Margaritas— you know ‘em, you love ‘em. But (apparently), there’s no one who loves margarita’s more than Chili’s.
This year, Lifetime and Chili’s are celebrating National Margarita Day (Feb 22) with the recent premiere of their latest television event, I’ll Be Home For National Maragrita Day. It’s a 15-minute short film masterpiece. The short follows the same pattern as any of your favorite Christmas Hallmark or Lifetime movies: A small town girl comes home from the big city for the holiday, misses the holiday spirit, reconnects with an old flame, and saves some holiday-related event town in the process. Through the journey, she restores her holiday spirit.
Normally, a movie like this centers around Christmas and the Christmas spirit. Instead, replace the Christmas tree with an agave plant, the Christmas pageant with a Margarita Day talent show (complete with dancing limes), and the mistletoe with lime-themed decorations. And the holiday spirit?— “A celebration spent with your favorite margarita and favorite people,” according to the small town hunk, Taye Diggs.
Maria Menounos stars as the eventual hero of the story, withDiggsas the man who brings her Margarita Day spirit back.
Menounos, who also executive produced the short, said, “A few of my friends call me ‘Margamarita,’ and my husband and I are known frequenters of our hometown Chili’s, so this was the role of a lifetime bringing the fandom of Chili’s iconic margaritas to the silver screen.”
While we won’t spoil the ending of the short, there are some golden lines included in it that deserve recognition:
Before she leaves the big city, Lizzie (Menounos) is complaining to a bartender about her life. Instead of giving her advice, the bartender slaps her with the bill.
Lizzie then says, “Thirty bucks for this? I can get something ten times better at home.”
“So go home,” the bartender responds.
When she arrives back at her hometown Chili’s and meets up with old flame Sam (Diggs), he asks Lizzie, “Don’t tell me the big city has robbed you of your National Margarita Day spirit.”
The drama of the film occurs— shutting down the town’s community center — to which Sam immediately, “spreads the news,” prompting a hilarious montage of the villain tearing down, “save our community center,” posters while wearing a hard hat and construction vest.
Turns out, Lizzie’s mom (seemingly the queen of National Margarita Day, sporting a “Marg Mama” sweater and a light-up lime necklace) is dating the evil developer.
Both Sam and Lizzie say, “He looks like a villain straight out of a Lifetime movie.”
The short is just campy enough that the self-aware humor is funny. If you don’t like clichés, this isn’t for you. While it’s seriously a National Margarita Day movie, it makes fun of all of those silly, but still entertaining, holiday movies you probably know and love. If you just want something silly to watch, this is the perfect way to celebrate National Margarita Day— it’s only negative being how short the film is… maybe grab a five dollar Chili’s margarita while you’re at it.
I’ll Be Home for National Margarita Day is available for streaming on Lifetime and YouTube. It will be airing again on Lifetime on National Margarita Day (Feb 22) at 2pm E.T. Celebrate National Margarita Day on Feb 22, by watching this short and grabbing a margarita for yourself.
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