Tuesday, 12 November 2024

VOD: Meet Me Next Christmas (dir: Rusty Cundieff, 2024)

"Let fate decide."
 

Netflix kicks off the 2024 holiday season's movies with this good-looking and affable rom-com.  A charged chance encounter at a snowbound airport lounge on Christmas Eve leads to a promise to meet up one year later at a Pentatonix (American vocal harmony group) concert in a year's time, if fate dictates, giving rise to a story that echoes Serendipity and a trek through Christmassy New York for an elusive ticket to the sold-out gig.  The scenes (adverts?) with the actual band are fairly wince-inducing, but the film is saved by very appealing lead performances from Christina Milian and Devale Ellis, and whilst the film veers wildly between different tones - ranging from tear-jerking to uber-camp to typical rom-com set-ups - the lead characters are perhaps a little more rounded than usual for the genre.  Easy on the eyes and ears (plenty of laid-back Christmas tunes) and easy to watch, if you can tolerate the cheesier and more bizarre moments, the charming leads sell the frothy through-story well, all leading to a heartfelt ending that absolutely delivers.   

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