Falling Into Place
Released: 2026
Director: Angie Nolan
Writers: Ansley Gordon
Stars: Alvina August, Nathan White, and BJ Harrison as GG
Where to Watch: Stack TV
Holiday score: 7
It’s a shift from a Christmas holi-rom-com so instead of baking gingerbread, they bake apple turnovers. Instead of building a snowman, they build a scarecrow. Instead of a sleigh ride, they take a hay ride. Instead of being eaten by Krampus, they are murdered by the headless horseman.
Romance score: 6
The characters are fine and they spend time doing holiday things to build a romance. But in the end, things just magically resolve themselves.
Comedy score: 4
Its more sweet than funny, but not offensively so.
The Review
It’s mid November and for people in Canada, we are in that weird space in between holidays. Halloween is done and I’ve gained my yearly ten pounds of candy weight. What’s that? You think it looks more like fifteen pounds? Shut up, but you’re right. But hey, I need it. It helps keep me warm through the long, cold Canadian winter.
Thanksgiving is also done. We’ve eaten turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie and I gained my yearly ten pounds of turkey weight. Don’t you say it. Lastly, Remembrance Day is done. The poem was recited, the soldiers have been respected, and I’ve gained my five pounds of poppy weight. Don’t ask. Now we have a couple of weeks before the craziness of the big holiday season starts.
How do we fill our time during this non-holiday season? I could get started on Christmas baking and freeze it so I have treats ready to pull out when company comes over. Yeah, the problem with prepping treats early is that they never make it to the freezer. What’s that? I should just bake extra treats so I have enough for me and the freezer? Yeah, that extra is like a challenge which my mouth readily accepts. “Look, someone left a cookie on the counter. I bet you’re lonely here on this plate. I’ll just put you with yoru friends.”
I could start my Christmas shopping, but I don’t know what anyone wants because no one will tell me. Why write your letter to Santa now when they can wait until December 19 when I don’t have time to find a Cabbage Patch Kid or a Nintendo or a Tickle Me Elmo. So, I guess there’s nothing left to do, but cozy up on my couch and watch a Fall holi-rom-com.
What’s that you say? Fall isn’t technically a holiday? Then why does Fall have all the regular holiday activities? Fall has food like apple cider doughnuts, apple turnovers, and good ol’ apple pie. Fall has activities like hay rides and jumping into piles of leaves. And Fall has decorations like multi-coloured leaves and creepy scarecrows. Fine, Fall may not be a true holiday, but since when did I need a reason to sit around, eat food, and watch movies. Never, that’s when.
So today I’m reviewing Falling into Place staring Alvina August as Kaia and Nathan White as James. OK, my holi-rom-com experts. Can you guess the premise for this movie? Go ahead, I’ll wait. What’s that you say? You think Kaia is professional Pokemon player living in her parents basement while James is an MMA fighter looking for his big break and they meet at a super hero convention? Bwahahahaha, yeah, that would be awesome. OK, now guess for real. Uh-huh. Yup. OK. Uh-huh. Wow, you are 100 correct. Kaia is a successful business analyst living in the “big city” who travels to her hometown, Maplecrest, for her 20 year high school reunion. While there, she meets up with her high school best friend, James, who never left Maplecrest, but has built a successful landscaping business. I feel like I’m on the bonus round of Wheel of Fortune where they give every contestant the letters R, S, T, L, N, and E. “Pat, I’d like to solve the puzzle. Is it ‘Why can’t holi-rom-coms take a risk and not follow the standard formula’?” I guess there is no point changing the formula when it works every time, right?
Anyway, Maplecrest is the most Fall-ish town of any town you ever did see. Who needs Christmas when you have Fall, baby! In Maplecrest they love all things maple and apple and brown. They crunch leaves, they make scarecrows, and they party like its November 15. They even have a Fall celebration where they crown a king and queen of the harvest. And then they have a lottery and they murder the winner as a sacrifice of gratitude for their bountiful harvest. IFKYK.
When Kaia and James reconnect, all the old feels jump the surface, like a flower bud pushing up through the dirt, searching for sunshine and warmth. Wait, that metaphor is for Spring. Um, like frozen ground feeling the first flakes of snow which feel like a distant memory coming back to them. Crap, that’s Winter. OK, like multi-coloured leaves falling to the ground, leaving their mother trees barren and empty, preparing her for a long winters nap. Yeah, that sucks, but when you celebrate Fall, that’s all you get.
Kaia’s grandmother reminds Kaia of the Fall bucket list that Kaia and James had when they were kids. Since Kaia has nothing better to do, she asks James to help her finish the list. And since James has nothing better to do, he accepts. At first, I though this was insane for James to drop his work to spend time with Kaia, but what dude in love hasn’t dropped every rational thing and thought to chase after a girl? I know I’ve been fired countless times for this same reason.
Will Kaia and James complete their Fall bucket list? Of course, it’s a Fall bucket list, how hard can it be? Item 1: Rake leaves into a pile then hide in the leaves and scare people who walk by. Amazing, please record and post it. Will Kaia’s home town make her feel nostalgic for the good ol’ days? Maybe, but I’m still stuck on this bucket list. What’s next? Item 2: Dress up as the headless horseman and scare the crap out of tourists. OK, I think this may be a little too far, but I’m still with you. Please record and post. Will Kaia and James rekindle the unspoken love between them and “fall” in love (pun intended)? Sure, whatever, I don’t care about that any more. What’s the next item on the bucket list? Item 3: Get revenge on everyone who didn’t vote for them as harvest king and queen. OK, everyone keep away from Kaia and James. But seriously, I think you should watch Falling into Place so you can find out what they have on their real bucket list.
Look, there aren’t a lot of good holi-rom-coms that aren’t related to Christmas. Heck, there are not a lot of good holi-rom-coms that are related to Christmas. Hey-oooooo! So if you need to scratch that holi-rom-com itch and you don’t want to jump into Christmas movies just yet, this movie is good enough. That said, I’ve got issues that I must share.
First off, for a Hallmark type movie, there are a lot of grumpers in this town. Two of the items on the bucket list deal with grumpy people. Who would have thought that living in a perfect small town would make so many grumpy people. Hmm, now that I think about it, maybe the people are just grumpy to Kaia and James. Actually, considering their bucket list, that make a lot of sense. Item 4: Kidnap all the cats in Maplecrest and shave them to look like the Grinch.
Second, both Kaia and James have some regret for what they could have done or should have done, but they never did because they never had time. They say things like, “Between work and living, I never made time for love.” Or, “Between my three dogs and twenty cats, I never made time for a man.” Or, “Between scaring the locals and scaring the tourists, I never made time for dating.” A wise man once said, “If we do not ever take time, how can we ever have time?”
It is true that we should do our best to spend our time on what matters most. The problem is that we often form regrets based on the lens of perspective. It is only with time that we realize that we have spent our time on things that matter less and have less value in the long run. Should Kaia and James have spent time looking for their one true love instead of building a super successful career? Maybe. Should they have explored the world instead of creating a comfortable homebase? Perhaps. Should they have developed life-long friendships instead of seeking for vengeance on those that wronged them in the past? Yes, but maybe a little farther down their priorities.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that we should do our best, learn from the past, and just try to do better in the future. That is all we can do. Oh crap. I think I just learning a life lesson from a Hallmark movie. I think I need to reexamine my life.
Conclusion
If you’re only into Christmas holi-rom-coms...you should probably look somewhere else.
If want a holi-rom-com that isn’t about Christmas, but is still pretty good...then you should watch Falling Into Place.
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