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Last Christmas<\/strong>\u00a0 (2019)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Universal\/Comedy-Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 102 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (language, sexual content)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Paul Feig\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Emma Thompson and Bryony Kimmings\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Theodore Shapiro\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: John Schwartzman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: November 8, 2019 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Emilia Clarke, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Emma Thompson, Boris Isakovic, Lydia Leonard, Jade Anouka, Peter Mygind, Ritu Arya, Ansu Kabia, Laura Evelyn, Ingrid Oliver, Ben Owen-Jones, Calvin Demba, David Hargreaves, Joe Blakemore, Rebecca Root, Patti LuPone. \u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0It\u2019s that time of year again; the time when studios start rolling out new holiday-themed movies with the hope that they\u2019ve come up with the next It\u2019s a Wonderful, Home Alone or Grinch. Sadly, for every cinematic gift like Elf or The Polar Express, there are far too many lumps of coal like Office Christmas Party, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, Love the Coopers and the one I detest most, Christmas with the Kranks. I\u2019m not sure if Last Christmas<\/strong> will ever be regarded as a Christmas classic but I really liked it. It\u2019s not flawless but it\u2019s as agreeable as a cup of eggnog made from your grandmother\u2019s secret recipe.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Directed by Paul Feig (the Ghostbusters reboot), it should be noted that Last Christmas<\/strong> is NOT a rom-com, not exactly anyway. It initially seems headed in that direction. It stays on that path for a while before changing direction towards a different destination. I\u2019ll speak to that momentarily. First, I\u2019d like to say something about the movie\u2019s big surprise plot twist. I called it months ago. I noticed something curious in the trailer, which I saw numerous times, that put an idea in my head. I shared my theory about this plot point with only a couple of people. Turns out I was right. Although it didn\u2019t diminish my enjoyment of Last Christmas<\/strong>, I will not reveal it to you. It\u2019s just too much of a spoiler.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0What really makes Last Christmas<\/strong> sing is the endearing Emilia Clarke (Me Before You) as Kate, the daughter of Yugoslavian immigrants, aspiring singer and year-round employee of a Christmas store owned by \u201cSanta\u201d (Yeoh, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). Katarina, as her family calls her, is just a track-jump away from being a total train wreck. She\u2019s selfish, self-destructive and irresponsible. She makes only bad choices. She drinks and sleeps with random guys. She sleeps on friends\u2019 couches until she does something that gets her thrown out. It finally reaches the point where she\u2019s forced to move back in with her parents who live in the only house on the block not decked out for Christmas.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Kate\u2019s family situation is far from idyllic. Mom (Thompson, Love Actually) worries about things to the point of depression and insomnia. Dad (Isakovic, Men Don\u2019t Cry), a lawyer reduced to driving a taxi because practicing law in London requires further education, stays away from home as much as possible. Younger sister Marta (Leonard, Quacks) resents having to be the one that picks up the slack for Kate. She works a professional-type job while Kate goes to auditions between shifts at the shop. With her boss on the verge of sacking her, she\u2019ll need a Christmas miracle to get her life back on track.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Enter Tom (Golding, Crazy Rich Asians), a mysterious man who first appears outside the shop while Kate is working. Their meet-cute involves a bird pooping on Kate and Tom telling her it\u2019s good luck. She starts bumping into him around the neighborhood. They take walks together during which Tom gives Kate valuable advice about living a better life. He brings out her inner kindness and self-worth; he even manages to get her to volunteer at a homeless shelter.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0It should be mentioned that Kate isn\u2019t a terrible person merely for the sake of being a terrible person. Something bad happened to her, something health-related that sent her into a tailspin after a major operation. This piece of information puts the viewer in a precarious position. We\u2019re supposed to feel sympathy for Kate because of her previous life-threatening illness but does it really excuse her behavior? It\u2019s a real conundrum. Now I could sit here and write a whole thing about her psychological makeup as it pertains to her illness and emigrating from a war-torn country. I could justify liking or disliking Kate for a number of reasons. I don\u2019t want to do any of that. Instead, let me just point out that Christmas can be a time of personal growth or positive change. It\u2019s also a time of forgiveness, a time when people put all the petty BS aside and make a fresh start, the operative term being \u201cfresh start\u201d. Such is the point of Last Christmas<\/strong>. Unlike the 125 new Hallmark holiday movies we\u2019ll get this season, it\u2019s all about redemption through self-love.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Clarke is probably best known for playing the villainous Daenerys Targaryen in HBO\u2019s Game of Thrones series. She was great in the role but I\u2019m starting to think she may be better suited for feel-good movies like Last Christmas<\/strong>. She has such a beautiful smile. She\u2019s also extremely likable. She brings this quality to Kate; it shines through all of her character\u2019s less appealing traits. She has great chemistry with co-star Golding who\u2019s equally good as Tom. The only thing I want to say about Tom is that he\u2019s a nice guy and just who Kate needs in her life at this point in time. Thompson is good as Kate\u2019s mother even if her character tends to be a real downer. Yeoh\u2019s character, who gets a romantic subplot of her own, is pretty good even if her character frequently leans towards caricature.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0As you probably already guessed, Last Christmas<\/strong> gets its title from the George Michael song of the same name. The soundtrack contains several of his songs including a never-released one called \u201cThis is How (We Want You to Get High)\u201d. It\u2019s a fitting tribute to the pop singer who died on Christmas Day three years ago. I like to think that he would have appreciated it. It really is a good movie. Okay, it\u2019s uneven at times. It\u2019s a little darker than the ads let on. A plot element or two feel unnecessary. It\u2019s predictable right down to the impossibly joyous ending with Kate singing the title song backed by a chorus of homeless folks. Call me a sap but I bought right into this bucket of schmaltz. It\u2019s great what can be accomplished by eliminating cynicism and mean-spiritedness from the mix. This is a true feel-good movie. I believe I\u2019ve found another annual Christmas flick.<\/p>\r\n Last Christmas\u00a0 (2019)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Universal\/Comedy-Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 102 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (language, sexual content)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Paul Feig\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Emma Thompson and Bryony Kimmings\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Theodore Shapiro\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: John Schwartzman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: November 8, 2019 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Emilia Clarke, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Emma Thompson, Boris Isakovic, Lydia Leonard, Jade Anouka, Peter Mygind, Ritu Arya, Ansu Kabia, Laura […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedies","category-holiday-movies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Last-Christmas-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":634,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62\/revisions\/634"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Last-Christmas-POSTER.jpg?resize=620%2C918&ssl=1\")
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