Countdown To Christmas 2024 Review: ‘The Finnish Line’

I will make a case that just because a movie is set during the holiday season, a holiday movie it does not mean that it is. The Finnish Line is set during Christmas, yes. It is a movie that is about a dog race that takes place at Christmas. But a Christmas movie? Definitely didn’t feel like one. Does that make it a bad movie? No. I enjoyed it. I just felt no holiday joy from it.

Anya is inspired by her father’s legacy, she travels from Arizona to Finland to compete in the Joulurauha race. It’s a dog sledding race – the only one that her father lost. The one that he would tell her stories about loosing when she went to bed as a child and the reason that she started racing.

With her best friend, Elyse, she heads to Finland, where she’s the topic of conversation. Everyone thinks that she’s there about her father, but we do realize that it’s about more than that. But that’s in due time.

At the welcome party, she meets the man that caused her father to lose and there are words exchanged. The banter is what everyone picks up on causes the press to chase her when she leaves. Luckily for her, a handsome stranger helps her find a place to hide from them all – but she soon finds out that he is press.

And she hates the press.

Anya has an issue with the press, because they write whatever they want and it is what people take as truth. She didn’t like what people wrote after her father lost and how it shaped him. Cole tries to assure her that he’s different – that he wants to write a human interest piece – but she doesn’t really want to hear it. She just wants to be left alone.

But little does she know that Cole is about to be her savior.

You see when she runs the qualifying race, her lead dog, Cupid gets injured. She thinks she’s going to have to scratch, but Cole, who used to be a racer, offers up his dog to be the lead dog.

To get the race people to agree, she tells them that Cole is going to write about her. The publicity is going to be good for them and they get that. She and Cole manage to work together to get her dog team to bond with his dog. The race is back on.

Throughout the entire movie, I have to admit that I was a little taken aback with the race part, only because I felt like it was such a secondary part of the movie, but something that was so important to Anya’s character. I just felt like choices that were made to further her character development took away from the race and made it seem off. For instance – her going out at night at each leg of the race versus getting sleep and preparing for the race the next day.

The race was important to her figuring out who she is.

The moments at night felt forced in order to develop relationships, and though I do understand the point of them, I really just was taken out of the movie because of it. Did I enjoy the moments between Anya and Cole? Of course. But was I also put off by them? Absolutely.

Before you tell me that it was necessary, I will tell you that I know. I will tell you that I do get it. I know that I needed to put aside my logical brain and remember what I am watching. I think for me it was such a unique concept that I wanted that part to feel real.

The truth is I have loved so much how Hallmark has taken so many risks this season that I have started to expect something different. But then there is a part of me that has still loved the familiar. So as much as I talk about what I would like I am happy with what was.

You see The Finnish Line was about finding yourself and embracing family. It was about working towards things but still remembering who you are and the lessons that you have learned that have made you who you are. It’s about sportsmanship and being a team player.

But to me, it was about forgiveness. Forgiving ones self and forgiving others. It’s about carrying on in life and learning to take steps forward.

You see – Anya wins the race. We knew that was going to happen (at least we guessed), but it was her realizing that her father loosing the race, he won because he had her. He never regretted what happened because she was his biggest gift.

I loved the growth of Cole and Anya in this story. I loved them both figuring out that making bold choices and living a life that they want, as well as letting their stories be told, wasn’t a bad thing.

It was a human thing.

Letting people in was its own win in life – the greatest win they could ever give themselves.