Holiday in Handcuffs (2007)

★ 6.2 1h 30m 193 votes IMDb

A ne’er-do-well thirty-something attempts to appease her family by kidnapping herself an attractive boyfriend for the family Christmas. Despite unlikely odds and dysfunctional family moments, the two fall in love and share a magical Christmas.

Holiday in Handcuffs

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Cast

Melissa Joan Hart
Melissa Joan Hart as Gertrude 'Trudie' Chandler Age 50 · Smithtown, New York, USA Melissa Joan Catherine Hart (born April 18, 1976, height 5' 2" (1,57 m)) is an American actress, writer, television director, television producer, singer and businesswoman. Hart is perhaps best known...
Mario López
Mario López as David Martin Age 52 · San Diego, California, USA Mario Lopez (born October 10, 1973) is an American actor and television host. He has appeared on several television series, in films, and on Broadway. He is known for his portrayal of A.C.
Timothy Bottoms
Timothy Bottoms as Dad Chandler Age 74 · Santa Barbara, California, USA From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Timothy James Bottoms is an American actor and film producer. He is best known for playing the lead in Johnny Got His Gun; Sonny Crawford in The Last Picture S...
Markie Post
Markie Post as Mom Chandler Died 2021 · Palo Alto, California, USA Marjorie Armstrong Post (November 4, 1950 – August 7, 2021) was an American actress, known for her roles as bail bondswoman Terri Michaels in The Fall Guy on ABC from 1982 to 1985, as public defender...
June Lockhart
June Lockhart as Grandma Died 2025 · New York City, New York, USA June Lockhart (June 25, 1925 – October 23, 2025) was an American actress, beginning a film career in the 1930s and 1940s in films such as A Christmas Carol and Meet Me in St. Louis. She appeared prima...
Kyle Howard
Kyle Howard as Jake Chandler Age 48 · Loveland, Colorado, U.S. Kyle Alan Howard (born April 13, 1978) is an American film and television actor. Description above from the Wikipedia article Kyle Howard, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipe...

Audience Reviews

Wuchak 5/10 Dec 23, 2018
***'Misery' if it were a romantic comedy / Christmas movie***

“Holiday in Handcuffs” (2007) stars Melissa Joan Hart as the underachiever of a liberal family in the Seattle area. When her beau breaks up with her right before her family’s Christmas get-together, she kidnaps a man and forces him to go to the rented cabin as her boyfriend (Mario Lopez).

The plot takes “Misery” (1990) and “Buffalo '66” (1998) and morphs them into an amusing romcom / Christmas flick. Melissa was pregnant during shooting, but still cute & winsome. Markie Post appears as the mother and it’s nice to see her again. Layla Alizada as the girlfriend is attractive in a semi-exotic way while June Lockhart is hilarious as the grandmother.

I realize this is comedic fluff, but the idea of Stockholm syndrome surfaces. This is a psychological response sometimes seen in hostages in which the captive shows signs of loyalty to the kidnapper, regardless of the peril in which the abductee has been placed.

I enjoyed the movie, but the first half is funnier than the second half, which understandably takes a more serious romantic turn. The movie is also seriously marred by the blatantly contrived way the script checks all the idiotic PC boxes. Get Real.

The film runs 1 hour, 26 minutes and was shot in Calgary, Alberta.

GRADE: C

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