Home.
When you think about it, home is one of the most complicated words in the english language. It’s one of those words that has a different definition for everyone. It is not just a simple word, but one that has feelings involved.
And a lot of the time those feelings are complicated.
Especially when home reminds you of those that are no longer with you. Especially when home reminds brings back a lot of pain.
Deck the Walls wasn’t what I expected, but it was what I needed.
Rose DeMonte doesn’t like to go back to Colorado. She doesn’t like to be reminded of the pain of loosing her parents. But when her brother needs her help and guilts her into coming home to help with a charity house flip, she doesn’t have any choice but to face her past and the place that she left behind.
Run away Rosie is running towards home, because her brother needs her, but what she doesn’t realize is that she may need home more than she’d like to admit.
NONA AND NONO’S
When Rosie is brought back home it’s because the house flip that her brother is doing is her Grandparents home. Her brothers company is the contractor on the house flip and the budget has been taken by the city after they find mold in city hall.
With no budget, he needs her help. He needs her to help furnish the home and since they don’t have a budget for that – he needs her to pull out a miracle. Rosie doesn’t want to go, but she agrees. It’s funny how family guilt can get you and make you do things that you may not normally do.
When she makes the choice to go back home, she knows that also means working with her brothers best friend. Brysen is a former high school football star and Rose has always had the biggest crush – but that shines through in anger. Brysen isn’t really wanting to work with Rose either.
The two – Ashley Greene and Wes Brown – make you believe that they hate each other. Their portrayals of Rose and Brysen are so convincing that I even dislike the two of them. I wanted to scream at them and tell them to get over themselves.
THE ENEMY
There is a Christmas Eve deadline to get the house done and to make matters worse, the mayor had agreed that Jake Hunter, Sal’s arch nemesis, gets to do an interview and a spread on the flip.
Sal and Jake have a lot of tension – and watching them you would think it’s because they hate each other. However, the tension that they have feels a little out of place as though whatever happened when they were kids isn’t the end of it.
Sal thinks that Jake is out to destroy him. When he’s doing research on him, he learns that his family once helped Jakes family out after a fire. You see Sal and Rose’s parents used to help the underprivileged or those in need of help in the community. They just wanted to help.
Sal doesn’t remember his parents ever helping Jake and it kind of bugs him that he doesn’t remember. Sal seems to have more questions than anything, but he’s not sure who to ask.
Every interaction between him and Jake results in one of them being rude or saying something off the cuff to the other. Sal feels like Jake is out to destroy him because of old grudges. Seeing them try to find their way into communicating and not being hostile to each other is so cute.
OH CHRISTMAS TREE
Speaking of cute, part of the great parts of this movie was seeing the way that Rose and Brysen opened up to each other. Though I don’t understand the reason that they seemed to dislike each other – at all – I respected that fact that they found a way to let their walls down.
Rose and Brysen seemed as though they were always trying to out do each other. They were so competitive that they it always seemed to take a second for them to see that it was getting in the way of them just communicating with each other.
When Brysen has to go and get a Christmas tree for the family, Rose goes with him. It’s when they really start to speak to each other and the animosity seems to go to the wayside.
No matter how much they spoke though, what seemed to bother me the entire time was that I NEVER understood why they really disliked each other. I loved watching them find a way to come together as a team and them taking a picture together while looking for the tree.
I loved seeing the little moments that made them relatable. Seeing the moments that made it feel as though the two were really seeing each other for the first time made it feel as though love was an attainable thing.
THE SNOW
When the mayor has the towns skating rink become a fundraiser, Sal, Rosie, Brysen, and Aunt Gigi all attend. They have a great time. It’s a moment where they can see the possibilities.
What they don’t know is that the snow outside has collapsed a branch on top of the house that they are remodeling.
When they do find out, it’s the way that they come together that makes the viewer stop and take stock.
What I am loving about this Countdown to Christmas season is that everything isn’t predictable, the same, and formulaic. This season we’re getting moments that feel like it doesn’t take itself too seriously, but things are also occurring that you can see yourself in. You can see things that are happening in the movie happening to you.
Now, beyond the insane amount of product placement that is happening in this movie, I can see the small moments being something that could happen to me. The moments of falling in love, arguing, mishaps, misunderstandings, togetherness… it all felt possible.
And I loved that.
I loved that it felt natural. All the moments felt natural made the movie more relatable. Letting walls down, letting people in, and letting life lead you a certain way was something that I felt that anyone could see themselves in.
Finding that peace from that was something that felt achievable.
And then having the self doubt – hearing your crushes ex talk about getting back together with their ex, and misunderstanding it – all relatable.
RUN ROSIE RUN
When Rose overhears Brysen’s ex talk about getting back with her ex, she mistakes that as Brysen being unavailable. For her, that triggers her thought to run. She wants to go back to Chicago, where she’s safe. She wants to be in a place where she can throw herself into work and not have to think.
Rose tries to pass it off, but Sal knows. Sal knows that there is something more that is going on. She doesn’t want to tell him though.
Danny Pellegrino as Sal is one of the best parts of this entire movie. His blunt reactions to things, the way that he is so deadpan but so filled with heart – it just changes everything. He adds this dynamic of someone that you are rooting so hard for and when others aren’t coming to their full potential, you may be screaming at the television and telling them to get their s*** together.
Sal must be protected at all costs.
But back to Rosie.
It’s when she’s at the airport that she has time to be lost in her thoughts and that leads her to thinking all about just how different being in Colorado and doing something this rewarding felt to her. She opens a gift that Brysen has given her and it’s a porcelain tree – that meant so much to her – that had gotten destroyed and he fixed.
The thing about the people that know you the best – they know what to do to fix your heart. Brysen knew what would matter to her. He knew what she needed in order to move forward, even if it wasn’t a full step, it would be a step.
You can appreciate moments that make people feel that no matter what, someone is there to catch you if you fall, but they’ll never let you hit the ground.
ALL ROADS LEAD HOME
I loved how they hit their deadline and were able to hand over the keys to the family. What I loved second to that was Rose coming back and seeing the work, knowing that it had made a difference to her.
I loved seeing that she was able to open up to Brysen – which was a huge step for her. Seeing her open up to him and tell him how she felt made me realize that she was growing. She was changing. She was allowing love in.
Rose was learning to live.
Home.
There are a lot of mixed feelings about going home. There are a lot of things that changed with all three of them because of giving back and then there was them figuring out how to keep moving forward and doing that more.
Deck the Walls was a heartwarming movie with heart and family. It was a reminder that letting people in is a sign of strength; a movie about growth and healing.
It was a lot of feelings that need to be felt and a reminder that giving back is the best feeling/gift that we can give ourselves and others.
