«Last (but not least?) Christmas»

Les mercredis du cinéma - Kelly Lambiel

Although the stores have been advertising it since October, every December I indulge in one of my favorite guilty pleasures: wool socks, hot chocolate, cinnamon cookies and a Christmas movie. Cliche, you say? Totally. But I can live with that. Which is why, when the trailer for Last Christmas was released, I said to myself: if there's anyone in the section who needs to have this song stuck in their head until the 24th, it's me! The tune will stay, but the images?

Somewhere between M6 and Bridget Jones

If, like me, you’re a big fan of Christmas TV movies, rest assured: even though the screenplay—co-written by Emma Thompson—has a few surprises in store, that feeling of déjà vu is definitely there. No, this isn’t the story of the young woman who’s made a career for herself in the big city, comes home to spend the holidays in her backwater hometown, and falls back into the arms of her first love. Nor is it the story of the hapless elf sent to Earth to prove himself. As you’ve probably guessed, it’s the other one!

But we don’t find that out until the end, because Paul Feig tries to breathe new life (just a tiny bit) into the genre by featuring an unconventional heroine (Emilia Clarke) whose life is nothing but a series of disasters. A possessive and overprotective mother played by the brilliant Emma Thompson (whom we unfortunately don’t see enough of), complicated relationships with her sister and friends, a job that no longer excites her, copious amounts of junk food, plenty of alcohol, numerous one-night stands, and a heavy dose of cynicism—that’s her daily life. That is, until Tom (Henry Golding) comes along—the stereotype of the ideal son-in-law, or almost. You can see where this is going…

Visit kitsch at its peak

So why go see it, the uninitiated might ask? Because that’s exactly what you’d expect from a good Christmas movie—humor and an incredible soundtrack to (re)discover, to boot. Isn’t this, after all, the most cheesy… uh, magical time of the year? The one that brings back into fashion everything that’s totally unpalatable during the months leading up to it—like the combination of red and green, glitter everywhere, foie gras, and the cream-filled Yule log?

Last Christmas falls into this category. Yes, you’ll see that love, as always, makes people better, solves the problems of dysfunctional families in the blink of an eye, and makes us turn our attention to the homeless—who are invisible the rest of the year. Yes, the dialogue is incredibly shallow, the situations are grotesque, Emilia Clarke’s costume is ridiculous, and the items sold in the shop where she works are just as implausible as the reactions of Santa, the owner. In June, we would have found it unbearable; in December, it’s exactly what we need!

Facebook told me last week that some very serious studies show that watching Christmas movies makes you happy, so why not indulge? We'll just have to be a little shameless mea culpa Once the holidays are over, we'll start dieting on January 1—I promise.

I almost forgot the closing remark… Last Christmas, I gave you my heart, and the very next day, you gave it away… Don't thank me—I didn't want to be left alone with Wham! and George Michael on my mind.

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Photo credit: © Universal Pictures