Directed by Michael Mayer, Single All the Way is fast-paced, funny and sweet without being cloying (the HGTV joke is gold). Kathy Najimy and Jennifer Coolidge, as Peter's mother and aunt, deliver particularly delicious turns — the rehearsal scenes for Coolidge's Christmas pageant alone could have landed this movie in the No. 1 spot.
2. Love Hard
This rom-com has such a sketchy premise that its spectacular recovery should count as an Olympics-worthy gymnastics feat.
The biggest test is that viewers are asked to not hate Josh (Jimmy O. Yang) after he catfishes Natalie (Nina Dobrev) by using a photo of his hunky friend Tag (Darren Barnet) on a dating app. Not only does Natalie quickly get over the switcheroo, she agrees to pretend to be Josh's girlfriend. The film's main asset is Yang (Jian Yang on Silicon Valley), whose Josh miraculously comes across as sweet rather than creepy. Once that battle is won, Love Hard — which is funnier than most rom-coms and fully embraces a farcical goofiness — can convincingly sell its central relationship. By the time Natalie and Josh duet on a memorably revised version of Baby, It's Cold Outside, we are firmly rooting for them.
Bonus (probably involuntary) Netflix callbacks: Natalie is said to be a Los Angeles 6 and a Lake Placid 10; in Single All the Way, Nick is described as a 10 and Peter is a 10 in New Hampshire.
3. A Castle for Christmas
Sophie (Brooke Shields) is a bestselling American romance novelist who travels to Scotland to reconnect with her roots and impulsively decides to buy a scenic castle from its bristly cash-strapped owner, Duke Myles (Cary Elwes). Since a white-knuckle suspense this is not, they fall in love and all ends well.
The film supplies the usual rom-com accouterments, in this case an adorable knitting circle that warmly welcomes Sophie, but it really hangs on the chemistry between Shields and Elwes. Fortunately, these two have a comfortable, playful rapport that makes their preposterous circumstances almost feel natural. Sealing the deal for Myles is his dog, Hamish, played by Barley, a natural who is more than ready to lead a spinoff movie. Barley is a 10 anywhere.
4. The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star
Netflix's holiday all-star Vanessa Hudgens is back for the third installment of her trademark franchise, and this time everybody seems to have an eye on the clock, waiting for the ordeal to end.
As in the second film, Hudgens plays three parts, with bad-girl Fiona stepping to the fore in a feeble, nonsensical heist plot while Queen Margaret and Princess Stacy lurk in some castle or other, twirling their thumbs (they do have to handle some switcheroos with one another, but really, it's Fiona's show). No matter whom she plays, though, Hudgens appears disengaged for the first time in the Princess Switch saga. As for Sam Palladio's Edward and Nick Sagar's Kevin, they are only required to smile and look handsome — welcome to the wife role, gentlemen.
Bonus Netflix callbacks: Butler Frank De Luca and chief of staff Mrs. Donatelli have a cameo in A Castle for Christmas, where they book a romance package at the local inn. Let the fan fiction begin.
5. The Claus Family
A mom who works in a cookie factory; a grandpa who is the true Santa Claus and has elf helpers: What a fun, sweet holiday treat this Belgian film must be!
Sorry to pop your Christmas bauble, but The Claus Family is as leaden as a Liège waffle left on the counter overnight.
Young Jules (Mo Bakker) hates Christmas, and the young boy's downcast disposition contaminates the entire movie, which is flaccidly paced and fails to pull off its more festive scenes. When a "cookie revolution" at the factory makes for dull viewing, you have to wonder how a director could possibly muck up such a gimme scene.
And then there is Jules' grandfather, who might well be the grimmest Santa ever. Unfortunately, it's unclear whether this is a daring rewriting of Christmas rules (just imagine the script meeting in Belgium: "What if Santa was resentful about his job?") or just bad execution.
6. Father Christmas Is Back
John Cleese and Kelsey Grammer as estranged brothers. Elizabeth Hurley as a brazen vixen in laced-up tight pants. Now this is a promising cast!
Don't fall for it.
Everything goes south at the family reunion in a British countryside manor, and so does this aggressively awful would-be comedy. At least Hurley looks as if she's having fun, wringing every last camp drop from her terrible role.
Father Christmas Is Back peddles a strange mix of sentimentality and sourness, as all the members of the Christmas-Hope clan — for that is their name — can't stop bickering and insulting one another. Of course, the movie hurtles toward reconciliation, but here it feels even more contrived than usual in such fare because the hate feels all too real.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Written by: Elisabeth Vincentelli
© 2021 THE NEW YORK TIMES
