What makes a great Christmas movie? For me, personally, it involves a winning combination of elves, a hot Santa, and a dysfunctional family brought together by the magical energy of Christmas.
Emma Thompson, who wrote and stars in the (soon-to-be-classic) Last Christmas, must have heard my cries, and said, "I will see your 'hot Santa' and raise you a Henry Golding." And so, I say: Thank you.
Last Christmas stars Emilia Clarke as Kate, a mess of an elf working at a Christmas store in London under the watchful, and rightfully judgmental gaze of its storeowner, played by Michelle Yeoh. (Hello, Crazy Rich Asians reunion!) Kate's life is complicated, and despite her mother's (Thompson) prodding, she shows no signs of changing her drunken elf lifestyle. That is — insert rom-com music here — until she literally bumps into Tom — played by Golding, a saintly human (in both demeanor and looks) — in the street one evening. And voila! An awkward encounter involving bird poop evolves into something more. Can Tom help Kate find not just the Christmas spirit again, but also the spirit within herself?
Check out the trailer below, and be prepared to secretly listen to George Michael Christmas songs for the rest of the day.