Director Khoa Le presents the family holiday drama Christmas Cowboy. Maria Gomez (screenwriter Eliana Ghen) moved away from her Hispanic rural Vermont family to pursue a career in real estate development in New York. She’s estranged from her stern father and sister, but when a large land deal drops into her lap, Maria is forced to come back to her hometown of Jericho to negotiate the deal. The developer, Courtney Gains (Colton Byers), wants to build a resort in the town.
Aside from the family drama, Mary faces two significant obstacles once home. One is that she’s unexpectedly competing for the contract with vicious rival Michelle Bedford (Gracie Cashman). The other is that Gains wants to remove an equestrian therapy center near the development site. The center was an essential part of Mary’s childhood, and the owner, Carlos (Armando Gutierrez), is a friend. Also, her favorite horse is stabled there. Allowing the center to be dismantled would betray Jericho and herself. The stakes are high. Can Maria close the deal? What will be the fallout for the town if she does? How will she deal with healing her family and herself?
Christmas Cowboy is a fine example of a formulaic romance movie, and the viewer who lives on a steady diet of this style of entertainment (which is large but constrained to a small demographic) will be pleased. There is clearly a substantial budget, as the production values are high. The cinematography is good, and the soundtrack is extensive. The performances are adequate to the style. Ghen carries the film well. Emotions run high, and catharsis is right around the corner.
“…when a large land deal drops into her lap, Maria is forced to come back to her hometown of Jericho…”
In the blueprint for this type of romance, any action that doesn’t have dialogue will come with a heartfelt pop song, and for holiday offerings, it’s usually something about Christmas coziness, or being away from home, or away from a loved one, and so on. Since this has horses and cowboys, many of the songs have a country flavor. The script is essentially made from a mad-lib template where elements can be plugged in and printed out. There are at least three other films easily searchable with a parallel plot where only the locations, character names, and complicating details change.
Christmas Cowboy is loaded with elements to pluck at the heartstrings. There’s a girl with Down Syndrome, a deaf sister, sad family secrets, a favorite horse, and the list goes on. This would be unforgivably emotionally manipulative in any other genre, but for those who love these “Hallmark” films, this is the emotional meat and potatoes they are here for. It’s the equivalent of having black and white hats on villains and good guys in old Westerns, a real-time-saver that gets you right into the feels efficient.
There’s also a fair amount of distracting goofiness, including field day games, a dance contest, inflatable snowman costumes, equestrian events, and a plethora of physical comedy gags. The male authority figures are all “tough-but-fair,” which plays as being just this side of bullying, but are presented as doing what needs to be done. Childhood trauma is leveraged as initially driving character flaws but ultimately inspiring success. There are many mixed messages. Christmas Cowboy is not for everyone, but for any viewer who loves a predictable Christmas romance, it delivers exactly what you expect.
"…delivers exactly what you expect."
