Writer(s): Karen Bloch Morse
Starring: Lea Michele, Charles Michael Davis, Nia Vardalos, and George Newbern
Even despite this knowledge, there is the occasional movie that's actually done in by its stupid plot, and Same Time, Next Christmas is one of them. And that's a shame, because it actually offers up a great cast of characters, above par acting (even Lea Michelle, who I can't really stand, turns in a serviceable performance), and several moments of intended comedy. That's right, completely intentional! In other words, it's almost the perfect Christmas comedy, only held up by a plot that fails even under the lightest scrutiny.
Olivia Anderson has been going to the beach every year for Christmas with her family for as long as she can remember. Through these vacations, they become good friends with the Williams', another family that happens to do the same thing. Olivia hits it off with Jeff, the Williams' lone son, and the two look forward to seeing each other during their annual treks. But the annual visit after they share their first kiss, the Williams family is nowhere to be seen, and Olivia doesn't hear a word from the man she fell in love with. (Turns out he was dealing with some personal family issues, which completely excuses him ignoring her calls and texts for several months...right?)
Flash forward some odd years: Olivia is now grown up, and still doing the vacation routine with her family. And wouldn't you know it, after not seeing or hearing from him for years, he shows up with his family at that same vacation spot once again. But of course things have to be complicated: he is married, which kind of throws a wrench in their plans.
We fast forward to the next year, where another issue prevents them from getting together, and then another year, and then another year...there's at least the span of six years here, and with all of it taking place on the island, it strongly insinuates these people don't keep in contact at all outside of their annual trips. Maybe in the '70s this plot could have worked in a “shut your brain down and don't think about it” kinda way, but in this day and age when you can contact anyone you want with the press of a button, and considering just how "close" these people seem to be on vacations, it's just beyond the limits of acceptability (with Olivia's mom even pushing her to date Jeff; so they never ever talked about it at home?).
It also goes so far as to make Olivia a terrible character, as she strings along a man (who aside from being too caught up in work to an annoying degree, actually isn't that bad of a person at all) that she clearly doesn't have strong feelings for, just so she has someone in her life. Of course, given the season and the confines of this movie, it's supposed to be cute, but it doesn't really take much digging to see the darkness of a character who accepts a marriage proposal from a man she has no interest in being with, only so that she can back out of it a day before the wedding and for no other reason than she finally builds up the courage to tell him she would rather be with someone else. And of course, so that we can't tell she's a piece of shit person doing a really shitty thing to a not bad person, he takes it admirably and without so much as a question. Mmmm, okay.
In the end, part of me actually wants to recommend it for the interplay between the characters, which comes off as way more genuine than it should in a movie like this: the cast seems to be having fun, and the chemistry between the many couples is believable. Unfortunately, the thin thread connecting all these characters ruins what could have been a holiday “classic”, and it becomes one of those movies that's more grating than entertaining.
RATING: 5/10
We fast forward to the next year, where another issue prevents them from getting together, and then another year, and then another year...there's at least the span of six years here, and with all of it taking place on the island, it strongly insinuates these people don't keep in contact at all outside of their annual trips. Maybe in the '70s this plot could have worked in a “shut your brain down and don't think about it” kinda way, but in this day and age when you can contact anyone you want with the press of a button, and considering just how "close" these people seem to be on vacations, it's just beyond the limits of acceptability (with Olivia's mom even pushing her to date Jeff; so they never ever talked about it at home?).
It also goes so far as to make Olivia a terrible character, as she strings along a man (who aside from being too caught up in work to an annoying degree, actually isn't that bad of a person at all) that she clearly doesn't have strong feelings for, just so she has someone in her life. Of course, given the season and the confines of this movie, it's supposed to be cute, but it doesn't really take much digging to see the darkness of a character who accepts a marriage proposal from a man she has no interest in being with, only so that she can back out of it a day before the wedding and for no other reason than she finally builds up the courage to tell him she would rather be with someone else. And of course, so that we can't tell she's a piece of shit person doing a really shitty thing to a not bad person, he takes it admirably and without so much as a question. Mmmm, okay.
In the end, part of me actually wants to recommend it for the interplay between the characters, which comes off as way more genuine than it should in a movie like this: the cast seems to be having fun, and the chemistry between the many couples is believable. Unfortunately, the thin thread connecting all these characters ruins what could have been a holiday “classic”, and it becomes one of those movies that's more grating than entertaining.
RATING: 5/10
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