This is Christmas (2022): This.Is.Sparta! Digging through Christmas movies to find something even remotely worthwhile watching is a far more draining endeavour than one might expect. The bar inevitably dips in the hope of coming across something that can surpass it and it is, perhaps, “This is Christmas” that achieves it. A movie starring the likes of Timothy Spall already has an unfair advantages over one featuring Daniel Lissig, but the whole cast of TiC stands out of the crop that I’ve watched this year. Alfred Enoch (Dean Thomas of Harry Potter fame), Kaya Scodelario (RE: Raccoon City, Crawl, The Maze Runner), Joanna Scanlan (The Thick of It), Ben Miller (Johnny English, Paddington 2) or Sarah Niles (Ted Lasso) are just some of the familiar faces that will make this movie feel intimate. It also takes an uplifting premise (why not get to know your fellow commuters and organize a Christmas party with them?) and endorses openness and collaboration as the means to harmony. Sure, it’s cheesy as heck at times and it doesn’t demand much of its cast, but TiC hits the right notes to warrant its fame as a hidden feel-good present under the Christmas tree. If that’s where you keep your TV/laptop. Could be a watch for after you’ve opened the presents. 6
Your Christmas or Mine (2022): We’re moving up in the world of Christmas fares with a movie that scores higher as far as on-screen talent goes. Asa Butterfield and Cora Kirk have chemistry in the way that seemingly young people have chemistry, even if most of the story pits them far apart from each other. The premise: their characters want to surprise each other for Christmas by going to their respective Christmas homes, only to end up separated by bad weather. One family has a resplendent affair, the other a downtrodden one, with the obvious path towards a fluffy merging towards the movie’s conclusion. It all works better than the previous Hallmark productions, but I don’t feel it does enough to be praised as a fulfilling addition to the pantheon of holiday movies. Maybe good for the morning of the 26th. 5
Your Christmas or Mine 2 (2023): To say that this sequel does anything better or different than its source would be as false a statement as they come. There might be more time spent between James and Hayley, who are indeed cute together, but the whole shtick is worn really thin here, as their two families mistakenly swap holiday homes…for a night. This is the set-up that allows for all kinds of predictable confusion and misdirection to ensue, propping up the ludicrous conflict which is supposed to resolve this Christmas adventure. You’ve also got a rich family/poor family dichotomy that’s treated as superficially as anything really, which makes me feel that there’s very little reason to watch this one. Not even on a cold and blizzard hampered 26th. 4
B&B Merry (2022): There’s a disturbing charm to the innocuous output of the Christmas movie-making-machine. Saving someone’s small business is a preferred theme and here, it’s time to save what looks like a three room bed & breakfast “competing” against a multi-tiered holiday lodge. It’s a bit of a comeback for Jen Lilley (The Spirit of Christmas), this time playing an influencer who has the ungodly task of reviewing both venues – a bonafide conflict. Naturally, there’s a hunky good boy in it is well, that glides on the easy charm of Jesse Hutch, even in the moments his ‘oh-shucks’ appeal begins to wear thin. Not only will this movie not surprise you in any way, it suffers from a distinct lack of chemistry between its leading couple, a chemistry that’s involuntarily sizzling between a quinquagenarian/sexagenarian sister duo. Then again, if you like characters carrying evidently empty suitcases around and not drinking their cups of hot cocoa, this might be for you. Maybe check it out after you’re drunk on alcohol-filled chocolate on Christmas morning. 4
Catering Christmas (2022): Compared to B&B, CC is a more adept at presenting its story. Given its scope, I’m not so sure that’s a good thing, because like most of these schlock tales around Christmas, it has nothing of essence to contribute to the world. The premise is similar: small baker versus big baker vying for an important Christmas contract that also leads to a romance. The leads are unfortunately devoid of any chemistry, there’s no conflict to speak of and the Christmas decorations are as obnoxiously aggressive as is common within the genre. While the clumsiness of B&B gave it a tiny bit of personality, this one does not benefit from such inadvertent blessings. This is the one to watch when it’s the 23rd and the weather outside screams “April” instead of “December. 4
tributary stu 