The New Holiday Film Review – Netflix’s Newest Holiday Romcom Lacks Fizz.
At the risk of come across as the Grinch, one must lament the early release of Christmas films before Thanksgiving. Even as the weather cools, it feels premature to completely immerse in the platform’s yearly buffet of cheap holiday entertainment.
Similar to US candy that no longer contain real chocolate, Netflix’s Christmas movies are counted on for their brand of mediocrity. They offer rote familiarity – familiar actors, modest spending, fake snow, and unbelievable plots. At worst, these films are forgettable train wrecks; at best, they are lighthearted distractions.
The new Netflix film, the latest holiday concoction, blends into the broad center of the forgettable spectrum. Directed by the filmmaker, who previously previous romantic comedy was utterly forgettable, this movie goes down like cheap bubbly – appropriately flat and context-dependent.
The story starts with what appears to be an AI-generated ad for drug store brand champagne. This commercial is actually the pitch of Sydney Price, played by Minka Kelly, to her colleagues at a financial firm. The protagonist is the construction paper cut-out of a professional female – underestimated, constantly on her device, and driven to the harm of her private world. After her superior dispatches her to Paris to finalize an acquisition over the holidays, her sister makes her promise spend an evening in Paris to enjoy life.
Naturally, Paris is the perfect place to pull someone from Google Maps, even when Paris is covered in below-grade CGI snow. In an absurdly cutesy bookstore, Sydney has a charming encounter with Henri Cassell, who pulls her away from her phone. Following rom-com conventions, she initially resists this ideal guy for frivolous excuses.
Equally as expected are the movie mechanics that proceed at sudden shifts, reflecting the rotation of old sparkling wine in the cellars of Chateau Cassel. The twist? Henri is the heir to the estate, reluctant to manage it and bitter toward his dad for selling it. In perhaps the movie’s most salient contribution to romantic comedies, he is highly critical of corporate buyouts. The problem? The heroine truly thinks she’s not stripping this family-owned company for profit, vying against three stereotypical rivals: a stern Frenchwoman, a rigid German, and a delusional gay billionaire.
The development? Sydney’s shady colleague the office rival appears without warning. The core? The two leads gaze longingly at each other in holiday pajamas, across a huge divide in economic worldview.
The upside and downside is that none of this lingers beyond a short-lived thrill on an unfilled belly. There’s a lack of substantial content – the lead actress, still best known for her part in the TV series, delivers a strictly serviceable portrayal, all sweet surfaces and gestures of care, almost motherly than love interest material. The male star offers exactly the dollop of Gallic appeal with light inner conflict and nothing more. The tricks are not amusing, the romance is harmless, and the happy-ever-after is predictable.
For all its waxing poetic on the exclusivity of sparkling wine, no one is pretending this is anything but a mainstream product. The flaws are the very reasons some enjoy it. It’s fair to say an expert’s opinion about it a champagne problem.
- Champagne Problems can be streamed on Netflix.
