Best Christmas Party Ever

Did you guys know that parties can change your life? And that the key to any great party is the element of surprise? Now you do, because this movie told you about a hundred times.

In A Nutshell

Jennie is a New York party planner who works for Petra. The movie starts with Petra announcing that she will retire at the end of the Christmas season and introducing Jennie to her nephew Nick (I was not lying about that Nick statistic).  Nick is an actor who is going to help them for the busy season, except Petra is really grooming him to take over her business, because Family Is Important. Jennie is understandably upset by this, so she and Nick get off on the wrong foot. Jennie is a very Type A Business Lady who likes to throw elegant parties. Nick is fun-loving, but doesn’t even know that there are insurance issues with hosting an indoor pool party.  They plan some parties, and Jennie begins to respect that Nick really listens to their clients and comes up with interesting concepts, while Nick respects that Jennie knows that inflatable palm trees will start to sag mid-party, so they should really get wood cutouts to flank the snack table. They start a thing where they buy each other hot dogs after they get into fights. As a hot dog afficinado, I appreciated this detail.

The biggest party Jennie works on every year is for Terrel’s Toys. This party gives away presents to needy children and serves dinner to the homeless. It’s a big deal for Jennie because she went to this party with her out-of-work father as a child and asked Santa to help her dad find a job. Turns out Santa was Mr. Terrel himself, who offered her father a job a week later. Unfortunately, Mr. Terrel has just sold his business to some sort of corporate conglomerate. This company want to have a frat boy rager with a VIP section instead of helping the homeless. Jennie tries to work with Todd, who is a Business Man at this company (he is not an Important Business Man because he cannot be all that important if his bosses put him in charge of planning the holiday party).  Jennie gets fired, but then she teams up with Nick and Mr. Terrel to put on the charity party anyway.

Are There Obstacles To Their Love/Christmas Spirit??

I appreciate that this movie did not go over the top with the villains. Todd fires Jennie for failing to deliver the party pitch his company wants, but as he says many times, he is just trying to do what his bosses want. He is sorry, and he thinks Jennie is really talented. I mostly just wanted to take Todd aside and explain to him that he should try to get a new job somewhere else, because he seems like an OK guy who is working at a company that is full of terrible people.

Kim is a blonde actress that Nick is dating, but she is pretty nice and takes the time to clue Jennie in that Nick is in love with her. She doesn’t seem to take it personally, and continues to work at the various parties.  Kim seems to really have her stuff together. Maybe she will want to date Todd after he spends some time working on his resume.  SEQUEL?!?!

I know that we lawyers are evil and all, but I’m not really sure why corporate lawyers would spend their time sending a cease and desist letters to a party for charity, which is what happens here. This company is not super great at public relations.

But Do They Find The Meaning of Christmas???

No one is really down on Christmas here, except the corporation who hates charity and good press.

Additional note: Jennie is asked to come up with a Christmas party theme that will blow everyone out of the water and decides to go with Nutcraker Christmas? That must be in the list of top five overplayed Christmas party themes. That being said, does anyone else really, really want to go to a Mele Kalikimaka party now?

But Do They Fall In Love At The End???

Yes, and convincingly so. Nick gets a role in a soap opera and has to fly back to California on Christmas Eve. Jennie gives him a present, which he opens at the airport. It’s a clock radio with a note that says “You once told me you felt like a clock radio, always on. This is a clock radio. You are so much more than a clock radio.”  I’m not sure why he initially chose a clock radio for his metaphor about feeling like he constantly has to be entertaining people, but I thought this was a very cute callback for a girl whose whole job is about attention to detail. As you would expect, Nick went rushing back to the party and had a pretty solid public declaration of love. They kiss. Hooray!

I wasn’t sold on the actress playing Jennie at first (I guess she’s on Chicago Med now?) but I was on board by the end. The actor who plays Nick is adorable and charming, and also was once credited on an episode of Suits as “Attractive Guy.” They are a convincing couple. I was rooting for them. Almost as much as I am now rooting for Todd and Kim.

PS, the party was a hit (oh yeah, Petra decided to ignore the cease and desist letter and not fire Jennie for failing reveal that she lost a major account and then hijacked the party to throw on her own). Todd’s boss demanded to go see the party in person, and then when he got there he blamed not sponsoring the party entirely on Todd. Todd, you don’t have to take this. I can help you find a headhunter.

Is It Worth The Effort It Will Take Me To Fast Forward Through All The Zip Recruiter Ads To Watch This?

I would say yes, as long as you are ok with the fact that this is a movie with pretty low stakes trying to convince you that these parties are Very Important.