Love The Coopers: All We Need To Unite The Left And The Right Is A Family Christmas

Love The Coopers is a Christmas comedy drama film directed by Jessie Nelson. The plot focuses on a dysfunctional family coming together to celebrate Christmas.

Someone turned the sentimentality up to critical with this one, there are some parts of this film that are so soppy and over the top that it would make a Hallmark Christmas film question the taste.

The plot is delivered in vignette style, very reminiscent of something like New Years Eve with the key difference being that all of these people we are following are part of the same family. We get the old couple who have drifted apart trope, we get the angsty teen try to impress a girl trope, but hey it is Timothee Chalamet so some people will say it is Oscar worthy, and more; besides, all the stereotypes you could want are all there.

The most cringe storyline of all was the Olivia Wilde one, about a daughter bringing home a random person from the airport so she didn’t get judged by her parents. Of course she ends up falling in love with his guy despite him the opposite of everything she thinks and cares about.

The greatest crime of this film is how badly it wastes its cast of talented performers.

Overall, a step up in some ways from the usual Hallmark/Netflix trash, but in other ways namely wasting its cast it is a big step down. What a missed opportunity.

Pros.

It is watchable

There are a few good moments

Cons.

It wastes its cast

It is the definition of overly sentimental

It is cringe

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

Cup Of Cheer: The Vaccine, To Christmas Film Fatigue

Cup Of Cheer is a Christmas spoof comedy film directed by Jake Horowitz. The plot serves to mock the standard Christmas film, with the big city girl Mary (Storm Steenson), going to a small town to write a news story, of course while she is there she meets handsome small-town guy Chris (Alexander Oliver), and the two strike up a very obvious romance. Also they need to save the coffee shop that Chris works at/owns?

This was just what I needed, I have been watching a lot of average to bad Netflix Christmas films recently, that all follow an incredibly similar structure, and it is nice to not only see that structure be recognised here, but also mocked for just how generic it is. Someone needs to stick it to terrible Netflix and Hallmark Christmas films.

The comedy reminded me of the better ‘movie’ films. It was often absurdist and gross out but done in a smart way that actually made me laugh. A lot of the gags in the film are surprisingly strong and the commentary is of course spot on.

Despite being designed to be an anti-Christmas film, film I found that it made me feel seasonal. I enjoyed the romance between the leads, I thought it was funny and touching in equal measure. All of the romantic cliches are trotted out here and laughed at which also adds a comedic element to the romance which greatly benefits it.

Overall, the perfect remedy for anyone suffering with Christmas film fatigue.

Pros.

The humour

The spoof and the commentary

Strong chemistry between the leads

A likeable and a funny romance

Cons.

Some of the side characters felt a little underdeveloped, but maybe that was the point?

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Holiday In The Wild: A Testament To The Star Power Of Rob Lowe

Holiday In The Wild is a Christmas based romantic comedy film directed by Ernie Barbarash. We go on a deeply personal journey as we follow Kate (Kristen Davis), a woman who is dumped by her husband the second her son goes off to college. Now with nothing to do Kate has to rediscover her passions, as such she goes to Africa to become a vet to elephants. Of course this leads to romance.

So, recently I have been through several of these Netflix Christmas films and to a large degree they all blend together. However, with that in mind I found myself enjoying this one more than the others. I think it was purely the charm of Rob Lowe.

I enjoyed the romance of this film. I found it to be handled well and with care, I enjoyed seeing these two broken people, cliché I know, come together, and open themselves up to each other. I thought the leads had strong on-screen chemistry together, which in turn made their romance believable.

Another thing I will give this film props for over Netflix’s other Christmas output is that the drama felt organic to the story and not shoe horned in. Too often both Christmas films and rom coms in generally will have very blatant artificial drama forced in for no real story purpose other than for the couple to have something to overcome, this is a hallmark of a poorly written script. However, in this case the drama makes sense and feels necessary for the story.

Overall, though this won’t be winning any awards any time soon, it is quite charming, and the romance is sweet enough to keep you invested.

Pros.

The plot and it’s structure

The romance

Rob Lowe

Cons.

Cliché ridden

Incredibly generic

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

Christmas Made To Order: Catching Feelings Quickly And Hard

Christmas Made To Order is a Christmas film directed by Sam Irvin. The plot sees overly stressed architect Stephen (Johnathan Bennett), hire the free spirited, Christmas loving Gretchen (Alexa Penavega), to decorate his home for the arrival of his perfectionist family as you can imagine a romance blooms.

So, this is yet another generic Hallmark rom-com Christmas film; the kind that litters Netflix this time of year. However, where this improves on something like Operation Christmas Drop (Review coming soon), is that the romance actually feels warm and wholesome rather than cold and detached.

This is down in no small part to Penavega, who though she isn’t a big-name actor is slumming it a bit here, but hey we all need an easy pay check here and there. Penavega, is the life and soul of this film and her character’s love of Christmas comes off and authentic, which in turns makes it infectious.

My main and most obvious issue with this film would be that it runs the risk and indeed is overly sentimental. For the most part it is just the right levels of wholesome and sweet, but sometimes it goes a bit too far. The idea of this relationship is already beyond plausibility in a lot of ways, but this just pushes it further.

Overall, it is inoffensive holiday fluff, made better by Penavega and the wholesome charm.

Pros.

Penavega

The romance

It is comforting and fairly inoffensive

Cons.

It is a bit too mushy

It is very average

It has no real plot
2.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Christmas Land: A World Of Limited Imagination

Christmas Land is a Christmas romantic comedy directed by Sam Irvin. The plot sees a busy big city woman Jules (Nikki Deloach), inherit her Grandmothers Christmas themed farm, there is a debate as to whether she will sell it or not, but deep down she knows what her Grandmother would want.

So these generic Netflix/Hallmark/CBS Christmas films are starting to get to me. They are all very much the same in story and nature and you can guess the reveals coming from a mile off. I can no longer find things to enjoy about these films as they are just so tediously average.

The romance in this one was particularly wooden, sometimes these types of films can be made slightly more bearable by a strong lead romance, but not this. The two romantic leads act like strangers for most of the film and then all of a sudden they love each other at the end? Come on really? I can’t quite come up with the right word to describe their relationship, but whatever the opposite of chemistry is that is what they have.

The drama here once again, did not feel organic to the story it felt forced. That could be said for pretty much everything in these films, but this one especially had no need for the drama plotline beats, it added nothing and only served to needlessly complicate the narrative.

Pros.

It is watchable

Cons.

It is generic

It is lazy

The romance doesn’t work

The drama adds nothing

0.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Holidate: Netflix’s Sexist Holiday Film, ‘A Woman Can Only Be Happy If She Is In A Relationship’

Holidate is a Christmas themed romantic comedy directed by John Whitesell. The plot sees a couple of single people (Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey), start spending the holidays together, to throw off the bad societal conotation of spending the holidays alone. Obviously, as the film goes on they start expressing romantic feelings towards one another.

This film is awful it may be one of the worst films of 2020 in my opinion, it is offensive. So, not only does this film push almost every stereotype under the sun, it also has a lot of very troubling notions about women and their place in society. Firstly, a big deal is made because Robert’s character is not looking for a man and because she has been without one for 6 months, the horror. Secondly, the male lead pretty much cheats on her during the film and during the emotional resolution of the film she apologies to him for overreacting, pardon me what?

I understand this is a rom-com, but that narrative that you can’t be happy alone and that women, especially, need a man to be happy is toxic as hell and it is the central theme of this film. Whoever wrote this film should be fired and not allowed to work again.

Roberts if fun and likeable, she is the only positive note about this film. The male lead is incredibly bland and forgettable, I can’t remember his name right now.

Overall, this may be the most sexist out of touch Christmas movie I have ever seen.

Pros.

Emma Roberts

Cons.

It is sexist

It promotes bad messages

It furthers stereotypes

The ending is wrong

1/5

Reviewed by Luke

Operation Christmas Drop: Army Porn

Operation Christmas Drop is a romantic comedy Christmas film directed by Martin Wood. The plot sees congressional aid Erica (Kat Graham), travel to a US Army base in Guam to decide whether keeping it open is cost effective. Whilst there she falls in love with handsome, saintly, soldier Andrew (Alexander Ludwig). The two then help to give all the native islanders a great Christmas.

The biggest issue with this film is how into the army it is. I am by no means knocking the armed forces in America or anywhere in the world, but at the same time you don’t want to watch a film that sucks up to them for too long either, to a point this is basically an enlisting advert.

The romance is sweet, not to a sickening point, but it is also nothing special. You have seen this love story before, a lot of times before and believe me it hasn’t gotten any fresher. The odd thing about this film is how conservative it is with the romance, opting to not even have the characters really kiss. I get it is trying to be family friendly but come on.

Overall, this is passably watchable, no Knight Before Christmas or a Christmas Prince, but still worth your time if you have nothing better on.

Pros.

It is watchable

It is fairly upbeat

Cons.

The romance is predictable and familiar

It feels like an army recruitment ad

It is too safe and family friendly

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

Love And Monster: Love In The Time Of Monsters

Love And Monsters is a post-apocalyptic adventure film directed by Michael Matthews. The plot follows Joel (Dylan O’ Brien), a survivor who doesn’t seem to be very good at surviving as he leaves his bunker hideaway in pursuit of his lost love Aimee (Jessica Henwick), after they reconnect over the radio.

So, if you had any doubt about Dylan O’ Brien’s career as a Hollywood leading man this film come as a comfort. Not only is O’ Brien a terrific leading man here, he is also perfectly cast and suited to the part. He has the physicality to pull off the action scenes, but also the awkwardness to not see like the standard action hero ‘type’.

I think the world and the tongue in cheek tone is a strength to the film. The mythology is present, but is not overly explored which allows there to be a degree of your own imagination set to the proceedings. The humour of the film resonated with me and often made me laugh.

I think the supporting cast all do great jobs with their limited screen time; they help the world to feel lived in and set up perfectly crafted emotional moments that will hit you. Henwick struggles somewhat in a leading role, but does have a few strong moments. I enjoyed that she was the inverse of Joel in almost every way and that their romance often subverted my expectations.

Overall, a gem of 2020 that you can’t afford to sleep on

Pros.

Dylan O’ Brien

The romance

The world

The supporting characters

The tone and the humour

Cons.

Jessica Henwick is a weak link, but has redeeming moments

5/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Wedding Ringer: Hire Your Best Man Today!

The Wedding Ringer is a buddy romantic comedy film directed by Jeremey Garelick. The plot sees friendless Doug (Josh Gad), lie to his fiancé Gretchen (Kaley Cuoco) and say he has a best man arranged for the wedding, this leads him to seek the services of Jimmy Callahan (Kevin Hart), a best man for hire.

Once again I find myself finding Kevin Hart hilarious, he threw me off with those terrible Ride Along movies, but I am now fully back on the Hart train. He made me laugh several times during this film and he brought a hell of a lot of heart, pardon the pun, to the role. I think the film would be a lot worse without him in it.

The buddy relationship between Hart and Gad works well, both nail the emotional beats and make for a very convincing on-screen friendship. Despite being a romantic comedy film for the most part of the film I was rooting for their friendship over the central romance of the narrative.

In regard to said romance, I think this film sorely underused Cuoco’s proven comedic talents and instead relegates her to playing the gold-digging finance that the film goes out of its way to encourage you to hate, which feels like a huge waste. She is given no good moments of her own to shine.

Overall, a solid buddy film, not really a romantic comedy at all. Strong chemistry between Gad and Hart, but Cuoco gets snubbed at every turn. Mixed to positive.

Pros.

Hart

The buddy dynamic

It is quite funny

Cons.

It is not a romantic comedy

Cuoco is wasted

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

IRL: Modern Dating, Pandemic Adjacent

IRL is a romantic drama film directed by Ricardo Perez-Selsky. The plot serves as an observation on our modern online dating culture. Telling the story of one long distance couple who meet online and their struggle to stay together despite not having met.

Frankly, it is refreshing to see a romantic drama/ comedy film tell it like it is, with no fluff, no ignoring the hard parts, and crucially no over idealisation. This film feels real, and though that is an overused turn of phrase it is nevertheless true here. Most people will be able to find at least one moment that they will be able to relate to.

I applaud this film for not being afraid to get dark when it needs to. It shows how you never really know what is going to happen in life, the best laid plans often come awry. It adds to the realism which is crucial to this film.

The acting is strong and the romance between the two leads is likewise despite mainly happening over the phone. You want the two to be together desperately. However, my one critique of the film would be when Ian (Chase Hinton), very nearly (or does depending on your definition) cheats on his so far online girlfriend when he goes back home to visit his parents. Yes, I understand why structurally from a character point of view why he does this, but it then causes him as a character to become far less likeable and rootable; which maybe is the point?

Overall, this film will punch you in the face with real earned genuine emotional impact and you will thank it for it.

Pros.

The acting, especially Hinton

The romance

The real take on love and relationships

Relatability

Cons.

The cheating scene derails Ian as a character somewhat
4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke