which Sadie tells Rick that one big gesture doesn’t mean everything is forgiven. Shut your mouth Sadie, cause if you don’t believe that, which is literally the central tenant of the whole Christmas Movie genre, then reality as we know it completely falls apart.  Romy and Blake get engaged,  although Romy already started out the movie with a man, and despite her best efforts there was no break with Blake. And regardless of what her brain is telling her, Sadie and Rick end up together. Poor Sadie just can’t help herself, nor listen to her own advice. Rick is going to follow her back to California! And Nate and Veronica share a moment, cause while she may not have her own children, she can be a great mom to Nate’s brat daughters. And after all this… the real sad news is that the Golden Dragon doesn’t get its happy ending. And I’m still kinda bummed. Where will the holiday orphans go next year?