Holiday Movie Reviews
Is anyone else working their way through all of the new holiday movies this year? I love a cheesy made-for-tv (or Netflix) romance or family adventure and look forward to this time of year when I can immerse myself into charming widows who run Christmas tree farms falling in love with big city career women. I have been trying to watch a mix of the more formulaic movies and the more inventive ones. I’ve created a full list of what I have watched, the highs and lows of each one, and others to watch. Maybe now I can finally give my friends a break and stop talking about The Princess Switch: Switched Again?!
Jingle Jangle (Netflix)
Grade: A
Highs: Great original musical numbers, a very talented cast (Forest Whitaker, Keegan-Michael Key), cute kids, magic, flying robots, unlikely friendships, families healing old wounds
Lows: Everyone has names that start with the letter “J”, but that’s about it!
If you like this watch: Elf or another Christmas classic, which this is sure to become!
The Princess Switch: Switched Again (Netflix)
Grade: A
Highs: THREE doppleganger characters played by Vanessa Hudgens, royals galore from made up European countries with vaguely British accents, the Palace has the most amazing Christmas decorations I have ever seen in a movie, a kidnapping, charity work with orphans (a hallmark of any royal romance), scheming Eurotrash cousins, scheming courtiers, a cameo from the cast of A Christmas Prince
Lows: Vanessa Hudgen’s various accents, the fact that so many people (including one of their husbands) are fooled by them when they switch
If you like this watch: A Christmas Prince (maybe the greatest Neflix holiday movie of all time), The Knight Before Christmas (more Vanessa Hudgens plus a time traveling knight)
Happiest Season (Hulu)
Grade: A-
Highs: This is an actually good movie that just happens to be set at Christmas, the cast is incredible (Dan Levy! Kristen Stewart! Aubrey Plaza! Alison Brie! Vincent Garber! Kathryn Hahn!), the characters are just specific and quirky enough to be charming, a hilarious but emotional climax
Lows: Not to spoil the ending, but this IS a holiday movie with a happy ending, which I didn’t think all of the characters necessarily deserved.
If you like this watch: The Family Stone
The Holidate (Netflix)
Grade: B+
Highs: A fake-Hemsworth lead actor, Emma Roberts being a charming version of herself, a plot that just begins and ends during the holidays, but takes place over an entire year (so not aggressively Christmas-y), funny holiday-specific set pieces, Kristin Chenoweth’s entire sub-plot, a steamy sex scene, and being what my friend Brittany referred to as “both a one-star movie and a five-star” movie
Lows: Emma Roberts’ family is so rude to her and terrible, no one could eat all of the candy and smoke cigarettes and look like Emma Roberts, do adults still wear elaborate Halloween costumes?
If you like this watch: Christmas Wedding Planner, A Bad Moms Christmas
Operation Christmas Drop (Netflix)
Grade: B
Highs: An actress from a former teen show (Kat Graham), uptight female lead who goes from straight hair and pencil skirts to wavy hair and loose dresses once she relaxes, adorable children who need help on Christmas, evil politicians who want to shut down a military base, based on a true story
Lows: A weird dynamic about the American military base being the only source of the Guam economy, a very flimsy plot device involving a tropical storm
If you like this watch: Holiday In the Wild (Kristin Davis and Rob Lowe fall in love on an African safari), The Holiday Calendar (more Kat Graham), A Christmas Catch
Dash & Lily (Netflix)
Grade: B+
Highs: A show not a movie, so takes longer to finish, NYC at the holidays is so cheerful to see and the scavenger hunt plot showed so many fun elements of the city, keeping this set in high school gave it a charming innocence, the wacky rich aunt/strict grandfather dynamic, Lily’s brother and his relationship sub-plot,
Lows: I felt like the side characters were wildly inconsistent and all got a bad deal, except the brother.
If you like this watch: Let it Snow
Midnight at the Magnolia (Netflix)
Grade: C (this is not a bad thing! It was perfectly fine, and a great movie to watch in the background or while you are hungover!)
Highs: The ideal level of medium-attractive actors for a typical made-for-tv-movie, a family business that needs saving, a fake relationship for PR, two best friends who don’t know they are in love, high school wounds reemerging, a best friend played by Michel from Gilmore Girls (sadly sans French accent), an adorable sledding scene
Lows: Takes place between Christmas and NYE, so not quite as carol-filled as I would like, claims to take place in Chicago when it was clearly filmed in a much smaller city, the lead actress has a dead mother which is just kind of a tired plot device
If you like this watch: Christmas Inheritance
Hometown Holiday (Netflix)
Grade: D
Highs: Honestly? I can’t think of many…
Lows: I was very concerned by one of the main actresses having visible and not cute roots throughout a several months-long plot, I hate when big romantic moments interrupt a big career moment - I think it’s selfish, rude and thunder-stealing, the reasons the two main characters had conflict were dumb but not quite silly enough to be charming, I don’t understand why the main female character had left her job as an actress in NYC, was it because she hated being c-list famous?