Three of the ... carry the one ... 278 new Christmas movies there were on various streaming services and what have you.
If the three I saw were any indication, they've cracked the code for a Christmas movie: Just make a regular movie and add some Christmas stuff into it.
Family Switch, which we watched with my family and my mother- and sister-in-law on Christmas Eve, was an example of that. We ultimately enjoyed it quite a bit (which I can't say for the other two on this list), laughing a lot and ending with grins on our faces.
But did it need to be about Christmas? No it did not. (I mean, the poster doesn't even have any holly or a Santa hat in it.)
It's basically Freaky Friday, except both the kids switch with both of their parents, matched on gender. And it's sort of the second such movie Jennifer Garner has starred in. They even name check her film 13 Going on 30 just to make sure we didn't miss it.
And whenever it goes too long without having anything to do with Christmas, they sprinkle in a carol on the soundtrack just to remind us.
Maybe it's a Netflix thing. Netflix also put out the Melissa McCarthy vehicle Genie this year. It's basically just a genie movie, with a few scenes set in the snow and a few Christmas songs popping up to remind us. (This one was terrible. This and Candy Cane Lane, which does intrinsically have to do with Christmas, can duke it out to see which was worse.)
I'd be cynical about this, but after having my spirits lifted by Family Switch -- which was directed by McG of all people -- I'm less inclined to go that way.
And since it's my instinct to leave you with a Christmas post that lifts your spirts, I'll put forward this thought:
Christmas movies aren't really about Christmas, anyway.
Even in the best of times, with the best of Christmas movies, Christmas is really just a backdrop. Yes we love these movies in part because they engage with the tropes of the holiday season, and they increase our sense of holiday good cheer. But even terrible Christmas movies do the first and try to do the second. The ones that succeed are a success because of something else about them ... some essential understanding of the world and the people who live in it.
So whatever you watch on Christmas Eve, or Christmas Day, or even in the days after it and leading on into 2024, I hope it has that keen understanding of life -- because the rest, really, is just window dressing.
Merry Christmas.
No comments:
Post a Comment