As sweet, sticky and snappy as a candy cane, “Christmas with You” provides a refreshing, sugary boost to any Netflix subscriber’s cinematic diet. This holiday offering, centered on a burnt-out pop star searching for creative inspiration and finding love, welcomes its co-star Freddie Prinze Jr. back to rom-coms, a genre from which he’s been absent for the past two decades. It also delivers unexpected seasonal delights with authentic, universal appeal. The ease with which it packages comedic hijinks and poignancy allows specifics of Latin American culture to shape and broaden its genuine emotional impact. And what a lovely gift that turns out to be.
Recording artist Angelina (Aimee Garcia) has been conquering the pop charts for decades, but finds herself stuck at a creative crossroads. The industry at large and her record producer Barry (Lawrence J. Hughes) are determined to pit her against label-mate/ingénue Cheri (Nicolette Stephanie Templier), who has stronger songs, social media savvy and dewy looks. Angelina’s struggle to stay relevant, along with her mother’s passing a few years prior, has taken a toll on her creative output. She’s also trying to get out of a bad romance with narcissistic telenovela star Ricardo (Gabriel Sloyer), who she’s staying with solely to raise her weak internet presence. Her insecurities are shaken further when Barry gives her an ultimatum: Come up with a Christmas-themed chart-topper in a few days’ time or else she’s fired.
Seeking solace and a renewal of her seasonal spirit, Angelina and her firecracker assistant Monique (Zenzi Williams) hightail it to upstate New York. Their plan is to surprise a young fan, 15-year-old Cristina (Deja Monique Cruz), whose cover of one of Angelina’s songs touched her heart. Once they arrive, a snowstorm hits, forcing them to stay at Cristina’s home with her widowed music teacher father Miguel (Prinze, Jr.) and spitfire grandmother Frida (Socorro Santiago). Turns out Miguel’s a struggling songwriter, too. Angelina figures that if they can work together, she can get her career back and he can get some much needed money. Only she didn’t bargain she’d fall in love — and that stands to complicate her career aspirations and the beautiful music they’re creating.
Director Gabriela Tagliavini finds the narrative’s strong rhythmic pulse almost immediately in the flashy opening credits, which showcase her heroine’s singing strength and fortitude. She even brings the razzle-dazzle to the interstitials between scenes, utilizing New York City landmarks all aglow and small town suburbia’s cozy winter chill. Incorporating cultural heritage — from scenes that feature food to those that fete special traditions — augments the rich, heartening thematic underpinnings and character design.
Technical craftsmanship also earns its place as a stocking stuffer. Tagliavini and editor Michael Jablow have a proper grasp on the picture’s energetic ebbs and flows, cutting with comedic beats in mind and knowing precisely how long to hold on the sentimental ones. Despite a noticeable flattening of the imagery’s depth and dimension (an all-too-common quality with films of its ilk on the streamer), Wing Lee’s production design is bursting with life, where a teen bedroom tangibly feels lived-in and the family’s dining and living rooms are decked out in twinkly-lit holly jolly.
Screenwriters Paco Farias, Jennifer C. Stetson and Michael Varrati cleverly build in searing sentiments about legacy and longevity in the business, shown through the prism of the evolving, supportive relationship between two female artists. But they forget to properly develop Cristina and Miguel, instead front-loading and back-loading their conflicts, respectively, and wrapping those conflicts up in a too-tidy bow. Cristina’s conundrums, primarily involving asking a cute boy to her quinceañera, are dealt short shrift. Also, she’s only impacted by the death of her mother for about 5 minutes in the first act, in a tender but fleeting bonding moment between her and Angelina. It’s not clear what Miguel’s obstacles are until the third act, when he blurts them out in clumsy exposition.
Garcia turns in a humorous and heartfelt performance, palpably felt in the comedic stylings as well as the more melodramatic chords played. There’s also a playful naturalism to her scenes with Williams, who’s this film’s stealth MVP with her perfectly on-point reactions and charisma. Though as written, Miguel is sadly a little one-note, Prinze imbues the character with a warmth and likable vulnerability. Together he and Garcia create a good amount of chemistry to sell the creative partnership and, later, the love story.
“Christmas with You” is a holiday trifle for sure, but there’s enough to feel satiated — if just temporarily — by the festivities on display. Marking a nice return to form for a star sorely missed from the genre he helped usher into the pop culture zeitgeist, the film displays spirit and soul as infectious as a pop song. And despite being highly orchestrated, this little ditty is catchy.
Courtney Howard
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