It’s that time of year again. The days are getting shorter, Christmas trees are starting to pop up all over the city centre and you can practically smell the mulled wine. However, not all of us are quite ready to dust off the glittery baubles and Santa hats just yet. If you’re only ready to dip your toes into the festive season this November, here is a list of movies for you:
Holidate
This 2020 romcom is perfect for when you’re feeling just a little festive as it features every other holiday too, so you can watch it all year round. Featuring Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey, the story follows a couple who agree to be each other’s ‘holidate’ so they don’t have to attend holiday gatherings as singletons. It’s light-hearted and provides the perfect dose of Christmas cheer (as well as Easter, Halloween and Valentine’s Day cheer).
Love Hard
New to Netflix this November, this romcom tells the story of a woman who meets a man on a dating app and decides to fly 3,000 miles to surprise him for Christmas. The festive season falls as a backdrop to the rest of the story meaning it has the festive spirit and features Christmas carolling and snowfall without being saturated with jingle bells or flying reindeer. I feel like this applies to most Netflix Hallmark movies so this recommendation extends to all of those as well.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
This movie is perfect for November because it blends Halloween vibes with Christmas ones. In the film, Halloweentown’s pumpkin king stumbles into Christmastown and plots to bring Christmas under his control by kidnapping Santa Claus and assuming his role. Jack Skellington’s attitude towards Christmas will resonate with most holiday haters and is perfect if you’re not quite ready to have Christmas, and all its bells and whistles, waved in your face just yet.
The Holiday
This is another recommendation that is set at Christmas time but to what extent it is a Christmas film is debateable. The story features two women, one from London and one from LA, who are both unlucky in love and decide to swap living situations for the holidays. There’s plenty of snow and features of Christmas to ease you into the Christmas season, but one you can get away with watching all year round.
Die Hard
It’s the argument as old as time: is Die Hard a Christmas film or not? I’d argue it falls into the same category as most of the movies on this list where they’re set at Christmas but the story itself isn’t all that festive. Taking place on Christmas Eve, the characters must overcome obstacles to spend Christmas together. The obstacles in this movie being a group of terrorists taking a high-rise building and everyone in it hostage. All the death and explosions outweigh the festive cheer making this an ideal not-Christmas-Christmas film.
This is just a selection of the movies out there set at Christmas time, but not really about Christmas at all if you’re not quite ready to fully immerse yourself in the jingling and jolly festive spirit just yet. But in all honesty, if you’re ready to watch The Grinch in November, watch The Grinch in November.