Title – Last Christmas (2019)

Director – Paul Feig (Bridesmaids)

Cast – Emilia Clarke, Henry Goulding, Emma Thompson, Michelle Yeoh

Plot – In her mid-20’s and aimlessly wandering through life after a life changing operations 12 months previously, Kate (Clarke) finds hope and potential love when she meets kindly stranger Tom (Goulding) in the days leading up to Christmas.

“I’m busy, you’re weird, good-bye!”

Review by Eddie on 28/04/2020

There’s no doubt that it means well, with this Emma Thompson penned and George Michael inspired feel-good effort always having its heart in the right place but its overtly sappy and almost too clean feel makes Last Christmas a wannabe Love Actually like yuletide classic that never truly gives off that special Xmas cheer.

Curiously directed by Paul Feig, who really dials things back from what you’d expect from the man behind Bridesmaids and Spy, Christmas tells one of those too good to be true like love stories and finding oneself drama’s as it focuses on Emilia Clarke’s ditzy but kind-hearted struggler Kate, who finds potential love and direction in her budding friendship with Henry Goulding’s mysterious Tom in the lead up to a wintery U.K festive season.

Everything about Christmas feels fairly familiar, with both Kate and Tom cut well and truly from the cloth of movie romantic tropes but the chemistry between Feig’s two leads never heats up proceedings and his cast and Thompson and Bryony Kimmings script ticks off a series of predictable boxes that not even a supposed twist finale can help overcome.

Instead of creating its own world and own vibe, Christmas feels constantly like its playing the easy game with its storytelling and delivery and while usually Feig is accustomed to delivering some very funny cinematic moments, Christmas is devoid of any standout moments of comedy genius as it trudges along its way through a procession of movements and scenarios that aren’t going to be surprising anybody that’s ever seen such a film.

With this being the case, there was an extra load of pressure on Clarke and Goulding to push things up a notch but they’re not given a lot to work with here with both Kate and Tom relatively so-so lead characters that don’t do a lot to make us want to invest our emotions in them, even if the film seems intent on trying to wring out some unworthy emotions come the latter stages.

Christmas isn’t a terrible film and for what it is its most certainly watchable but with its underused foundation in George Michael’s back catalogue and with an overall sense of blandness and acceptance of just being another member of the pack, you can’t help but feel as though there’s no real reason to recommended that anyone spend their quality time in this particular adventure.

Final Say –

A calmer Paul Feig gives Last Christmas a professional edge but its so-so story, weak chemistry between its leads and generic procession ensures it’s not even close to becoming the new festive classic it clearly wanted to be.

2 narrow alleyways out of 5