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The holiday season is a busy time of year. According to social media, all the best people spend the season shopping and baking and decorating and attending the most fabulous parties. But in See You Next Christmas, a couple of single people end up at the same party, year after year.
See You Next Christmas spends one Christmas after another with Natalie (Elizabeth Guest), a regular at her cousin’s annual holiday bash. Each year, hosts Annie and Tom (Christine Weatherup and Vin Vescio) welcome their friends into their home. And, each year, Natalie reunites with Tom’s handsome but obnoxious friend, Logan (A. J. Meijer). Some years bring hookups; most bring arguments. But there’s always a hint of possibility. And while the two explore relationships with other people, they just keep coming back to Clarkmas—and to each other.
With each Christmas, the story of Annie and Tom and their friends plays out in snippets. If you have friends who love to entertain—who invite all of their various friends over for parties—you get it. These people float around each other’s social circle, but they’re more acquaintances than friends. And that offers some interesting opportunities for the film’s storytelling. We see these characters and their lives through the eyes of someone who sees them just once a year—and we get to know the condensed version that we often get in real life with those friends of friends.
Though Clarkmas goes through some changes over the years, the same quirky band of regulars returns year after year: the outspoken neighbor, the geeky friend who just comes for the food, the girl who believes that her baked goods are too special for general consumption—and, of course, Natalie and Logan. Though it’s no surprise where their story is headed, you might not always root for them to end up together—especially since Logan’s argumentative nature seems to bring out the worst in Natalie. Their exchanges are often uncomfortable—due to both writing and acting that can be awkward. But their story of annual exchanges and holiday mishaps still makes for a charming Christmas rom-com.
Though the execution of this holiday romance is more than a little clumsy, the story is fun and relatable, and the supporting characters add plenty of extra color. It isn’t destined to become a new Christmas classic, but it’s a cute rom-com about finding the right relationship at the right time.
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