‘Tis the season of fairy lights, hot chocolate, ugly sweaters and unbelievably cringey Christmas movies. In the spirit of the most wonderful time of the year, streaming platforms like Netflix and Prime Video released a selection of the greatest holiday films in cinematic history. Every December, I pour myself a cup of hot chocolate in anticipation of a cherished holiday tradition — watching terrible holiday rom-coms.
And sure, there are timeless classics like The Grinch, Home Alone, and Elf, just to name a few. But I think we all know the real stars of the season are the films where the big-city girl escapes a work-related calamity with a trip to a small town, falls in love along the way, and gets married three days later.
Hallmark famously produces these movies, although they aren’t limited to the network. While that plot may encompass countless films, it works.
Call it cliche. Call it unrealistic. But there’s undeniable magic in the questionable acting, cheesy scripts, and repetitive narratives of these movies — and I just can’t get enough of it.
A couple of my favourites are A Christmas Prince and The Princess Switch. In A Christmas Prince, a reporter (Rose McIver) sneaks her way into a castle in the small fictional country of Aldovia, where she pretends to be the young princess’ tutor with the ulterior motive of gaining inside information on the royal family.
In The Princess Switch, a big-city baker (Vanessa Hudgens) travels to an English country and swaps lives for a couple of days with a duchess who happens to look exactly like her.
In both movies, things go off course when the lead falls in love with a charming prince, who is obviously perfect for her in every way. Both movies contain the same formulaic structure of two people from different worlds who leave behind their past lives for love. It’s the foreseeable happy ending that makes them enjoyable.
Some will judge this delightful genre and suggest it’s boring and overdone. But I argue the beauty of the cringey Christmas movie is in its predictability. Whether you love it or hate it, at the end of the day, there will always be a happy ending.
Witnessing troubled characters experiencing joy and happiness against all odds in search of the true meaning of Christmas (love, obviously) radiates relentless positivity that always manages to put me in the Christmas spirit.
Sometimes, it can be hard to grapple with the obstacles in life. For me, part of the charm of these movies is that they offer an escape from real life. Immersing myself in a world of kindness and predictability provides a reprieve from reality and a coping mechanism for uncertainty.
And while I don’t watch these movies for their realism, that level of certainty can offer comfort. There is a feel-good element in knowing that in some fictional television universe, everything turns out alright. But it’s more than that. Watching the plot where everything surely works out in the end inspires hope. It makes me believe in happy endings in my own life.
So yes, while a repetitive storyline and sub-par writing most likely won’t win any Academy awards, the often misjudged genre of holiday romantic comedies deserves more appreciation. It’s so bad, it’s good.