I watched them so you don’t have to.
I’m going to start this post with a little warning – if you don’t like Christmas films, or cheesy films, then none of these films will be for you. Cheesy Christmas films are a bit like Marmite, you either love them or hate them, and if you’re more a Grinch than Cindy Lou, then perhaps click off this post as you may watch one of these films and demand two hours of your life back.
But if you do LOVE a good old Christmas film which is cheesier than a block of Extra Mature Cathedral City Cheddar, then you are going to be obsessed with some of these films that I’m about to talk about.
It seems that Netflix have cottoned on to the fact that tv Christmas films are becoming very popular. They’ve always been a big thing on channels like Lifetime and Hallmark in the US, and Christmas 24 here in the UK. But it seems that they are making their way to more mainstream channels, Channel 5 is full of cheese in the afternoon and Netflix are bringing out more of their own Christmas films each year.
This year, they have treated us with a whole bevy of terrible Christmas films for us to watch.
Because that’s the thing with these films, no one is under any illusion- they are terrible, but that’s why we love them so much.
Yes they all have the same storyline, yes the acting is always questionable, and yes they all seem to feature either a made up town in America or a fictional snowy country in Europe.
But they require no thinking, and are nice films to watch on a cold December afternoon/evening.
They won’t win any Oscars, and yes you’ll know what exactly is going to happen within three minutes of the opening credits, but that’s the great thing about these films.
So this year, what are the ones to watch on Netflix?
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The Princess Switch
Featuring a real life 00’s princess Vanessa Hudgens (come on who didn’t adore her in the late 00’s?) The Princess Switch was a film that I was very excited about. It features a very similar storyline to A Parent Trap, but the two characters are potentially long-lost third cousins or something ridiculous like that. It features a terrible British accent (sorry Vanessa) a very predictable storyline, and a made up snowy country, but I ruddy loved it.
It was quite sweet, and I loved the aesthetics, there was a lot of pastel colours, and there was even a Bake Off style competition that made me think that Paul Hollywood was about to pop up.
It’s definitely up there in the ridiculous story line stakes, and I’ll never understand how in these films the characters fall in love within two days. TWO DAYS! But there we go.
I actually really enjoyed it though, and would watch it again. It did leave me with some questions about how their lives ended up afterwards, but then that’s just me doing what I do best- overthinking. But I did enjoy it and it’s one of the better TV Christmas films that I’ve watched.
Rating : 8/10
Cheese Rating : 7/10
2. A Christmas Prince & A Christmas Prince : Royal Wedding
The first film was a bit of a cult hit last Christmas on Netflix and a sequel was made for this year, which I was very excited about. Henry and I watched this, as we were excited to see Rose McIver (aka Liv Moore from iZombie) as the main character. It features many of the standard Christmas film story lines ; a royal family, a fictional snowy European country and a very predictable romance.
The second film made me and Henry laugh out loud at the ridiculous ness, but it’s still a good watch. I’d like to think that Meghan and Harry went through many of the same problems whilst planning their wedding earlier this year.
Watch the both of them, and laugh at the savageness of Princess Emily’s comebacks in the 2nd film.
Rating : 8/10
Cheese Rating : 9/10
3. The Holiday Calendar
This is a new addition to Netflix this year, and it’s based around a magic advent calendar (I know) but despite the pretty ridic storyline, this was one of the lesser cheesy films that I’ve watched this Christmas season.
The acting wasn’t awful, and although the storyline was a bit iffy at times, it was quite a cute watch. I did find myself getting a little bored in the middle but then it did pick up again.
It focuses on a photographer and her magic advent calendar which she thinks is giving her clues to a new romance, however there’s a bit of a plot twist as the signs are actually leading her in a different direction to what she thought.
Like I said, it’s quite a cute film and an easy watch. I didn’t really believe in the chemistry between the best friend and Abby (the main character) and it was quite late on in the film that I was like ‘ohhhh that’s where this is heading’ but the rest of it is nice, and everyone likes a happy ending right?
Rating : 7.5/10
Cheese Rating : 6/10
4. Christmas Inheritance
I think this was added to Netflix last year, but I didn’t get round to watching it. However, I think this is one of my new faves as I really enjoyed this film.
It centres around a spoilt heiress whose Dad sends her on a bit of a mission to bring her back to reality. In a fictional snowy town, she discovers what’s important in life (dramatic music) and thinks about her ways.
It features 90’s film royalty Andie McDowell (who I’ll never forgive for that awful line in Four Weddings & A Funeral) and I will never understand how in these films, characters can be with their partners for YEARS but within DAYS have fallen for someone else.
I would hate to be in a relationship with a character from one of these films, they’re so fickle!
Anyways, it’s a nice watch, it made me feel a bit fuzzy and teary at the end but I think that might have been because I’d just come on my period.
But what I’m saying is it’s a good one to watch on a cold evening, or afternoon snuggled up under a blanket.
Rating : 9/10
Cheese Rating : 7/10
The Awful :
So I watch a lot of these Christmas films, and it takes a lot for me to call one actually terrible, but I have one that is so bad that I recommend you don’t waste 1 hour and 26 minutes of your life watching it like I did.
The Christmas Wedding Planner
This has all the premises to be a great shit Christmas film, a Christmas wedding, a snowy town, a shady fiance and only bloody Lily Van De Woodsen is in it! But this was terrible.
From the first minute, I felt like I was watching someone’s GSCE drama video, the acting was awful, it was like they just grabbed someone from the street, there was weird background music, that made the whole thing seem laughable, and the storyline was just weird.
I’m going to tell you it, cause I won’t ruin it as you shouldn’t watch this, but it’s about a girl starting a wedding planning business, her first job is planning her cousin’s wedding. However, during the planning she discovers her cousins ex is a Private investigator, who is investigating the husband to be. She helps the PI as she suspect the future husband is shady too and it all gets very confusing. It also features Joey from N*Sync (whoooooo)
It ends up that the husband to be IS shady, and there’s a dramatic wedding showdown, it ends with the PI and the main character Kelsey hijacking the wedding and getting married themselves.
THEY BARELY KNOW EACH OTHER?
THAT’S YOUR COUSIN’S (WHO YOU KEEP SAYING IS MORE LIKE YOUR SISTER) EX.
YOUR SISTER AKA COUSIN HAS JUST DUMPED HER HUSBAND TO BE AT THE ALTER. AND YOU’VE JUST TAKEN OVER HER WEDDING?
Seriously weird.
I almost gave up with this but wanted to see it out to the end, and yeah don’t waste your time, this one is truly terrible.
Rating : 1/10
Cheese Rating : 11/10
Okay so that’s it for now, I know that I have a few more cheesy Christmas films to watch, so I will watch them and report back if any of those are worth a watch.
And if you’re just looking for a classic Christmas film, I’d recommend :
Love Actually
The Holiday
Elf
Home Alone 1 & 2
The Santa Clause
Arthur Christmas
The Grinch Who Stole Christmas
Have you watched any of the cheesy Christmas films? Which one is your fave?
