Christmas With You Review: Netflix’s Family Friendly Rom-Com Falls Flat

In the world of cheesy holiday flicks, there are movies so bad they’re good, and there are movies that never go through the beautiful metamorphosis of cringe.

Sadly, Christmas With You falls into the “bad” category, never quite finding that niche beyond its lack of chemistry and stiff dialogue.

Despite its miserable hardships, Aimee Garcia’s burned-out pop star and Freddie Prinze Jr.’s loving Latino father fight to make this movie memorable as they charm their way through the film’s gooey family festivities.

Each actor brings an independent likeability to the premise, commanding their story threads with considerable depth.

However, when Hollywood glam clashes with small-town family ideals, the chemistry between our two leads evaporates under the pressure of marrying their two polarizing worlds.

That partially has to do with the shallow “family” label Netflix slaps on this romantic venture to set it apart from other rom-coms.

Because despite the performance it puts on, Christmas With You is not all that concerned with the family at the center of its corny tale.

The father-daughter bond and cultural aspects of our leading family are admirable. However, they are such blatant plot tools for the romance it is hardly convincing.

And yet the romantic meet cutes can never go beyond a lingering gaze or shared smile because, again, this is a family movie.

So everyone suffers, and no one moves past first base, a move that feels weirdly too Hallmark for the streaming platform’s roster.

Nothing about Christmas With You dares to break the mold. A Christmas Prince and The Princess Switch dared to be chaotic, and that boldness to embrace the worst of their premises made them so fun.

This movie dares not to acknowledge any of its weaker plot, trudging on without pause to flesh out relationships to a point where we can care about them.

It doesn’t help that the comedy aspects of this rom-com are mostly tone-deaf.

The film opens with our titular pop star Angelina enduring a salty interview with a young POC female journalist. It feels like an unnecessary dig at a group already in the minority of the industry.

But it’s the harmful dieting commentary that takes the Christmas cake. In 2022, no film should have its protagonist talking about lettuce-only diets and starving to fit into dresses without immediate correction from others in the scene.

Prinze Jr.’s return to rom-coms may fizzle out with this family-friendly outing but seeing him back in the medium and embracing a Latino character is worth sticking this one out.

And it shouldn’t be overlooked that this Christmas movie is diverse as hell with an entirely BIPOC-leading cast. It’s another reason this festive film deserved better, way better.

While Garcia and Prinze Jr. may struggle to make anything of the dialogue, every once in a while, they find a way to connect in a way that grazes the triple threat (family rom-com musical) this film set out to be.

That said, if you want a movie that respects camp and is dripping in romantic chemistry, maybe check out the live-action Scooby-Doo movies.

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What did you think of Christmas With You? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Christmas With You is streaming now on Netflix.

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