The Round Up: Netflix Holiday Movies

In my day to day, I am quick to sarcasm with…well most everything, and while it makes me laugh when not timed correctly it comes off as a deep cynicism of…well, everything. However, there is nothing I love more than a cheesy romance movie, yes the plots are predictable and often cheesy but the romantic that lives beneath my sarcastic shell loves every second of each movie. And when I say romantic, I mean I was one of the few people who while it upset me — loved the ending of HIMYM and still cry when I dare re-watch it type romantics. So each year, as fall slips to winter, I get excited by the prospect of rewatching some of my favorite sub-genres of romance movies, holiday romance movies. Now there are definitely a fair share of holiday movies I watch that have nothing to do with a romance but as I said to a friend not too long ago, “holiday romance as a genre is to make you feel like the magic of the holidays can make anything happen” and watching them just makes my heart warm and is often accompanied by a goofy grin.

Now I don’t know how I missed them last year but throughout November and December I have watched a lot of the holiday movies on Netflix. So I wanted to write this post to round-up my favorites in case any of you, like I, have off the week between Christmas and New Years.

A full list of the Holiday Movies I’ve watched: The Princess Switch, Christmas with a View, The Christmas Prince, The Christmas Calendar, The Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding, Christmas Wedding Planner, Christmas Crush (aka Holiday High School Reunion), A Holiday Engagement, Holiday Baggage, Merry Kissmas, Christmas Inheritance, Dear Santa, and Holiday Breakup.

Now I’m not going to review all of these because we all know I can  be quite verbose. So instead I’m going to give you 3 movies that I think are must sees and 3 that I think that you could skip.

Must Watch: The Princess Switch
This is definitely my favorite Holiday Netflix Movie this year, I have already watched it an obscene number of times and I can already tell you that I’ll probably have watched it a few more before 2019 rolls in. There is only one thing that is missing from this movie that would make it better which would be Paul getting dumped but other than that I am all in for this movie. Yes there are some editing errors, and the accents aren’t they greatest, but overall this movie makes my heart smile and like I said after I first watched it, not to be dramatic but if Netflix tries to take it down because “the holidays are over” I might have to cancel my account. So yeah, balls in your court @netflix.

Skip: The Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding
Ok, I know that I was late to watch The Christmas Prince (I only saw it this year) but what a let down of a follow-up this was. After I finally got around to watching The Christmas Prince I figured a sequel was not just something I wanted but something I needed to watch, and wow I was wrong. Even for me, someone who is clearly into the cheesy romance movie (see: above list of movies watched), this was painful. I’ll admit that the plot twist was solid and they definitely had the potential to make a solid movie, one that reminded people of why they wanted a sequel in the first place but it fell painfully short in almost every way. Yes, there were some bright spots in an otherwise dull movie but after finishing it I was mostly just relieved that it was over.  Not to mention, that if this is how Netflix sequels are going to be done…I have some serious concerns regarding the To All the Boys I Loved Before sequel that’s in the works.

Must Watch: The Christmas Calendar
This movie was definitely the surprise of the bunch. I put this movie on just as something to have in the background one evening while I was cleaning. Well my room didn’t get cleaned and I ended up watching the whole movie, laughing, cringing and even shedding a few happy tears at the end. When I read the description I thought it was cute but after watching, it was a lot better than I had anticipated it being. Now I haven’t watched this nearly as much as The Princess Switch but it is definitely worth a repeat watch with a cup of cocoa and some Chinese food.

Skip: Merry Kissmas
Now I have to say that this movie is cute and I thoroughly enjoyed it. As a whole, the movie is promising; it’s predictable but so are almost all holiday movies and I would have had it in the list of “unassuming but cute holiday movies” that can be found on Netflix. However, there is one very large glaring problem with this movie ending up on that list – this movie has VERY little to do with the holidays. Besides a couple of tangential factors you could pick up this whole story and put it at any other time and it would still be just as good as it is right now and for that huge oversight I cannot in good conscience recommend this as a holiday movie.

Must Watch: TIE Christmas Wedding Planner / Christmas With A View
Okay yes, I’m cheating a little bit here by picking two movies for the last spot but they both were so cute and both had plot twists that I actually didn’t exactly see coming. Something that feels like a novelty some times when it comes to a genre where there are only but so many storylines. I would recommend both as they definitely have all the hallmarks of a good Netflix film and Christmas Wedding Planner even has Kelly Rutherford in it or as I know her, Lily van der Woodsen Bass Humphrey from Gossip Girl.

Skip: Christmas Crush
Last but not least, save yourself the time and skip Christmas Crush (aka Holiday High School Reunion). While the premise is so understanding, after being voted most likely to succeed in High School Georgia doesn’t want to return to the 10 year reunion sans all the things she had planned to have, but does see it as an opportunity to get the one that got away, her high school boyfriend. Everything else about the movie just was a bit too much. High school reunion plots are fairly common and I’ve found they generally work best when you have at least a bit in each character that you can understand. This movie, however, puts no development into any of the other characters. Making most of the other characters just seem mean-spirited and shallow. There are plenty ways to do a holiday romance movie that surrounds a high school reunion unfortunately this one just fell flat in almost every regard.

 

So that’s it! Out of the insane number of holiday movies I’ve watched, these are at least the 3 (really 4) that will probably get another visit this week; as well as the 3 that, well, once was more than enough. Let me know in the comments if I’ve missed your favorite Netflix Holiday movie or if you disagree with one that ended up on my Skip list.  Now get out your cozy movie watching socks, pour a cup of cocoa, and cue up the holiday movies.