Even the least cynical of Christmas audiences will recognise a festive cash-in when they see it. The trick is to be inoffensive enough to please the masses, and thus guarantee repeat viewings for future years, ad infinitum….
The best examples escape the label to be firm family favourites – Love Actually, Elf, Die Hard – but they have a genuine underlying quality to them, to elevate to being more than an easy default to throw on while the family collectively digest the Xmas dinner.
Last Christmas seems to have enough of the stock elements – likeable leads, festive setting, recognisable landmarks, George Michael songs – to be passable. The marketing isn’t shy to let you know Emma Thompson is involved (her name appears 4 times on the poster – see above), in an effort to give the thing a mark of quality. A mark somewhat diminished by an almost comic Slavic accent. Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding are hot property, in every sense of the term. However, what lies beneath is utter nonsense.
The plot is difficult to discuss. On the face of it, it’s a non-more-generic girl-meets-boy at Christmas staple. However, there’s an element which will certainly prove divisive. Some will see it telegraphed immediately, but for the majority it will be a perplexing rug-pull. One which isn’t earned, and isn’t nearly as clever as it thinks it is; you could drive a sleigh through some of the logic lapses involved.
Marketing proudly boasts of the music of George Michael and Wham!, but anyone expecting a musical that cleverly weaves themes from the music into the plot will be disappointed. The music, with the obvious exception of the title song, is mainly non-diegetic. It proves completely incidental, and could have almost been decided upon and added in post. Then there’s the title song; impressively, it proves to be staggeringly on-the-nose, and bafflingly inappropriate at the same time.
There’s an odd immigration/Brexit thread occasionally laid on, which, while harmless, feels like it’s strayed in from a different film. It does contribute to the obligatory sing-a-long finale, by which time you’ll be picking apart the plot developments, and probably wondering about the point of the whole thing. And how close Alexandra Palace is to The Strand.
So, one to pass 90 mins between turkey and pudding, but not a classic of Christmases yet to come.
A Room With No View 