We get a few of these movies each year. Hallmark takes us to a foreign country and lets our American (er, often Canadian) leads learn the culture and traditions of the holidays. Often they require a slog of tasks, failing to bring any joy or life to the treasured past (see The Christmas Quest).
But I'm relieved to see how The Finnish Line took that formula and built a very watchable movie, with drama and believe it or not - a real action sequence!
Our lead is Anya (Kim Matula), a legacy dog sled racer returning to a holiday-themed race in Finland where her late father competed. She's joined by bestie and race support teamster Elyse (Nichole Sakura). Our love interest is Cole (Beau Mirchoff), a journalist and former racer himself, who gives our lead someone to monologue to about her feelings.
I did not exactly buy the love story with Anya and Cole, as it seemed like winning the race and beating jerk-face Monty (Páll Sigþór Pálsson) was more interesting. The B love story with Elyse and Anya's cousin Lavi (Benedikt Gröndal) was much cuter and genuine.
We got to see a few fun Finnish traditions, but it didn't seem to slow down the action (again, see the dreadful The Christmas Quest). The dog sled action was great, although I've seen some dog sled folks before and none of them look like Kim Matula. Pretty well kept for the cold temps and dog hair.
Speaking of our lead. You'll recognize her from the Ghosts of Christmas Always (a rare 9 stars for me, 2022). She was also in Checkin' It Twice (6 stars, 2023), which again brought her to cold places. She's great. Nichole Sakura may seem familiar too, for those who loved Superstore like I did. I'd love to see her get a Hallmark lead role.
Overall, a very watchable movie that tweaks the foreign country angle just enough to make it fresh.
Cast Kudos: Anya's cousin Lavi (Benedikt Gröndal). Let's bring that dude to the states and just let him be himself. Loved that guy.
Measuring Christmas Magic: Was this a Christmas movie . . . Yeah, because we learned about Finnish traditions, but did it feel like Santa delivered presents on Christmas morning? No.
Alternative Movie Titles: The Paws of Christmas; Sledding through Finland; Finnish-ing My Father's Race. To be fair, the original title was absolutely fine.
