Last Christmas movie review

MOVIE TITLE:    Last Christmas                                Now that it’s December 1st, I’m FINALLY ready to talk about Christmas movies!

RATING:   PG-13

LENGTH:     1 hour, 43 minutes

Movie Review Mom GRADE:   B

IN A NUTSHELL:

Last Christmas is a romantic comedy written by Emma Thompson and Bryony Kimmings. She worked on the story with her husband Greg Wise to be accompanied by a Christmas book that features Christmas memories by other celebrities.  Director Paul Feig always presents quirky stories with a unique perspective and this Christmas tale is no different.

It’s about a young woman with a heart condition who struggles with loving others and making good choices.  Critics are bashing elements of the film, but fans are loving the cheese and cheer.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

• British profanity and crude language
• Talk of sexual relations
• Kate makes terrible decisions and is not a good role model for kids for the first hour of the movie.
• Breaking and entering is supposed to be adorable.
• Transgender actress (Rebecca Root)
• Alcohol
• Lesbian, bi-racial couple

THEMES:

• “Don’t forget to look up.” – Tom      (Henry Golding)
• Appreciate the good in your life.
• Unconditional love
• Survivor guilt
• Immigration struggles
• “We are so lucky to be alive.” – Kate    (Emilia Clarke)
• “Helping each other is what makes us happy.” –  Kate
• “You’re going to make mistakes and that’s okay.  You’re made of everything you do.” – Tom

THINGS I LIKED:

• • I love the twist. Without it, a lot of things didn’t make very much sense for the first hour of the film.  Unfortunately, the marketing campaign gave away a little too much information about the twist during one of the trailers.
  • I adore Emma Thompson.  You can tell she had a lot of fun being a Yugoslavian mother.
  • Emilia Clark is adorable and talented.  Her messed up character gives her a lot to work with on her journey to become a better person.  In a taxi scene, you can see the wrist tattoos she got during the last season she starred in Game of Thrones: The Complete First Season (DVD).
  • It’s rumored that Paul Feig didn’t want to direct this movie because his last holiday film bombed at the box office in 2006 Unaccompanied Minors    Emma Thompson personally sent him the script and he loved it.  Who could say no to Emma Thompson?
  • I love that Tom is always looking up and appreciating the things around him.
  • The title of the movie is based on the popular song by Wham! In 1984. They actually donated all of the royalties from the song to Ethiopian famine relief.  The movie is infused with George Michael’s songs.  I was such a fan in the 80’s. Sadly and ironically, he died of a heart attack on Christmas day,  His fans will love the soundtrack  George Michael & Wham! Last Christmas: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

• The movie was filmed in magical London. Some of the scenes were filmed at 2 am in order to avoid crowds.
• I always get a kick out of comedienne Sue Perkins.  I would have loved to see more scenes with her in it.
• It was a surprising treat to see Patti LuPone in one of the scenes. It would have been awesome to cast her as one of the homeless women and have her sing for us during the audition scene!
• Character development is important for me in a movie and there is plenty of it for the protagonist.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

• The movie begins and she’s a hot, rude, unlikable mess. Rufus  (Ansu Kabia) rightly calls her “the most selfish girl in the world.”   It’s a mystery why Tom would even be interested in her for the first hour of the movie because she’s so unpleasant.
• A lot of the humor doesn’t land.
• What’s up with the creepy clown that appears in random scenes?
• Sometimes it’s hard to understand what people are saying with the British accent.
• Why didn’t Santa (Michelle Yeow) fire Kate sooner if she really was that irresponsible and lazy?  Santa tells her it’s because she’s a good person.  I’m sure more people wish they had such nice bosses.
• Some think it was too early to drop this movie in the beginning of November, rather than after Thanksgiving.
• There’s a lot going on with the many subplots.
• One of the movie posters for this film has the tagline “Sometimes you’ve just gotta have faith”, yet the movie doesn’t really address religion or faith at all.  As a Christmas movie, it’s caught up in all of the holiday trappings without diving into the actual reason for the season.

FUNNY LINES:
* “Are elves always so cynical?” – Tom

“Yes, relentlessly.  These are dark times.” – Kate

Did you just giggle like a girl?” – Kate

“I am a girl.” – Santa   (Michelle Yeow)

“Not really.” – Kate

• “I’m busy.  You’re weird.  Goodbye.” – Kate

INTERESTING LINES:

• “Take care of my heart. It was always going to be yours one way or another.”  – Tom
• “There’s no such thing as human.  It’s just being a human being is hard.” – Tom

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@TrinaBoice