Christmas on TV: Christmas Wedding Road Trip Movies

Based on the number of TV Christmas movies that are made each year, I shouldn't be surprised that somehow two movies (at least) have this oddly unique plot line: A woman desperately needs to get to her wedding that is taking place around Christmas and learns more about herself/her true love/the holiday spirit along the way. I shouldn't even be surprised that both of them are made by Lifetime. I think this situation calls for a head-to-head face-off.

May the best movie win.

The Road to Christmas versus A Christmas Wedding

Casting: Jennifer Grey post-nose job and Clark Gregg of The Avengers make a great couple in The Road to Christmas, and Gregg's teenage daughter comes across as normal, which is a first for a made-for-TV movie. Poor Eric Mabius has a terrible haircut in A Christmas Wedding--he looks like he didn't make the final casting call on Saved by the Bell; Sarah Paulson, Dean Cain, and Reagan Pasternak from In a Heartbeat cannot help him and his q-tip impersonation haircut trump the combination of Baby and Agent Coulson. Advantage The Road to Christmas.

Quirkiest scene: Baby and Coulson pick up a Native American lady on their trip, and she senses with her intuition that they are in love; the whole scene was very Three Nephites. But, in A Christmas Wedding, Eric Mabius is forced to attend the bridal shower as the bride when Sarah is trapped in Florida--toilet paper wedding dresses, unwrapping lingerie, cheesy photo slideshows, and dancing male entertainment. Easily more embarrassing than anything in The Road to Christmas. Back to deuce.

Presence or absence of dogs: Agent Coulson and his daughter are traveling with theirs in the back of their truck, but none play a role in A Christmas Wedding. The Road to Christmas loses a point on a technicality. Advantage A Christmas Wedding.

Least annoying plot line: A Christmas Wedding is one of those movies where everything goes wrong. I found myself asking why the bride kept doing good deeds for people because every time she did, she got burned for it. What kind of Christmas movie teaches that? On the other hand, The Road to Christmas is fairly predictable, but that's a good thing in this genre. Deuce once again.

Best soundtrack: I honestly don't remember anything vivid about the music in The Road to Christmas, but the south Florida setting at the early part of A Christmas Wedding inspired its director to use several reggae-style renditions of Christmas carols. And Christmas Wedding also uses an overabundance of travel to music montages. How many times do I have to say it? Less is more, people. Less is more. Advantage The Road to Christmas.

Most twisted ending: Only one of these movies ends with a wedding; that movie is A Christmas Wedding. The other one ends with a woman finding her fiancé in bed with another person, a twist I can proudly say I called. Although I also predicted that the groom would have staged the wedding as a green card scam, which didn't turn out to be true. But will probably be next year's Lifetime incarnation of this plot line.

So the win goes to The Road to Christmas. Both were completely passable as made-for-TV Christmas movies, though neither is a classic. I'll be putting The Road to Christmas on my Must Watch Again list.