The New Holiday Film Review – Netflix’s Newest Holiday Romantic Comedy Misses the Sparkle.
At the risk of come across as the Grinch, one must lament the early release of Christmas films before Thanksgiving. Even as temperatures drop, it feels premature to completely immerse in the platform’s yearly feast of low-cost holiday entertainment.
Like American chocolates which don’t contain genuine cocoa, the service’s holiday films are relied upon for their style of badness. They offer predictable elements – nostalgic casting, modest spending, artificial winter scenes, and absurd premises. At worst, these films are forgettable train wrecks; in the best scenarios, they are lighthearted distractions.
The new Netflix film, the newest Christmas offering, blends into the broad center of the forgettable spectrum. Helmed by Mark Steven Johnson, whose previous romantic comedy was so disposable, this movie goes down like low-quality champagne – fittingly lackluster and situational.
It begins with what looks like a computer-made commercial for drug store brand champagne. This ad is actually the pitch of the main character, played by the actress, to her colleagues at the Roth Group. Sydney is the construction paper cut-out of a career woman – overlooked, constantly on her device, and ambitious to the harm of her private world. When her superior dispatches her to Paris to finalize an acquisition over the holidays, her sibling insists she take one night in the city to enjoy life.
Of course, Paris is the ideal location to pull someone from digital navigation, even when Paris is covered in below-grade CGI snow. In an absurdly cutesy bookshop, the lead has a charming encounter with Henri Cassell, who pulls her away from her device. Following the genre, she at first rejects this perfect man for silly reasons.
Just as predictable are the film elements that proceed at abrupt quarter turns, mirroring the rotation of aging champagne bottles in the cellars of the family vineyard. The catch? Henri is the heir to the estate, reluctant to manage it and bitter toward his father for selling it. Maybe the movie’s most salient contribution to romantic comedies, he is extremely judgmental of corporate buyouts. The problem? Sydney sincerely believes she’s not dismantling this family-owned company for parts, vying against three caricatures: a stern Frenchwoman, a severe blonde German man, and a delusional gay billionaire.
The development? Sydney’s skeevy coworker the office rival appears unannounced. The grist? The two leads look yearningly at one another in holiday pajamas, across a huge divide in economic worldview.
The upside and downside is that none of this sticks beyond a bubbly buzz on an unfilled belly. There’s a lack of real absorbent filler – the lead actress, still best known for her role in the TV series, delivers a merely adequate performance, all sweet surfaces and gestures of care, almost motherly than romantic lead. The male star provides exactly the dollop of Gallic appeal with mild self-torture and little else. The gimmicks are unfunny, the romance is harmless, and the ending is predictable.
For all its philosophizing on the exclusivity of sparkling wine, no one is pretending it is anything but a mainstream product. The flaws are the very reasons some enjoy it. It’s fair to say a critic’s feelings about the film a minor issue.
- The Holiday Film is now available on Netflix.
