No Sleep ‘Til Christmas Review: A Holiday Movie Worth Staying Up For
Freeform’s No Sleep ‘Til Christmas caught my eye early on in my quest to find holiday movies that would bring me Christmas cheer for a few reasons.
First, it’s about insomnia — I relate. I’m a night owl. Sometimes by choice, sometimes not.
A movie about two people searching for a cure to insomnia is intriguing to me. Maybe I’d find a cure to my own insomnia.
There’s also the fact that Dave and Odette Annable are married. On-screen chemistry is a complicated science. I’m sure I’ve seen two married people play potential love interests before, but never in a Christmas movie.
I was interested to know if a real-life relationship makes on-screen chemistry feel more natural; if married couples take the cheese out of Christmas movies and replace it with the “hot cocoa by the fire” vibes that I love.
I also think Dave Annable is really talented and I have a tiny crush on him (you get it, Odette). I’ve seen Odette Annable in less. But still, all signs pointed to two hours well spent.
No Sleep ‘Til Christmas is definitely worth your time. Especially if Christmas movies aren’t usually your cup of cocoa, so to speak.
On the movie, Lizzie can’t sleep because the holidays are her busy season as an event planner. She’s stressed. Plus, she’s planning a New Year’s Eve wedding to Josh (Charles Michael Davis, known for his roles as Marcel Gerard on The Originals, Dr. Jason “Peckwell” Myers on Grey’s Anatomy, and Zane Anders on Younger.)
I love that that stressed vibe comes through right away. We’re not transported to some utopian Christmas village with snow-covered roofs and candy canes everywhere. We’re in Chicago — life is stressful.
Good chemistry makes a Christmas movie. Odette Annable has it with her husband, and it comes through on screen. But more importantly (for the movie, not her life) she has enough with Davis to make her character’s engagement completely believable.
Viewers know what’s going to happen, sure. Lizzie and Dave’s character, Billy, are destined to be together from the moment she takes a desperate drive to kill her insomnia and literally runs into Billy on his desperate walk to kill his own.
But it’s a special kind of torture to watch the movies where the girl is with a textbook caricature of a complete jerk and it takes her all movie to see the “good” guy for who he is. Or, to watch anyone with no chemistry try to act like they have it because a script says they have to, especially when they aren’t even the couple that’s going to be together in the end.
Davis and Odette Anable have enough. Plus, the character of Josh isn’t an insufferable jerk or such a “good guy” it makes you want to puke. He doesn’t have depth, but he’s not supposed to. He serves his purpose believably.
That said, there is enough depth and uniqueness in the whole movie to make it stand out in a genre where movies don’t usually even try to stand out.
When Lizzie calls off the sleep study after Josh finds out about her arrangement with Billy, Billy has a few dark days. One night, he spends a night at the bar he owns drinking instead of serving customers.
The scene where Lizzie calls off the wedding is done very well. After Lizzie wakes up from falling asleep in the middle of the vow exchange (the biggest red flag to marrying someone I’ve ever seen) she doesn’t immediately proclaim love for Billy and run away with him. Billy’s not even there.
Josh initiates a conversation (albeit at the altar in front of everyone) about what Lizzie wants, and then she apologizes to the people she needs to before running off and literally running into Billy again.
It’s very full circle, which I appreciate. But, the No Sleep ‘Til Christmas team also seems to deliberately avoid cliches, which I also appreciate.
Lizzie is in a wedding dress. Billy is in a suit, dressed for her wedding which was so unbearable for him to watch that has to run away. She beckons him with her finger.
Instead of ending with a kiss in the car, though, this movie ends in bed a year later, each person desperate to scream “not it” fast enough so they don’t have to tend to a screaming baby. It’s all the closure I could ask for, without any cheese.
As good as the movie is, there aren’t many “hot cocoa by the fire” vibes at all. I’ve said before that I’m a Grinch. But we are deep into my Christmas movie experiment, everyone. I’ve learned that while these movies haven’t completely changed my mind, they do make the season bearable.
They could have shared the cup of cocoa that I clearly want in all my Christmas movies (I’m drinking some as I write) while attempting to sleep at the hotel. Christmas is post sleep study, so it’s not the happiest time in the movie, but it also passes so quickly that I wouldn’t exactly categorize this as a Christmas movie.
It’s debatable, but a more apt title would definitely be “No Sleep ‘Til New Year’s.”
What did you think of No Sleep ‘Til Christmas? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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No Sleep ‘Til Christmas will continue to air throughout the holiday season on Freeform.
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Esme Mazzeo
Esme Mazzeo is a lifestyle and entertainment journalist from Long Island. When she's not writing for work, she's writing for fun, or searching for something to satisfy her sweet tooth. She thinks rainy days are the best kind of days. Certified night owl.
6 comments
I’m sorry but I am struggling to come to terms with the fact that we watched the same film. The one thing this review gets right is at the end when it’s stated that it really wasn’t a Christmas movie in any way save the title. “Christmas” as a theme, makes an appearance all of two times: once when Lizzie is dressed as an elf and acts horribly to Billy’s friends when she bumps into one of josh’s golf buddies. The second time is when billy can’t play with Rosie when she opens up his Christmas gift to her. By far though, the greatest sin of this review is the nonexistent chemistry between Lizzie and billy. Somehow these two people, who are actually married in real life, believed that cruel comments and childish antics somehow creates a spark. Spoilers, it doesn’t. Their LACK of chemistry was so bad that upon googling the cast, my wife and I were STUNNED to learn they were married and then not surprised when the next article we saw said that they had separated. If you’re a fan of Christmas movies or anything cheerfully inclined at all, steer clear of this car crash of a film.
Absolute dumpster fire. Encourages people to do extremely inappropriate and unfaithful deeds because “life is stressful,” instead of leaving toxic relationships before starting new ones. People will find any justification for shady behavior, from “he helped me sleep at night” to “my fiancé is a jerk and he deserves it”. Don’t be whores, people.
I agree so much. This is one of the most awful movies I have ever seen.
Am I the only one that thought the twist ending would be they had the same father?
This movie was pathetic
It’s funny that the review said “without the cheese” when it ends with a crying baby … pure Velveeta … but it was good for a movie to play as background while I do other things … not interesting enough to distract me … what isn’t funny … ever … hitting people with cars …
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