CHRISTMAS MOVIE REVIEW: Christmas With You (2022)
Freddie Prinze Jr. Stars But His Love Interest Steals The Show
I didn’t know I’d be entering the 2022 Christmas season with separate brand new Netflix romcom offerings starring Lindsay Lohan and Freddie Prinze Jr. respectively, but here I am. Lohan co-starred in “Falling For Christmas”, a movie I surprisingly liked while Prinze. Jr is the male lead and love interest in “Christmas With You”, a new flick centered around a pop star needing to write a hit Christmas song or face being replaced by her record label with someone younger and more social media relevant.
BE WARNED---THERE ARE A FEW SEMI-SPOILERS HERE. If you want to watch this movie but don’t want anything spoiled at all, scroll on past the remainder of this until you’ve watched.
PROS: Aimee Garcia co-starred as Angelina and honestly, I’ve never heard of her previously but I’ll tell you what—she was absolutely, pardon the French---fuckin’ fantastic. She plays a pop star on top of the music world for years but now aging, stuck at a roundabout creatively and the verge of being replaced by a younger emerging singer (Cheri) as the record label’s next big thing. I mean look, this is a prototypical Christmas movie and I’m not going to compare Garcia’s performance to Meryl Streep in Kramer vs Kramer, but every aspect of her is made to feel believable and genuine to me—being the bitchy diva superstar (see the boots scene early the movie) to conflicted, letting her guard down and ultimately the ending of which I won’t fully spoil here. She may not be the biggest name on the marquee but she undoubtedly stole the show. Another thing I enjoyed about Christmas With You is that with movies like this, most couples come together based on a lie or simple misunderstanding and we have to wait for most the movie for the truth to come out, but I liked Angelina being transparent quickly with Miguel that she needs to write a Christmas hit. Also, I thought Miguel’s daughter, Christina (played by Deja Monique Cruz) was very good as was Angelina’s assistant, Monique (played by Zenzi Wiliams). It’s funny that while Prinze Jr.’s far and away the biggest name, the supporting females dominate the best aspects of this film.
CONS: I’m a Prinze Jr. fan but my biggest struggle was watching him as the male lead love interest AND also the father of a 15-year old teenage girl. No one beats father time, not even handsome studs like myself but Prinze Jr. will always be the hunk in “She’s All That” or “Down to You” to me---and those were literally more than 20 years ago. Furthermore, Prinze Jr. is apparently of Latino heritage, but I’ve never seen him play anything ethnic and therefore weird seeing him portray a character named Miguel Torres. Also, this movie is based largely on music and despite playing a music teacher, it’s visibly apparent Prinze Jr. has no actual musical (or dance) ability whatsoever.
Furthermore, I couldn’t tell if Miguel felt too old for Angelina or not—because I couldn’t tell if Angelina was supposed to be in her early 30s or 40s. As much as I loved her in this, It’s fair to ask how old she’s supposed because she comes off almost as old news to the record label and even in her own eyes at times and yet obviously is still the obsession of countless teenagers, as evidenced by when she walked into Cristina’s high school to pay her biggest fan a surprise visit. Angelina was believable as a 32-year old or as a 42-year old, I just couldn’t tell which she was supposed to do and knowing Prince Jr. ain’t made a romcom in like well over a decade and has a 15-year old girl in this didn’t make guessing any easier.
Additionally, I generally liked casting but Ricardo (Angelina’s sorta ex) felt unnecessarily corny. Ditto for Frida (Miguel’s mom) who served no essential purpose. Barry (the big record producer) did have purpose but quickly became cliché in a movie that actually had more substance to it than many similar cheeseball Christmas flick plots.
VERDICT: I can’t lie, I wish casting would’ve went with someone other than Prinze Jr. for several reasons but that bias aside, there’s a wonderful simplicity about Christmas With You I truly enjoyed. The ho-hum widowed father of a teenage girl coupled with the fading pop star, who we learn comes with heart of gold ultimately produces several heart-tugging moments. Garcia’ performance in particular really does it for me—I was expecting stereotypical and empty from her early on but instead got served a delightful intermingling of amusing and heartfelt Angelina----for that she completely won me over. I don’t give a shit what anyone says who might slam this movie—It lacks a little bit of that holiday magic but in all, it’s excellent with all the emotion and feel-good vibes I crave in a Christmas movie. GRADE: B and absolutely worth 90 minutes of your Christmastime life.