LAST CHRISTMAS
Warning: Last Christmas is not the Christmas Rom-Com you were hoping for.
I had the highest hopes going into this film. Did it look cheesy? Yes. Was I expecting a totally unrealistic love story? I hoped so. Did this movie completely miss the mark and disappoint? Yes, yes it did. Last Christmas leaves much to be desired not only as a holiday rom-com but as a film in general. The plot is the standard "woman is a hot mess but then meets a man and ultimately learns a big life lesson" and while I'm normally all for that trope this one did not do it for me. There are many reasons why this movie was not good but the biggest problem ultimately lies with Emilia Clarke. When you don't want to root for the lead at her worst you are definitely not going to like her when she finally gets it together. Clarke's character, Kate, has all the loathsome traits of the typical manic-pixie-dream-girl but with the added bonus of a smoky eye and proclivity for beer. Groundbreaking! What it comes down to is that there is something that does not work with her performance, which is unfortunate because the scripted dialogue is actually pretty funny. Kate's one liners and comebacks are good on paper but the way in which Clarke delivers them negates their humor. When every line is spit out in a harsh, biting tone it does nothing for the character or the film. There's sarcasm and then there's overacting and this performance is definitely the later.
Unfortunately, Henry Golding isn't much better. Having seen Crazy Rich Asians about 100 times, I expected him to be a stronger leading man but he fell flat. He was underwhelming and borderline creepy and even the end's big reveal, when the story finally comes together, didn't make me like him any more. The combination of her annoying performance and his weak one ultimately led to a lackluster romance that I didn't particularly care about. I wasn't rooting for the pair to get together, or even for Kate to turn things around for herself, because they were simply not that endearing.
The subplots and other characters don't help matters at all. Emma Thompson, playing Kate's mom, has a distracting accent that I was more confused than amused by. Michelle Yeoh, Kate's boss who owns a Christmas shop year round, tries to be a sort of mentor to Kate but her scenes are stilted and weird and I didn't get the point of her story line. There's also a homeless shelter subplot that was lackluster and an ongoing bit about Clarke aspiring to be a singer which was definitively not music to my ears.
In the end, this movie wanted to be a lot of things that it was not: romantic, enjoyable, filled with the type of Christmas cheer to get me into the holiday spirit. It does have its moments of good humor but they are ultimately not enough to redeem it. If I could ask Santa for one thing this year it would be the hour and forty three minutes of my life I spent wishing this movie would get better.