As you visit your local retail establishments you can see and feel it in the air. No its not Thanksgiving (not marketable enough), that would be the holiday most stores look past, instead it’s what some might call the most wonderful time of the year. With the trees and music you can’t seem to get away from comes new entries that hope to become the next holiday film you have to watch with the family year after year.
For Kate (Emilia Clarke) life is not going so well right now, and for the most part it is self-imposed. You see Kate had a heart transplant and in the time since, she has not felt like herself. As her life is spiraling down she meets a man looking up in front of the store she works at. The man introduces himself as Tom (Henry Golding) and since he fancies Kate he invites her to take a walk with him. Kate declines the offer and instead continues living her life her way, where she bounces from friend to friend and spends a lot of her time making a mess of her life. Tom though keeps popping up and Kate takes him up on the walk where Tom shows her the beauty of the world around her. With each moment she spends with Tom a little more light starts to shine through her. Soon she is repairing bridges she might have burned and for the first time in a while she is thinking about someone other than herself. Tom it seems has given Kate the best gift she could ask for, which is rediscovering how helping others can make you feel about yourself.
I can tell you this, Last Christmas let me know that I didn’t realize that I needed a Christmas movie that featured the music of George Michael in my life. I don’t really know what it has to do with the plot, but the music for sure added something to the movie. If the music isn’t enough to get you through the door, Emile Clarke and Henty Golding should be the other push you need as they are just everything you want in a couple. Those two things, the music and the stars are enough to make this film enjoyable, and mostly help you look past the flaws. The biggest of which is the film is a little too predictable with what almost feels like lighted arrows pointing you to where the story is going. Once you get past that it is easy to smile, especially the second half of the film which is just filled with goodness, enough to melt even the Grinchest of hearts. This might be just the right film to give you faith in this year’s holiday movies as the right stars and a lot of George Michael songs make everything alright.
