Does Great American Family's "Christmas at the Drive-In" Make You Wonder How Many Drive-Ins Are Left in the USA?

Christmas at the Drive-In Plot Summary 

A property lawyer discovers love with the person who is trying to sell her town's drive-in theater, an iconic part of the local community.

Starring:  Danica McKellar and Neal Bledsoe

My Movie Grade:  A

Image:  Great American Media

A Nostalgic Look Back at Drive-In Theaters

Great American Family once again delivers on their promise to create movies that celebrate faith, family, and country.  Drive-in movie theaters are as Americana as baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie.

The Camden Drive-In was the first theater of its kind to open back in June 1933, in New Jersey.  Originally referred to as park-ins, these theaters were massively popular for family entertainment and date nights for couples seeking privacy.  

Drive-ins peaked in popularity after WWII.  Their heyday spanned the late 1950's through the mid-1960's when over 4,000 of them operated in the USA.  As technology progressed, the advent of multi-screen movie theaters in shopping malls along with the ability to rent movies forced drive-ins into decline.

Today, only 321 drive-ins remain, although there are many that are closed but still standing.  Just like the McCarthy Drive-In in the movie, several have re-opened in the past couple years that had been forgotten for over two and three decades.  

What states have the most drive-ins?

New York-28

Pennsylvania-28

Ohio-24

Indiana-19

California-15

Texas-12

Tennessee-11

Click here for a listing of drive-in locations sprinkled throughout the USA.

If you've never visited a drive-in, it's something you should experience at least once in your life.  Those of us who remember them from our childhood reflect on the era with fond, nostalgic memories.  Some drive-ins played B-movies while others offered better ones after they finished circulating in regular theaters.  

On warm, summer nights, leaving car windows open while snacking, snuggling, and watching the movie meant dealing with pesky mosquitoes buzzing and biting.  Closing the windows shut out the bugs, but after a short time, windows would steam up, forcing you to reopen them.  It was a vicious cycle!

Drive-in theaters are iconic of a simpler time.  Let's hope movies like Christmas at the Drive-In will create a demand for their resurgence and that people like Sadie and Holden will find creative ways to keep them open and thriving year-round.

Christmas at the Drive-In Is McKellar's and Bledsoe's Third Movie Together

Danica McKellar and Neal Bledsoe share great onscreen chemistry.  Their first movie together was Coming Home for Christmas, which aired in 2017 on Hallmark Channel.  They reunited in 2022 for the Great American Family movie, A Winter Palace and kept a good thing going with their latest collaboration, Christmas at the Drive-In.

Sadie and Holden were high school sweethearts, but they broke up over a misunderstanding.  Both were supposed to meet at the drive-in.  Sadie thought Holden stood her up, but he had left when he saw her kissing another guy.  Her friend had borrowed her jacket, so it was a case of mistaken identity.

Throughout the movie, the two share a playful banter.  Sadie is tasked with proving to the historic commission why the drive-in should stay open rather than be sold and turned into a distribution center, which requires Holden to put forth a good faith effort to help.  

Holden wants to invest the least number of resources possible, but Sadie goes overboard.  She hauls in trees and decorations to make the drive-in "holiday central," but Holden derisively jokes that it looks more like a national park.  She even includes a toy drive.  Blankets and warm and toasty concessions are incorporated, though Holden and Sadie argue whether hot cider should be included on the menu.  

As expected, the collaboration brings the couple together, and the drive-in is saved.  Excelsia secures the Mendoza Family Tree Farm for their distribution center, so the town benefits across the board.

Two Fun Nuances

Did you notice that one of the movies playing at the drive-in is one of Great American Family's originals from 2021?  

In one scene, the viewer has a shot of the big screen in the background, and the movie playing is A Hot Cocoa Christmas, formerly titled Much Ado About Christmas.

The closing scene is also ironically old school.  Sadie and Holden settle the debate regarding who kissed the other first before sharing the much-anticipated final smooch.  As they pull away from each other, the drive-in movie screen can be seen between them featuring the words The End.  Well done!

Neal Bledsoe's Disappointing Exit

Great American Family has vowed their movies will celebrate faith, family, and country, but Neal Bledsoe must have ignored the obvious signs the network would not be operating like their ultra woke competitors.  While other networks like Hallmark have been featuring homosexual perversion in their movies, which is antithetical to faith, Candace Cameron Bure has made it clear that GAF will "keep traditional marriage at the core."  

I would argue that we should stop calling heterosexual unions "traditional" and call them "normal."  When you call something "traditional," there's an implication that "non-traditional" is also acceptable.  Nope.  There's "normal" and "abnormal."  Period.  

Bure's comments were met with cheers from Christians and conservatives who are sick of the entertainment industry force feeding them movies that try to normalize homosexuality, which the Bible clearly condemns.  There's a price to pay, however, for speaking absolute truth based on the Word into a culture that would rather determine its own "truth" through secular humanism. Those who demand "inclusion" and "tolerance" make no room to "include" or "tolerate" people of faith who obey God's blueprint for living over ever-changing social mores.

Leftists assume that anyone who doesn't stand with the LGBTQIA+ (the perpetually growing acronym that keeps making room for new forms of perversion) are judgmental bigots who hate people, but nothing could be further from the truth.  Christ followers don't hate people--they simply are not going to be forced to condone, approve, sanction, or accept a lifestyle that God hates.  Yes, Jesus loves gays the same way He loves all sinners, but those who reject Him will be separated from Him for all eternity.  How could Christians celebrate a lifestyle with such damning consequences?  

And, no, Jesus didn't make people gay.  He created Adam and Eve and told them to multiply.  God's design does not include a homosexual alternative.     

  Incensed by Bure's stance, Bledsoe made a dramatic and diva-like exit from Great American Family, vowing to take a stand for the LGBTQIA+ community and crediting them for providing him with a "refuge and guiding light" when his life felt "lost" due to "society's extremely narrow definition of masculinity."

Sounds like the blind leading the blind.  Sexual deviants are definitely the wrong people to consult for direction and cues on masculinity.

Bledsoe claims to have been raised as a Christian, but since he asserts that GAF leadership's comments are "hurtful, wrong, and reflect an ideology that prioritizes judgement over love," it's obvious he's never cracked open a Bible or received scripturally sound teaching.

Co-star, Danica McKellar, admits she's a new Christian, and her comments on the topic clearly show she's a baby in the faith:  "That Christianity would judge any form of love simply baffles me."  Let's hope Bure walks her through the scriptures to get her on the right track.

Either way, it would be nice if actors and actresses would simply stick to the job of entertaining us instead of using their platforms as soap boxes.  It can be hard to view them the same way again when you learn which way they lean.

It's sad that Bledsoe felt he had to create such a kerfuffle to placate a small percentage of our society's unnatural and depraved people with his virtue signaling.  Some suggest his actions were nothing more than a publicity stunt to make his name known.  Regardless of his personal reasons, Bledsoe is more concerned with pleasing man than God, and he's the one who will ultimately suffer the consequences of his choices.

GAF fans might enjoy his movies, like Christmas at the Drive-In, but we will definitely be fine without him.

Image:  Great American Media