Best Christmas Ever Review: Directed by Mary Lambert and written by Todd Calgi Gallicano and Charles Shyer. The movie features Heather Graham as Charlotte Sanders, Brandy Norwood as Jackie Jennings, Jason Biggs as Rob Sanders, Matt Cedeño as Valentino, Wyatt Hunt as Grant Sanders, Abby Villasmil as Dora Sanders, Madison Skye Validum as Beatrix Jennings, and other notable cast members. The film has a runtime of 81 minutes.
Watch The Best Christmas Ever Trailer Below
-Best Christmas Ever Review Contains no Spoilers-
Netflix Best Christmas Ever Plot
The plot of the story revolves around two friends, Jackie Jennings and Charlotte Sanders. Jackie’s life seems too perfect, as she describes in her Christmas newsletter. On the other hand, Charlotte is jealous of her friend, believing that nobody’s life can be this flawless. One day, while Charlotte and her family were travelling to visit her sister, her son accidentally changed the GPS address to Jackie’s house, leading them to stay there until Christmas. This incident prompts Charlotte to delve into Jackie’s life to find proof that it’s not as perfect as it seems.
Best Christmas Ever Review
The movie began by showcasing Jackie Jennings and her seemingly flawless life – her successful career, her loving family, and an overall aura of perfection. On the flip side, her school friend, Charlotte Sanders, faced immense challenges in her life, portraying a stark contrast. Charlotte, upon receiving Jackie’s Christmas newsletter, candidly expresses her disbelief in Jackie’s apparent perfection, accusing it of being a fabrication.
The film, however, missed exploring the central conflict within their friendship. When Charlotte enters Jackie’s life, it quickly devolves into a mix of envy and jealousy, especially since Charlotte’s husband had a past relationship with Jackie during their school days. This jealousy consumes a significant portion of the movie, revolving around suspicions of continued contact between Charlotte’s husband and Jackie until that plotline is resolved.
Certain character portrayals were irksome; for instance, Jackie’s precocious daughter seemed unrealistically intelligent for her age, creating a sense of discord in the story. The chemistry between the main characters felt not just absent but entirely lacking, leaving the audience disconnected and unsure why they were watching.
The movie juggled multiple plots that felt disjointed. For instance, Charlotte learns about an issue with a company and contemplates returning to resolve it, but the storyline abruptly shifts without closure, leaving the audience bewildered. This erratic storytelling risks alienating viewers from fully engaging with the narrative. The main conflict advertised in the trailer resolves surprisingly early in the movie, leaving the rest of the story to cover shorter snippets of their lives. Despite attempts to evoke a Christmas ambience with winter settings and festive decor, the essence of the holiday seemed superficially integrated.
The cinematography in Best Christmas Ever did add a layer of visual charm to the narrative, skilfully capturing the contrasting lives of Jackie Jennings and Charlotte Sanders. Through artful framing and contrasting visual tones, the film conveys the stark differences between their worlds, emphasising Jackie’s polished, seemingly perfect life against Charlotte’s challenges. The use of warm, inviting Christmas settings contrasted with moments of tension, effectively highlighting the underlying conflicts within their friendship. However, despite its visual finesse, the cinematography couldn’t entirely salvage the disjointed storytelling and disconnected character dynamics that hindered the movie’s overall impact.
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The story about Jackie’s son was something I liked, but apart from that, there was nothing else cohesive. I didn’t find much else to enjoy about the movie. There are plenty of other great Christmas-related films that surpass this one, so it didn’t quite hit the mark for me. While Best Christmas Ever could have signalled Netflix’s festive movie season, it struggles to capitalise on its potential. The film lacks coherence, failing to live up to the promising premise hinted at initially.
Best Christmas Ever Review: Final Thoughts
Best Christmas Ever strives to capture the essence of contrasting lives during the holiday season but falls short in its execution. While the cinematography skilfully contrasts the worlds of Jackie Jennings and Charlotte Sanders, highlighting their divergent realities, the film struggles with disjointed storytelling and disconnected character dynamics. The central conflict within their friendship remains underexplored, overshadowed by unresolved tensions and abrupt shifts in plotlines.
Despite glimpses of visual charm and occasional moments that resonate, such as the storyline involving Jackie’s son, the movie fails to sustain a cohesive narrative or evoke the true spirit of Christmas. Ultimately, while it had the potential to be a standout festive film, Best Christmas Ever misses the mark and leaves much to be desired, especially in comparison to other more engaging holiday-themed movies.
The movie is now streaming on Netflix.
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