Christmas movies are often terrible…but if you’re in the mood for junk, is that a bad thing? Here’s Jenna Guillaume’s guide to trashy yuletide rom-coms on Netflix.
What would Christmas be without some cheesy rom-coms to escape into? They’re the kind of movie where no one really acts like a real person, there’s an abundance of red and green and oh-so-many pine trees, and even the grinchiest character can find love and the Christmas spirit in under 90 minutes. Sure, they’re often terrible—but that’s all part of the charm.
Netflix has a whole bunch of the season’s shiniest treasures to stream, which means it can be hard to decide which ones are most worth your valuable holiday time. So here are five that should be at the top of your “nice” list…
Christmas With You
Watch on NetflixOne of the best things about Christmas rom-coms if you’re particularly nostalgic (and who amongst us is not?) is seeing stars of the 1990s and 2000s pop up in leading roles once again. In Christmas With You, former teen heartthrob Freddie Prinze Jr plays the dad of a teen, and if you can get past the feeling of your bones crumbling into dust, it’s fun to see him in a romance again.
He plays a widow named Miguel, whose daughter Cristina (Deja Monique Cruz) is obsessed with pop superstar Angelina (Aimee Garcia) and whose Christmas wish comes true when Angelina pays her and her family a visit. Angelina, meanwhile, has writer’s block and needs to create a Christmas hit to revive her career. She finds inspiration (and of course so much more) in Cristina’s town—and especially in her father, Miguel. The charisma of the two leads lends charm and a surprising amount of genuine heart to this celeb-meets-normie story. It’s the kind of Christmas rom-com to leave you with warm fuzzies.
Single All The Way
Watch on NetflixMichael Urie plays Peter, who finds out his boyfriend is actually secretly married to a woman right before he goes home for Christmas. In a desperate attempt to not appear sad and lonely to his family, he convinces his best friend Nick (Philemon Chambers) to come with him and pretend to be his boyfriend—but before they can announce their “relationship”, Peter’s mum (Kathy Najimy) sets him up with hot spin instructor James (Luke MacFarlane). Which sounds like the answer to all his problems, except it just creates more, thanks to the feelings Nick confesses for him.
The plot is a little more convoluted than it needs to be, but that’s not a dealbreaker. Christmas rom-coms have long been overwhelmingly white and straight, so it’s great to see more diversity here. And while Michael Urie has better chemistry with the man his character doesn’t end up with than the one he does, there’s still plenty to enjoy. Most especially the appearance of Jennifer Coolidge as Peter’s aunt Sandy, bringing her trademark delivery to some zingy one-liners.
The Knight Before Christmas
Watch on NetflixVanessa Hudgens has turned herself into the queen of Netflix holiday rom-coms in the past few years, mainly through her The Princess Switch series (more on that in a sec), but her standalone The Knight Before Christmas is a lot of fun, too. It’s about an English knight from the 1300s (Josh Whitehouse), preposterously named Sir Cole, who is magically whisked to modern day America, where he meets Vanessa Hudgens’ high school teacher Brooke.
The Knight Before Christmas is absolutely ridiculous and makes zero sense, which is just as things should be for this kind of movie. It helps that Sir Cole has that adorable himbo fish-out-of-water thing going for him, and there are some genuinely funny moments.
The Princess Switch
Watch on NetflixVanessa Hudgens leads the way again, this time in not one but two roles—as Stacy, an ordinary baker from Chicago, and Lady Margaret Delacourt, the Duchess of fictional European country Montenaro, where everyone apparently speaks in a British accent. When Stacy lands a spot in a prestigious baking competition in another fictional European country where everyone speaks in a British accent—Belgravia—she crosses paths with Lady Margaret, who is engaged to the prince of Belgravia.
In a classic Prince and the Pauper switcheroo, the two trade places, and soon find themselves falling for the men in each other’s lives: Margaret for Stacy’s assistant and best friend Kevin (Nick Sagar), and Stacy for the Belgravian prince himself, Edward (Sam Palladio).
The Princess Switch by its very nature offers twice the tropes and double the romance, plus a whole lot of holiday hijinks. Vanessa Hudgen seems to be having the best time in her dual roles, and her romantic interests have more charisma than the average holiday rom-com heroes. Plus, if you can’t get enough of this movie, there are two sequels (with an increasing number of Vanessa Hudgens characters) that follow it. While the original is the strongest, they’re all a pretty fun ride.
Christmas Inheritance
Watch on NetflixEliza Henry stars as Ellen Langford, a driftless heiress whose father sends her incognito to his hometown in order to learn how to be a real, down-to-earth person and get some Christmas spirit to boot. Who better to teach her than a flannel-wearing regular Joe named Jake (Jake Lacy), who runs the local inn? Of course they hate each other at first, but as anyone who has watched even one of these movies knows, that’s just one step away from loving each other!
This was one of the first holiday rom-coms Netflix offered, and as a result there’s a freshness to it even as it treads over well-worn tropes. Eliza Henry is likable and funny as Ellen, and her connection with Jake Lacy’s character, er, Jake, is enough to keep the romance afloat. Andie MacDowell is a welcome sight as Jake’s mother, Debbie. In the realm of Christmas romances, Christmas Inheritance remains one of Netflix’s best.
