Christmas comes early this year with “Last Christmas”!
This holiday season, give yourself the present of “Last Christmas”!
“Last Christmas” is one of the best Christmas movies in years!
Sorry (not sorry) for getting all corny and blurb-y with my enthusiasm for “Last Christmas,” a sweet and magical and unabashedly heart-tugging holiday love story with echoes of everything from “Love, Actually” to “The Shop Around the Corner” to “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
The versatile and prolific director Paul Feig (“Bridesmaids,” “The Heat,” “A Simple Favor”) shelves his darker comedy instincts for a funny-with-a-heart tone and look, and it makes for a winning formula, even when you have to resist the urge to roll your eyes at some of the pretty shameless grabs for laughs and/or tears. (I mean, there’s a montage of colorful and in some cases quite talented homeless folks auditioning for a Christmas musical, for crying out loud.)
“Last Christmas” also benefits greatly from a sparkling screenplay co-written by Emma Thompson (who also turns in a terrific supporting performance), and the effortlessly charming and altogether camera-friendly Emilia Clarke (“Game of Thrones”) and Henry Golding (“Crazy Rich Asians”) in the leads.
You watch these two lovelies walking the shiny, snow-dappled, beautifully lit, cozy and cinema-stylized neighborhood streets of London, lost in each other’s gaze to the point where it’s as if they don’t even see anyone else, and you feel as if you’ve landed in Romantic Comedy/Drama Heaven — with a LOT of music from the late great George Michael, from the song that gives the movie its title to the perfectly timed placement of songs such as “Freedom,” “Faith,” “Heal the Pain,” “One More Try,” “Move On” and “Praying for Time.”
The songs are often spot-on accompaniment for the ups and downs of Clarke’s Katerina, a 26-year-old aspiring singer who survived a near-fatal illness but is now drowning in a self-created tsunami of binge-drinking, one-night stands, self-pity and boorish behavior that has left her estranged from her sister, in danger of losing her day job, and persona non grata with nearly all of her friends. (When Katerina crashes at your flat, she has a troubling habit of breaking things and in one case accidentally murdering an exotic fish.)
Freedom. Faith. Heal the Pain. Move On. The very titles of these songs are pitch-perfect for this story.
Clarke works those expressive eyebrows for everything she’s got and practically blinds us with her killer smile, but she’s also effective at conveying Katerina’s depression and self-loathing. Kate can be annoying as hell, but we’re rooting for her throughout and we welcome her efforts, one step at a time, to become a better person.
Much of Katerina’s brightened outlook on life comes about after she meets and becomes friends and possibly more with Golding’s Tom Webster, a dashing and infectiously upbeat and quite mysterious stranger who has a penchant of breaking into brief dances as if he’s hearing a Gene Kelly musical in his head.
Tom keeps showing Katerina little pockets and pieces of London she’s never even noticed. He’s constantly reminding her to literally “look up” and soak in the world all its glory. And he’s such a do-gooder you wonder if this guy is too good to be true.
Not that the Katerina/Tom arc is necessarily the most compelling part of “Last Christmas.” It’s a major element, but this movie isn’t THEIR story; it’s primarily Katerina’s story.
Emma Thompson is pure gold as Katerina’s doomsday-outlook, ever-fretting mother Petra, who along with her husband Ivan (Boris Isakovic) and their two daughters (Kate and Lydia Leonard’s Marta) fled the former Yugoslavia and have made England their home — although Petra has never totally left the old country behind. (When it’s suggested Petra get out of the house and keep busy and see friends, she deadpans, “My friends were all killed.”)
Then there’s the regal Michelle Yeoh, who nails a comedic role as Katerina’s boss, who calls herself “Santa” because after all she runs a year-round Christmas store filled with wall-to-wall kitsch. (When Katerina expresses surprise upon learning the Chinese-born Santa’s real name isn’t actually Santa, her boss hilariously explains the various names she’s used in previous jobs.)
The screenplay allows director Feig to sprinkle in some social commentary and even a Brexit moment without hammering us over the head with the messaging. It’s just another instance of “Last Christmas” rising above the standard, lightweight romantic comedy holiday fare and serving up a more substantial and resonant story.
Even on my most Ebenezer of days, I wouldn’t have been able to resist this sentimental journey. For all the great use of so many George Michael songs, the tune that might best describe “Last Christmas” is “Put a Little Love in Your Heart.”
