Three Christmas films to watch this festive season

Now I know that many of us love the festive favourites like Home Alone, The Grinch and Elf, whilst others prefer the Christmas rom-coms like The Holiday and Love Actually. There’s so many amazing ones to pick from that we revisit year after year. I’m a serial rewatcher when it comes to films and TV series’; I don’t know what it is but I just enjoy rewatching the things I already know and love. Once in a while though, I feel a little adventurous or something piques my interest and I try something new. it doesn’t happen often and sometimes it really isn’t worth it but these past few years I have really hit the jackpot with a few new Christmas films and I wanted to share them with you lovely lot.

Happiest Season

Happiest Season directed by Clea Duvall has quite honestly become one of my favourite Christmas films. It is based around a lesbian couple Abby and Harper who are played by Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis. Abby plans to propose to Harper at Christmas surrounded by Harpers family however, Harper hasn’t come out to her conservative parents and as far as they know Abby is her roommate. This definitely falls into the rom-com genre and is so great. It’s got some hilarious moments, a lot of which are with the iconic Dan Levy who also stars in the film. This is such a heartfelt and festive film, and the casting is impeccable if you ask me.

I will say it can seem a bit of a slow burner for some, I know my boyfriend found this when I made him watch it but I think that’s why I love it. I love the more mellow films that aren’t too in your face and are more so about the plot line and the characters. I know my boyfriend didn’t personally love how the film ended, a thing I’ve also noticed in some reviews however I loved it. These characters are flawed as are we as humans and I thought that was a really beautiful element to the plot. Each character has their own thing going on and as the story unravels you come to notice that everyone has their own shortcomings, no one is perfect. I also absolutely love the plot line in relation to the LGBT community and in many ways it felt like a pioneer movie – I’d highly recommend it.

Holidate

Another rom-com, this Netflix original stars Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey as two strangers who by a chance meet after their own terrible Christmases decide to become one another’s ‘holidates’ (dates for all holidays) in a bid to save themselves from the disastrous dates and failed set-ups orchestrated by family members. As time passes their platonic friendship dissolves and they soon catch real feelings for one another. Filled with hilarious moments, this is such a feel-good film. While it is set beginning and ending at Christmastime, because of the nature of the plotline going through a year of holidays you could watch it any time of the year (or at least that’s what I tell myself) but it does have a very festive, warm vibe about it. Much like Happiest Season, it also has little side plots with the other characters which just adds to the depth to the story. This is a great addition to anyones festive film list.

Picture a Perfect Christmas

This little gem was such a happy mistake. I found it through the Christmas movie channels whilst writing my Christmas cards last year and just got sucked into the storyline. A photographer finds herself back home for Christmas caring for her injured grandmother when she meets and gets involved with her grandmothers neighbour David, who is having a tough time balancing his business and being custodian to his nephew Troy. This is a hallmark movie so naturally it’s such a warm and fuzzy film. The plot is good, the writing could’ve been better but I do love the storyline, settings and casting which make the film perfect for me. I recently introduced my mother to this film and she loved it; she also kept pointing out how beautiful Merritt Patterson is (totally agree – she’s gorgeous!). The only slight issue with this is it’s a little harder to find. I found it, and have only found it since, on the Christmas movie channel alone. I think amazon sell a dvd of it but as of now it is not available on any streaming networks that I know of in the UK. I should say this film is also based off a book called A Family Under the Christmas Tree by Terri Reed. I’ve read some reviews that say the book is better which made me have to buy it. I haven’t started it as of yet but I want to in the next few days so stay tuned!

Some more recent Christmas films I’ve watched and loved lately include A Castle for Christmas and Single All the Way on Netflix – honestly, what an a great film! But I won’t go into those in depth here too. Those are just three of my favourite, more so underrated festive film picks; I’d love to know yours.

Cheerio for now!