Every Other Holiday: Festive Success or Frosty Fail?

Spoiler Alert! A Review of the 2018 Film “Every Other Holiday”

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Amy Norris, Senior Staff Writer

Looking for a new Christmas movie to add to your watchlist this holiday season? Check out “Every Other Holiday,” a film directed by Blair Hayes. This movie illustrates the struggles of having divorced parents during the holiday season, and how one family worked through those challenges.

Throughout this movie, Tracie and Rick — who are played by Schuyler Fisk and David Rogers — attempt to keep the holiday spirit alive for their two daughters, Harper and Ava. Having to split Christmas and Christmas Eve between their parents was difficult and confusing for the kids, which is portrayed well in the film. What’s more, this movie shows how difficult it can be to be a single, recently-divorced parent. Showing both the perspectives of the kids and of the parents added a lot of depth to this film and made the audience more empathetic towards the characters.

One of the best aspects of “Every Other Holiday” is that the actors look and feel like regular people. This creates a deeper connection between the characters and the audience because most of the audience can relate to at least one of the characters. The actors themselves seem to have a connection, which makes relationships much more real and wholesome. This is especially shown between the kids and their parents because Rick and Tracie have to choose between their love for their daughters and the tension between themselves. Instead of trying to make the film seem ‘too good to be true’ or unrealistic, the director took a much more honest approach in portraying the struggles of a divorced family during the holidays.

Other struggles present themselves later in the film when the family compromises and takes a trip to the grandparent’s farm to celebrate Christmas. While the kids are clearly much more happy and excited about the holidays, Rick and Tracie spend their time at the farm quarreling with the grandparents and trying to work through their own challenges. These additional obstacles also add to the realness of the movie because it shows that just like in everyday life, there are often more problems than one that affects a person’s decisions and actions.

“Every Other Holiday” is truly a story of redemption, love, and the struggles of divorce. Time and time again this film evoked emotions in the viewers that other Christmas movies do not, which is why it is so unique.