“It all makes sense! This is how epic love stories start! This is why I got cheated on three days before Christmas!” [Oh honey…]

Genre: Get There By Christmas Rom-coms
Release Date: 2024
New Holiday Spirit or Ghost of Christmas Past?: Brand new! But riffs on films like 1993’s Sleepless in Seattle and 1939’s Love Affair.
Where I Watched: Netflix

Synopsis: Last Christmas I gave you my hearrrrrt Layla was grounded at the airport. Boo! But she met a hot guy while crashing at the Star Lounge. Yay! He wants to meet her at the yearly Pentatonix Christmas show in NYC…next year. Now it’s that time, and Layla’s ready, but needs one thing; a ticket to the concert. Luckily, concierge Teddy will do whatever it takes to get her that ticket. Cue the mistletoe mayhem!

Worth the Eggnog?: Thinking about catching Christmas? Honey, you better LOVE Pentatonix. Luckily, their “Carol of the Bell”s is one of my December heavy rotation jams, so I dug in. But this is one holiday movie that’s best if you focus on the first twenty minutes, fold laundry for the next hour, and then settle in for the last twenty minutes of cuteness. And honestly? The cast – and the band – deserve better. And I’m not just saying that because our leading lady here is none other than Maryland’s own Christina Milian. (Though hey girl hey! New Netflix Christmas Queen Alert!) Everyone here is obviously having a great time, and there’s plenty of hijinks throughout…but.

The hoops the leads need to jump through are boring. They’re obviously just ways for the story to both pad the run time and keep these two together. The characters are fun, and the predicaments they’re put into are a hoot, but the way these beats play out feel tedious. And that’s a damn shame. Tropes we know and love are here in full effect. There’s the upwardly mobile leading lady, forced proximity, panic and chaos, Do It Or You’re Fired, opposites attract, inexplicable jealousy, Christmas Spirit, and the last-minute run-run. All set in the gloriousness that is NYC just before Christmas. Sounds like perfect “let me just grab my cocoa” fun, right?

Well, remember how we all wondered when the hell The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King would end, because there were so many times it felt like was going to? Yep, that feeling is here too. Screenwriters Camilla Rubis and Molly Haldeman seem to grasp the basics of what they need to put into a holiday movie, yet have absolutely no idea how to structure the story so it’s continuously engaging. And director Rusty Cuniff, whose work in the horror I absolutely adore – seriously, if you haven’t seen Tales from the Hood yet, treat yourself – brings out the best in his actors, but can’t seem to inject the right kind of silly chaos a running-around-the-city story needs to succeed. Mr. Cuniff, I wish the best for you; check out Rye Lane for inspo on this type of film. And because Lane is awesome.

The beginning of Christmas pokes fun at how romances lead people to “believe in fate”, against all common sense. But, like a Disney movie (or rather, a Christmas romance flick), our heroine finds true love where she least expects it. The middling middle of this film is a slog, but the climactic over-indulgence in cheesy goodness is a nice apology and left me with more goodwill than this film probably deserves. Now, where’s a love story for Layla’s BFF Roxie? Next year, right, Netflix? You have a year to do better for Roxie, and gather this cast together again. I have faith in you, y’all.

Score: 2 out of 5 Hos. Every single bit of this goes to the lovely and talented cast for doing their best, and portraying characters that I’d like to holiday party with. Everything else? Do better. Be better.