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Gone are the days of It’s A Wonderful Life! and Miracle on 34th Street – it’s a given that modern Christmas movies are unironically bad, and the new Netflix film A Merry Little Ex-mas is no exception.
This sounds like a dig, but I don’t really mean it as one. Sure, I’d prefer to spend my time watching the best movies creators have to offer, but Christmas films in the 2000s play by their own rules. We’re almost willing them to be awful, totally zoning out and thinking about absolutely nothing while we binge them in the cold winter months.
A Merry Little Ex-mas has nuggets of gold amid its seasonal rubbish
First, let’s set the scene. Kate (Silverstone) and Everett (Hudson) are getting divorced simply because they seem fatigued by each other. While the entire town knows about it, each is keeping a secret: Everett is dating someone new (Jameela Jamil), while Kate plans to move away to Boston after their youngest goes off to college.
Kate wants the family to have one last Christmas as a unit, adhering to all the traditions they’ve made over the years. As their secrets spill out, however, a normal Christmas is the last thing that Kate and Everett have, and it’s incredibly clear that their feelings for each other haven’t gone away either.
From my brief synopsis, you can probably work out exactly how A Merry Little Ex-mas ends, and I can basically guarantee that you are correct. This is one of the many problems the new movie has, if we’re really scrutinizing it.
Not only can we see the conclusion coming with our eyes closed, but the overarching storyline and B-plots are all too ridiculous to believe. As an act of rebellion to try and make Everett jealous, Kate immediately dates a young guy called Chet (Pierson Fodé), who is the most stereotypical American muscle man you’ve ever seen.
The fact this chiseled dude just happens to be working at every business in town and on board with Kate’s jealousy plan is as unbelievable as the fact Tess (Jamil) moved her luxurious life to suburban American for a man she’s only know for just four weeks.
Every decision everybody makes is a questionable one, including the team’s collective decision to make Harry Potter great again (you’ll see what I mean, but really? In 2025?) There’s nothing believable enough to sink your teeth into, you just have to go off of pure whimsy.
Our cast are putting in solid performances, but there’s nothing remarkable. You’d think putting grown-up Cher Horowitz from Clueless and Sabrina the Teenage Witch (Melissa Joan Hart) in a film together as BFFs would be a slam dunk, but Joan Hart isn’t included as much as she could be.
But that doesn’t mean everything in A Merry Little Ex-mas should be written off. If you’re a Hallmark fan, or live to consume rubbish, the new Netflix movie is literally made for you.
Every frame looks like the quintessential American holiday you want to immerse yourself in, both picture-perfect and wholesome at every turn. Add a level of ‘hamming’ to proceedings (by which I mean everything that happens borders on being camp) and you’ve the perfect cocktail of Sunday viewing.
There’s also an incredible amount of representation that isn’t made into an unnecessarily big deal. Kate has two dads, who own the local hardware store and are responsible for the biggest amount of laughs in this otherwise humorless film.
They shower her in nothing but love, and it’s clear they’ve been an integral part of the grandchildren’s childhoods too. It’s a beautiful relationship to watch, and a timely reminder of how the 2020s blended family can be easily included onscreen.
My star of the show? Jameela Jamil. She’s been so busy being brilliantly herself (her Substack is must-subscribe reading), that I think we’ve forgotten just how brilliant of an actress she is. Tess is the antithesis of who she really is, but you’d never be able to tell if you didn’t know her. I’m aware that’s how acting works, but you get my point.
Will I be rushing to press play on A Merry Little Ex-mas again? No, and I doubt I ever will. Was it a nice, mind-numbing way to spend a Sunday evening curled up in bed? You bet.
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jasmine.valentine@futurenet.com (Jasmine Valentine)
