Operation Christmas drop is about a congressional aide who flies to Guam to see about shutting down an air base and how the airmen and women try to sell her on keeping it open. It also feels exactly like a movie that’s trying to sell me – the viewer – on the need and importance of the base and of Operation Christmas Drop. Not many other movies – especially ones this cheap looking – have “made with the cooperation of the United States Armed Forces” so obviously stamped all over it. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it just feels so much like propaganda for a dopey Christmas movie.

But, yeah, it’s clearly set on a real base and the closing title cards assure us that Operation Christmas Drop is a real thing that’s been happening since the 1950s. Where the US military air drops supplies and Christmas gifts all across Micronesia, bringing much needed aid to the people of the islands.

And meanwhile, this dopey Christmas movie / romantic comedy / travel brochure is based around it. Can the handsome pilot convince the hard-charging aide that what they do on the base is done efficiently and that it brings enough humanitarian aid to be a net positive? Yeah probably. Can the movie not look like it was made by people who can only point a camera and not come up with an ounce of artistic cinematography? Not really, apparently. Can the cringe-worth writing get out of its way so the characters can act like believable human beings? Not really.

The movie is tolerable if you just love romantic comedies, sappy Christmas movies, or depictions of the US Air Force doing good works. Those aren’t three bad things… but they aren’t done with great skill in this flick (except the Drop – that was heart-warming). But if you don’t get all judgey about feel-good flicks and don’t harp on movies that mean well, you might enjoy it.

Score: 68