As the leaves turn crimson and jack-o’-lanterns give way to twinkling lights, Netflix unveils its annual slate of made-for-streaming holiday fare. Leading the tinsel-draped charge this year is Meet Me Next Christmas, a low-key romantic comedy that aims to charm viewers with its festive spirit and likable leads.
A Comfortingly Familiar Tale
Directed by Rusty Cundieff of Chappelle’s Show fame, Meet Me Next Christmas borrows liberally from classic romcom tropes. The plot cribs elements from both Serendipity and Jingle All the Way, blending a magical, snowy meet-cute with a frantic quest for sold-out concert tickets.
At the heart of this cozy tale is Christina Milian’s Layla, a woman determined to reunite with a handsome stranger (Kofi Siriboe) she met in an airport lounge the previous Christmas. Her only lead? The pair agreed to rendezvous at a Pentatonix concert if they were both still single a year later.
Christina Milian Shines
Milian, a Netflix romcom regular, brings an easy charm to her role as Layla. The actress and singer has been entertaining audiences since her teens, and that experience shows in her confident, engaging performance. She grounds the film’s more far-fetched plot points with relatable warmth.
She’s been an entertainer of some sort since the age of 15 and there’s a safe-hands ease to her performance here, securing us on side early on.
According to a film critic
Ticket to Romance
Layla’s frenzied hunt for the elusive Pentatonix tickets leads her to enlist the aid of a concierge company. Enter Devale Ellis as her handsome helper, sparking an engaging odd-couple dynamic as they scour New York for the coveted passes.
Ellis, a former NFL player, proves a charismatic foil for Milian. Their chemistry enlivens even the film’s more predictable beats, making the journey as enjoyable as the inevitable destination.
Embracing the Hallmark Aesthetic
Like many of Netflix’s holiday offerings, Meet Me Next Christmas embraces the low-budget charm of a Hallmark Channel movie. The film’s version of New York is a thinly veiled Toronto, but the visible corner-cutting feels more endearing than distracting in this context.
These films are, after all, modelled on Hallmark’s micro-budget range (you can almost feel a few fade-to-blacks for commercial breaks).
Notes a reviewer
Director Cundieff keeps things light and briskly paced, while the script by Molly Haldeman and Camilla Rubis avoids being overly saccharine. The result is a film that’s comfortingly formulaic without feeling insulting.
A Pentatonix Drinking Game
One quirk of Meet Me Next Christmas is its near-obsessive focus on a cappella group Pentatonix. The band’s name is uttered so frequently, it could fuel a dangerous drinking game (“a shot of eggnog every time someone says Pentatonix will kill you before Christmas”).
While the film sometimes feels more like a feature-length Pentatonix ad than a romcom, it’s a forgivable oddity. After all, this is a world where grown adults would move heaven and earth to attend a Pentatonix show, logic be damned.
The Verdict
Meet Me Next Christmas won’t be remembered as a genre-defying classic. It is, however, a perfectly serviceable entry in Netflix’s ever-expanding library of holiday comfort viewing. Anchored by Milian’s effortless charm, it’s a film that understands its purpose and delivers on its modest ambitions.
It exists in Netflix festive movie world, an ever-expanding place of ever-diminishing returns, and while this won’t be a film someone would consider returning to next Christmas, it’ll just about do for now.
Sums up one reviewer
So grab a mug of hot cocoa, cozy up under a blanket, and let Meet Me Next Christmas wash over you like a gentle snowfall. It may not be a masterpiece, but it’s a perfectly pleasant way to kick off the holiday streaming season.
