Meet Me Next Christmas (dir. Rusty Cundieff)
By: Adam Freed
Chicago’s O’Hare Airport enjoys the distinction of being one of America’s busiest travel hubs, in addition to acting as guillotine to the occasional holiday plan. Stranded by the frozen indifference of a midwestern winter, New Yorker Layla spends Christmas alone, yet intrigued, by fellow wayward traveler James. As their flight paths eventually clear, the two strangers test their potential connection by making a pact to reunite at the holiday concert of a mutually beloved pop vocal group the following Christmas Eve. Netflix holiday romance films have become the de facto home of complicated solutions to simple problems, and to an extent, that is certainly the case for director Rusty Cundieff’s syrupy and satisfying Meet Me Next Christmas. Christina Milian plays romantic heroine Layla with an inviting warmth and playful innocence that makes rooting for the multi talented performer as comforting as slipping on a new pair of winter slippers.
Despite the carefully crafted allure of its star, and its inviting facade, Meet Me Next Christmas comes with a few contrivances that risk its relegation to the naughty list. Confoundingly the film is centered around Layla reuniting with James at a Pentatonix concert, tickets to which are miraculously sold out across all secondary market platforms. Even for a light fictional romance, marketplace fervor for a Pentatonix holiday concert rivaling Eras Tour demand is laughable. Yet the more outlandish Cundieff’s film grows, the deeper into its holiday grasp audiences will find themselves. Meet Me Next Christmas is marshmallows on hot cocoa sweet and mistletoe romantic, making it exactly what those who stream it on Netflix have come to expect.
Target Score 7/10 Christmas Cookies: Meet Me Next Christmas doesn’t disappoint as it sings all of the right notes in delivering a conventional and cute holiday romance. The Netflix film is the great beneficially of tempered expectations and as such, doesn’t shy away from its campier moments.
Meet Me Next Christmas is included in Movie Archer’s bite sized coverage of Holiday Streamer Month!