Watched On: Max
Duration: 1 hour 43 minutes
Originally Aired: November 8, 2019
Directed by: Paul Feig
Starring: Emilia Clarke, Emma Thompson and Henry Golding
Please see IMDb for full cast and crew information.
Synopsis
It's the Christmas season 2017 in London. Ever since recovering from a serious health issue which could have easily taken her life, that health issue which culminated on Christmas day last year, Kate, whose family emigrated from the former Yugoslavia in escaping the Balkan wars, is a changed person, and not for the better. Now irresponsible and self-absorbed, she is running out of friends' couches on which to sleep in they coming to final straws with her, this couch surfing which she still finds preferable to going home to her parents', especially in not wanting to deal with her tactless and overbearing mother. Working as a salesclerk at Yuletide, a year 'round Christmas store which is entering its busiest time of year, she is continually close to hitting final straws with her boss as well, a Chinese woman who has assumed the name Santa for the business and who only keeps Kate on in remembering back to the time when she was an asset to the business. Kate now aspires to a life as a performer in musical theater, she working under the misguided belief that her chutzpah alone will get her work. Within this situation, Kate meets Tom, who she believes is coming on to her, she putting him off in he not being her type. But persisting, he ends up showing Kate another side of London and another side of life. But as Kate begins to have feelings for him and sees him as an important emotional support for her, he, whose intentions he admits are not romantic, begins to be harder and harder to find, all she knowing about him being that he volunteers in the night shift at a homeless shelter. In the two having some sort of bond, the question then becomes if they will ever come into sync together, factoring into the equation the reason for Tom's persistence with her in the first place.
Review
I had intended to watch this movie when it came out five years ago, and then didn't, for some reason (it's possible we didn't have a streaming service that was airing it at the time, but we get Max through our phone plan now.) And I'm rather upset with myself for not watching it sooner. Once again, IMDb user Huggo has provided an excellent mostly spoiler free synopsis of the movie (although in reading through it the grammar is a little wonky in places, but even with that they said things better than I could have).
So is it a Christmas movie. To the facts! Kate works in a Christmas store, learns how to ice skate, starts helping to raise money for an organization that helps the homeless culminating in her arranging a variety show with the homeless people who frequent the shelter to raise even more money, and she finds out who is responsible for her Christmas miracle the previous year. It almost pains me to say this, but no, this movie is not a Christmas movie. The only scenes that are typical Christmas movie magic scenes are learning to ice skate and helping the homeless, and starting to help the homeless could and should happen at other times of the year. It was an excellent movie and I definitely recommend watching it, but it's not a Christmas movie.
Rating
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