Champagne Problems Review – Netflix’s Latest Holiday Romcom Falls Flat.
At the risk of sound like a holiday cynic, one must bemoan the premature arrival of holiday movies prior to the Thanksgiving holiday. While temperatures drop, it feels premature to completely immerse in the platform’s yearly buffet of low-cost festive entertainment.
Similar to American chocolates which don’t contain real chocolate, the service’s holiday movies are counted on for their brand of mediocrity. They offer predictable elements – nostalgic casting, modest spending, fake snow, and absurd premises. In the worst cases, these films are forgettable train wrecks; in the best scenarios, they are forgettable fun.
The new Netflix film, the newest holiday offering, blends into the broad center of unremarkable territory. Helmed by the filmmaker, whose last Netflix romcom was so disposable, this film feels like cheap bubbly – fittingly lackluster and situational.
The story starts with what looks like a computer-made commercial for drug store brand champagne. This ad is actually the proposal of Sydney Price, portrayed by the actress, to her colleagues at the Roth Group. The protagonist is the stereotypical image of a career woman – overlooked, phone-obsessed, and ambitious to the harm of her private world. After her boss sends her to Paris to finalize an acquisition over Christmas, her sister insists she take one night in Paris to live for herself.
Of course, the French capital is the ideal location to pull someone from digital navigation, despite Paris is draped with below-grade CGI snow. In an overly quaint bookshop, the lead has a charming encounter with Henri Cassell, who pulls her away from her phone. Following rom-com conventions, she at first rejects this perfect man for frivolous excuses.
Equally as expected are the film elements that proceed at sudden shifts, reflecting the rotation of aging champagne bottles in the vaults of Chateau Cassel. The catch? The love interest is the successor to Chateau Cassel, hesitant to run it and resentful toward his dad for putting it up for sale. In perhaps the movie’s biggest addition to the genre, Henri is extremely judgmental of corporate buyouts. The conflict? Sydney sincerely believes she’s not dismantling this family-owned company for parts, competing against three stereotypical rivals: a stern Frenchwoman, a rigid German, and an out-of-touch wealthy man.
The development? Her shady colleague Ryan shows up without warning. The core? The two leads gaze longingly at each other in festive sleepwear, despite a vast chasm in financial perspective.
The upside and downside is that none of this sticks beyond a bubbly buzz on an unfilled belly. There is no real absorbent filler – the lead actress, still best known for her part in Friday Night Lights, delivers a merely adequate performance, all sweet surfaces and acts of kindness, almost motherly than romantic lead. Tom Wozniczka offers exactly the dollop of French charm with light inner conflict and little else. The gimmicks are not amusing, the romance is inoffensive, and the happy-ever-after is predictable.
Despite its philosophizing on the exclusivity of champagne, no one is pretending it is anything other than a mainstream product. The flaws are the very reasons some enjoy it. One might call an expert’s opinion about it a minor issue.
- The Holiday Film can be streamed on the platform.
