Last Christmas
Despite the talent on both sides of the camera, and its attempts to deal with some big concepts, Last Christmas falls halfway between being a romantic-comedy and a life-affirming Christmas film, but doesn’t really satisfy as either.
Premise: After a serious health scare a few years ago, Kate (Emilia Clarke) has struggled to find purpose in her life, and now kills time between singing auditions working in an all-year Christmas store run by “Santa” (Michelle Yeoh). Estranged from her family, including her worrying mother (Emma Thompson), and currently homeless after having alienated most of her friends, Kate begins to regain her sense of joy after a random meeting with Tom (Henry Golding), a part-time bicycle courier.
Review:
On paper, Last Christmas is a film with an impressive pedigree. Not only is it co-written by Oscar-winning screenwriter Emma Thompson, but it’s also directed by Paul Feig who has made some of my favourite comedies of the last decade (including Bridesmaids, The Heat, Spy and last year’s A Simple Favour). It stars two lead actors who I really enjoy, Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding, and features an impressive supporting cast, including the aforementioned Emma Thompson and Hong Kong acting legend Michelle Yeoh. It includes the music of George Michael and Wham!, and is a Christmas movie (I love Christmas movies) set in one of my favourite cities in the world, London.
And yet, despite all that, Last Christmas is sadly a disappointment which feels like it never truly lives up to its full potential. It’s not a “bad” film per se, but it’s not a “good” film either, and certainly feels like a wasted opportunity given the talents of everyone involved.
“…really captures the character and multi-cultural spirit of London…”
On the positive side, there are plenty of individual enjoyable moments. Michelle Yeoh gets an opportunity to display a talent for comedy that I never knew she had, and her scenes as he Christmas-obsessed “Santa” are some of the funniest in the film. The minor supporting characters are also great, with Ingrid Oliver in particular standing out as a local police officer who manages to make “have a nice Christmas” sound like a threat. The film is beautifully shot and really captures the character and multi-cultural spirit of London, and cinematographer John Schwartzman deserves special mention for his ability to light all of the exterior scenes in such a way that the fairy-tale quality of London’s Christmas illuminations is never washed out by harsh lighting rigs.
But although some of the individual elements are fun, overall the film just doesn’t come together satisfactorily. As a romantic comedy, the central relationship never truly convinces, and although I really like Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding as actors, I just didn’t feel the chemistry between their characters. I mean, I could see their characters becoming good friends, but I didn’t feel any romantic spark in their scenes together. But this isn’t meant as a criticism of either Clarke or Golding, as unfortunately, I think most of this film’s flaws can be traced back to problems with the script.
“…the film’s biggest problem is its cliché-laden plot…”
Of the two leads, Emilia Clarke gets more to do, and I did genuinely enjoy her character’s arc over the course of the film. But Henry Golding’s character is underwritten, and is more of a concept than a fully three-dimensional character in its own right. (I actually felt the same about his character in Crazy Rich Asians, but his more nuanced performance in A Simple Favour leads me to believe the problem is with the script rather than his performance). Because of the lack of a romantic spark between the two leads, I actually preferred the second half of the film, which moves away from the traditional rom-com tropes and becomes more of a life-affirming Christmas movie, as Kate begins to try to sort her life out.
Generally, though, the film’s biggest problem is its cliché-laden plot, which unfolds pretty much exactly as you expect it to from the outset. Even a third-act plot development is so obviously telegraphed in advance that it’s unlikely to come as a surprise to anyone. Of course, good rom-coms can be entertaining even if they’re predictable, as audiences come for the romance and the comedy (as the genre’s name suggests) not the plot twists. But Last Christmas is unconvincing as a romance, and although it certainly has humorous moments, they’re not strong enough to carry the film on their own.
“...sadly falls between the two stools…”
I do want to give Last Christmas points for effort, as it does try to address a whole heap of big ideas and be something more than just another dose of saccharine Christmassy sentimentality. But its treatment of those big themes – including homelessness, Brexit-fuelled racism, LGBTQ acceptance, refugees and depression – often either feels forced and heavy-handed, or underserved and simplistic. And the film’s central message (that doing good and spreading happiness actually makes you happy) was arguably handled much more effectively by Ricky Gervais in his recent Netflix show After Life.
Overall, there’s no escaping the fact that Last Christmas is a disappointment. It’s not a terrible film, and there are elements that are fun, but those elements aren’t enough on their own to hold the film together. Not funny or romantic enough to work as a rom-com, and not Christmassy enough to work as a Christmas movie, this sadly falls between the two stools.
