Michael's Movie Grade: A-
A modern-day Christmas classic.
In this film, a recently sober ex-improv comedian is unhappy with trying to live a normal life, as his fiancée insists, he doesn't do stand-up anymore. On Christmas Eve he ends up chipping his tooth and spending an amazing day with his pretty dentist that causes him to rethink many things.
This movie has a lowkey charm that I completely fell for. Rather than moving directly from plot point to plot point this story unfolds at a leisurely pace. It lets us spend time with and get to know these characters. As the film continues, we enjoy simply spending time with these characters more and more. It almost feels like spending Christmas with good friends. While these characters are far from perfect, they are real and human. We see much of ourselves in them and therefore connect with them on a real level. This is of course helped by the sheer charm of Michael Strassner and Liz Larsen in the lead roles and the real chemistry between them. Because of this when the emotional moments occur, they are incredibly effective.
As well as just being charming this movie is often laugh out loud funny. The over the top but still somewhat grounded situations these characters get themselves into provides some great laughs. The dialogue is also often quite witty and funny.
Christmas may at first seem like a simple backdrop for this story, but this movie wouldn't be anywhere near as effective if it took place any other time of year. The Christmas imagery as well as the Charlie Brown Christmas inspired soundtrack add a lot to this film's relaxed charm.
A must see.
P.S. I don't know why they released a Christmas movie in late September.
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