Boxing Day
Boxing Day is a very important Britishy thing that I could explain to you what it is and how it came about, but if you're Britishy, you already know and if you aren't, you probably don't care to hear it from me, so just understand that it is the title of this movie and we will move on.
Melvin, played by writer, director and star of this film Amil Ameen, is a British author now living in Los Angeles and is madly in love with the criminally lovely Lisa (Aja Naomi King). So in love with Lisa he is, Melvin sprinkles the house with rose petals and hires a band to play some Isley Brothers as a background for his proposal, because that's some stuff that only a dude in love would do. And maybe that guy from 'You'. There are a ton of hiccups in this marriage proposal though. A ton. On Lisa's end, as a casting director, she has just gotten offered a plum gig to go to New Zealand to cast Peter Jackson's new movie, and more pressing, she is pregnant with Melvin's baby. She hasn't told Melvin any of this. Or Peter Jackson, who would probably like to have this information as well. It doesn't help that Melvin has let it be known that he hates babies.
On Melvin's end, his publicist has booked him a publicity tour back in London to promote his new sci-fi novel, where Melvin really doesn't want to go back to. Some rather dramatic family drama went down on Boxing day a couple years back and Melvin really doesn't want to deal with it, but this has to happen. He wanted to just leave Lisa behind, which is kind of a dick move, but Lisa correctly points out that perhaps his future bride should meet her future husbands family, so it's off to London!
Lot of stuff Melvin has to deal with in London. He hasn't told his family about Lisa, at all, and they are particularly upset that first they hear of this woman is when he announces his love for her on a national British TV talk show, especially his mom Shirley (Marianne Jean-Baptiste). Melvin is not to pleased with his mom because on Boxing Day two years ago she announced that her husband, Melvin's dad, had knocked some woman up and she was leaving him. He's also upset with his dad Bilal (Robbie Gee) for knocking this woman up and destroying the family. Most importantly, when Melvin fled for the states two years ago, he also dumped his then girlfriend, international pop star Georgia Fronchere (Leigh-Anne Pinnock), with no real explanation as to why he did this to the poor girl, but Georgia still wants him back. Melvin has also never told Lisa that his ex is an international pop star, one that Lisa owns all of her records.
Eventually Lisa finds all of this out and she is NOT happy. In addition, Melvin's family doesn't really like her. They're polite, but they are completely team Georgia, because Melvin and Georgia have been together since kindergarten, or whatever British folks call Kindergarten, and Georgia's mom and Melvin's mom are best friends. And Melvin's sister is Georgia's best friend and personal assistant. It's a bad situation.
But that Lisa is a tough cookie. She is going to the family Boxing Day celebration and she is not going to let these people stand in the way of her love for her man, who she may or may not still want at the moment. First she shows up to the party looking like brand new money, just in case there was any doubt why the prodigal son fell for this American woman. Then she won over the lecherous uncles with her charm, the brutal aunts with her grace, and there's Georgia, who is also at the party because she is most definitely family. Georgia tried to engage in a battle of wits with Lisa, but alas she lost that battle badly. But, when she went outside dejected from that defeat, she sees Melvin and kisses him, who kisses her back it looks like, right in front of Lisa. Battle lost, war won.
Melvin knows he's screwed up and tries his best to get his woman back, but she doesn't want him anymore. His mom tells her son he's dumb and that his girl is pregnant and he needs to fight to get her back. Mom wasn't directly told of this pregnancy, but women have the magic pregnancy sensing gene I guess. She actually said 'Mother's know this', but she's not Lisa's mother so I'm not sure how that works. Melvin also spoke to his wayward dad who admits he messed up, and if he doesn't want to be like him, he should fight to get his woman back. Even Georgia feels bad about the whole thing and has a heart to heart with Lisa and gracefully steps aside so love can blossom once again. Will Lisa take Melvin back? Of course she will silly! There's Christmas lights, acoustic guitar, singing, kneeling, begging... all that stuff. Should she take him back? Eh, not for me to say. Just know that love will flourish in London, Peter Jackson will have his casting director, one that will be suffering from morning sickness early and often, with her fiance by her side, and it's all going happen at Christmas. Boxing Day I mean. Whatever that is.
Boxing day is a completely serviceable holiday RomCom, with a handsome hero and a beautiful heroine who look great together and are able to generate some real chemistry between them. However, this is a film that does have a lot extemporaneous stuff in it that doesn't have a lot to do with the actual RomCom itself. Some of it enhances the movie, some of it throws it off the rails. The best parts of the movie are the scenes that focus around the extended family, and as my Lisa has pointed out, family is definitely the order of the day for our slate of 2021 Holiday films. Since director Ameen was drawing from his own experiences for a lot of this movie, there was just a sense of authenticity and joy in the family gathering scenes and it doesn't hurt to have the resplendent Marianne Jean-Baptiste as the ring leader of this colorful crew. Less successful, or more so just unnecessary, is a side story featuring Melvin's younger brother trying to woo a girl, who does not seem to know he exists, that used to date his cousin. That whole story arc had little to do with the actual movie and pretty much just took you out of the movie. Other than the fact Samson Kayo was in this arc playing the cousin, and I don't know if one is allowed to shoot a British anything without Samson Kayo showing up in it, they probably could've left that whole side story on the editing room floor. Nothing changes in the movie without it. There's also a side story featuring Melvin's mom and her white boyfriend she's trying to hide which tackles race issues, and also there's a cultural dynamic pitting British born Jamaicans vs British born Nigerians which was interesting, and these elements were at least plot relevant for the most part. And if I am to believe this movie it would seem that Black Brits aren't too terribly fond of us Black Americans. What the heck did we do to them? We like you guys, obviously, since we let you take all our acting jobs. Dang.
Finally, there was a Letterbox review that said this movie was 'Maximum Hallmark'. Has this cat ever seen a Hallmark Holiday Romantic Movie? Because I have, and is this is so not that. First off, our heroine has a boyfriend in the beginning of the film, and yes her boyfriend is ass, but she will have the same boyfriend at the end of the film. In Hallmarky movies, the woman would get a better man. Nobody shopped for a Christmas tree in this movie and therefore no Christmas tree decoration scene, there were zero mistletoe sightings, nary a flake of snow to build a snowman or a snowball, no near miss kisses, no orphan kids, zero product placement, no Christmas caroling or Christmas songs even, despite the presence of an actual pop star. Ms. Pinnock sang plenty of songs, just no Christmas songs. Lastly, our heroine was pregnant. That means our heroes were having sex, which characters in Hallmarky Holiday movies absolutely never have, because they don't actually kiss until the end of the movie. And these two had to have been having a LOT of sex because I assume a career focused, driven businesswoman is on some kind of birth control and those two managed to override that. So not a Hallmark movie. Stay in your lane bro. Anyway, good movie.
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