Let down by underplaying its premise.
| The 5-Year Christmas Party has the same premise as See You Next Christmas. And I don’t mean they’re the same in the general sense that all Christmas rom-coms are the same (which is a lame criticism), I mean they literally have the exact same premise. The 5-Year Christmas Party features Alice and Max who meet up at Christmas parties every year for a 5-year period as they evolve apart and grow closer together. | 2024 Directed by: Peter Benson Screenplay by: Zac Hug Starring: Katie Findlay, Jordan Fisher | |
| There’s a common trope in Hallmark rom-coms where the protagonist is immediately rude and antagonistic to the male lead and often for no reason. Unsurprisingly, when Max (Jordan Fisher) first makes polite small talk with Alice (Katie Findlay), she responds with rudeness. It’s my least favourite trope for obvious reasons. Surprisingly, a scene later, Katie explains that she was more hostile than she should have been since they were never friends when they were in school together. And now they can be friends. I can’t help but compare it to See You Next Christmas as that is one of the few Christmas rom-coms that has stood out and is actually memorable years later. Its plot sees Natalie and Logan run into each other at the same Christmas party every year for seven years. Production-wise, The 5-Year Christmas Party has the usual Hallmark production which looks to have a higher value than it actually does. Meanwhile See You Next Christmas is indie with a very limited budget and production value that matches its appearance. The 5-Year Christmas Party falters exactly where See You Next Christmas shines – in the snapshot of the main characters once a year and inferring everything that happened to them in the year since we last saw them. The 5-Year Christmas Party provides very minimal growth and verbally tells us what they’ve been up to. See You Next Christmas makes their characters way more interesting since we have to infer what has happened to them. The info is all there without having to spoon-feed the audience. Eventually Max and Alice grow tiring. Alice has a few more unique traits to her – she’s a neurotic, artistic geek, Max is very plain but also portrayed by the better actor. So in the end they even out. It just takes too long to get to the end. The plot is minimal, the romantic pairing is average, and this premise has been done before and better. | ||
Want a different Christmas movie or just more holiday-themed movies? Holiday Movies