Christmas With You
Reviewed by Lisa Sue
Well, while Chris has the Universe picking his movie, next up for me that has passed my intense vetting process is Freddie Prince Jr and Christmas With You! We know Freddie has plenty of rom-com experience, albeit nothing this decade(s). And his co lead is the lovely Aimee Garcia, who was just the sister in last year’s Holiday in Santa Fe, so we are excited she made it to above the title. The set up? Aimee plays Angelina, a singer facing the ever marching presence of time... younger singers with more tik tok views who threaten to make her irrelevant. But if she can come up with a new Christmas song, her manager Billions Barry promises her she will stay current. The problem for Angelina? She hasn’t been the same since her mom passed at Christmas time a few years ago, hence she really doesn’t have the Ho Ho Ho Jolly Spirit. The tipping point for her is that she gets cut out of a fashion cover spread, leading her to run away hoping this mess will all sort itself out. Enter Christina, who’s like Angelina’s biggest fan. She posts that all she wants for her Christmas and Birthday wish (poor girl’s birthday is right before Christmas) is to meet Angelina. What moves Angelina is partially the incredible cover Christina did of Angelina’s song, and also Angelina desperately needs her fans now as she’s spiraling. Her perfectly crafted image is designed to maximize the business for herself, and she seems to desperately need external validation. For Angelina, her life and music all just part of the arrangement as she gives her life to the brand and in return she gets the adoration.
How does a famous pop singer go about finding a teenage fan? Thanks to geo-tagging and the wonders of the internet, it was surprisingly simple to just drop in at Christina’s school. We question the high school’s security measures this day in age, as mega pop star Angelina simply roams the halls on her way to the principal’s office, to which both Christina and her Dad are called to the principals’ office over the PA system, leaving them wondering what the other must have done. Turns out Dad Miguel is the music teacher at the school. After the meet and greet at the principal’s office, the weather intervenes. The snow is too heavy for Christina and her bestie manager Monique to make the drive back to NYC, so they are invited to stay for dinner with Christina and her Dad, and they will also be spending the night, all because of the miracle of the heavy snow.
It’s at home we get to hear Christina and Angelina swap dead mom stories and begin the bonding process. And instead of say Angelina stealing a song from the music teacher Dad, she actually is refreshingly honest. She sees his song on the piano, and proposes a full on collaboration with credit and royalties, the works. She doesn’t lie or withhold like so many other movies have done, and she tells him how desperately she needs this. She lets Miguel know that if she doesn’t come up with a new Christmas song, her label will drop her and she will be a has been. Angelina and Miguel get into a song writing flow that Christina doesn’t want to interrupt. This song is her last shot and she isn’t about to stop because Dad and Christina have some Quinceañera rehearsal. So along she goes with the Torres family to the rehearsal, where she helps the kids with their dance moves while simultaneously working on the song. At this point, her fancy haute couture outfit in sub freezing weather is about to be exchanged for…ugly Christmas sweaters! And shout out to Monique, who while she thinks a house call to a fan is crazy, sticks it out as she sees what’s blossoming between Angelina and Miguel.
Most of the song is there, they’re just missing the hook. So to bring on the inspiration, they go to a park, complete with Christmas trees, lights, everything but the caroling. And as far as memory goes, no hot cocoa. Way to buck the trend Netflix, but we prefer if you stick it to the formula! But Christmas pop music was definitely overlaid in the movie, since this is a movie about a pop star after all. There was a mention of Mariah, but again no one can afford her going rates to get her song into their Christmas movie. Just once people I’d like to hear All I want for Christmas in one of these Hallmarky Christmas movies. I know I mention this every year, and I will continue to do so until my Christmas wish comes true. All I want for Christmas should not just be reserved for the likes of Love Actually. We’d like to point out that even Mariah’s own Hallmark Christmas movie excluded her song! As the near kiss approaches in the snow covered park, Angelina is struck with inspiration, she knows what the hook should be. It’s a Christmas miracle! The song is complete with not a second to spare.
Enter now her Ex, Ricky, who according to all the socials they are still together but it’s only pretend because them being together is good for the brand. Told you, Angelina’s whole life is choreographed to further the business. Ricky shows up at the Torres house, again thanks to the internet for making nothing private anymore, And he takes Angelina back to the city where Barry and company have been waiting for the new Christmas song. The song gets its debut at the big gala that Ricky and Angelina host for what we presume are underprivileged..children? Not many details on the gala mission, I guess it wasn’t important enough. Miguel and Christina are VIP guests, who arrive by driver for a red carpet walk and dazzling makeover. We learn that despite all the years of performing, Angelina still gets a thrill out of it. We appreciate that the business hasn’t jaded her from enjoying what she does best. She then surprises Miguel, who gets a full intro as a collaborator of the song, by bringing him up on stage to accompany her on the piano. The duo and the song are a hit; you can feel the electricity in the air. So now it’s time for the problems to break up the happy times. Based on the success of her performance at the gala, Angelina books a SNL musical guest gig (bumping the singer who bumped her from the fashion cover, what a rough biz) She wants to celebrate with Miguel, and asks him to her pianist for the SNL gig.
EXCEPT, Miguel already has big plans for Saturday; that would be the same day as Christina’s Quinceañera, and to go to SNL as just her pianist? You can see that this hurts him as he didn’t do all of this just for the song. Miguel can admit he did it for Angelina, the question he poses to Ang “was this all just about the song?” And in the spirit of putting the business first, she lies and tells Miguel yes it was only about the song. The thing is Miguel knows she’s lying, because that’s how tight they’ve gotten in the 5-7 days they’ve since met. Christina feels like it’s all her fault, she knows her dad is sad and feels like she should have never posted that Angelina cover video. She should rest easy in knowing that of all the people who are at fault, Christina seems pretty blameless. And Miguel puts the best spin on thing. While he did get his heart broken he also got to go to a swanky gala, perform on stage live with Angelina, and has a bonafide hit on his hands. We assume the impending royalties coming his way will do a lot to brighten his mood.
Anyways, as Angelina is prepping for her SNL gig, she sees the same singer, Cheri, who took her fashion cover and who’s SNL gig Angelina just swiped. Had there been an extended version or directors cut I’d like to see more of this rivalry. As Angelina said, the business shouldn’t be this cut throat, there should be room enough for both of them, and the changing from old guard to new shouldn’t mean the end. But these existential questions aren’t what we’re here for, we’re here so Angelina can get a man, and to that end Ang skips out on the career boosting SNL gig, giving it back to Cheri (who conveniently was already on set, so props to her) and she rushes to some place in Jersey to be at Christina’s Quinceañera. And boy does Ang make an entrance, I mean its Christina’s party but her intro is nothing compared to the big dance number (and back up dancers) that come with Angelina. Because Angelina finally listened to her own lyrics, home is where the heart is. She and Miguel don’t necessarily have a plan, but they will figure it out. Together. Cue to Christmas tableau with all of them wearing the same flannel shirt (no ugly sweater for this finale) and play us out with the hit song that is the driving plot of this movie Christmas Without You (the irony of the song title with the movie title is not lost on this viewer) Regarding the song itself, it is kinda catchy and the earworm does stick with you, perhaps longer than it should.
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