“Last Christmas” is predictable but with a twist

Courtesy+of+Universal+Studios

Courtesy of Universal Studios

By Sarahi Barcenas

Every year there seems to be a new Christmas movie coming out hoping to be a holiday classic, and this year “Last Christmas” seems to be no exception.

“Last Christmas,” the eighth movie of director Paul Feig, is labeled as a romantic comedy that stars Emilia Clarke from “Game of Thrones” and Henry Golding from “Crazy Rich Asians.”

The film starts off with a flashback of the main character Kate, played by Clarke, singing in a choir in Yugoslavia in 1999. After the scene, it goes back to 2017 when she is in her 20s and jumps from couch to couch hoping to find a place to stay. Kate is a struggling actress and hopes to land a job to be able to support herself; ever since she had a heart transplant she has not been able to be happy with herself. 

As she tries to find a place to stay, she works as an elf in a Christmas shop for an old lady and while working she encounters Tom, played by Golding. Throughout the movie, they build a relationship with each other but it is awkwardly placed in the movie. He does not have a phone so whenever they see each other it would be by coincidence. 

Whenever there was nothing exciting happening, Tom would randomly show up which makes the movie unrealistic. As charming as their relationship was, it was cheezy and predictable. 

Though “Last Christmas” was labeled as a romantic comedy, it lacked both as it seemed too forced. There were multiple times in the film when there were jokes made that were out of place and simply not funny. Also, the relationship between Tom and Kate seemed stereotypical. The plot was also hard to follow. (There was not much of it either.)

But despite the storyline being a mess, both actors did an amazing job embodying their characters, making the film much better. Clarke perfected the role of an energetic goof-ball despite her playing someone completely different in her main role on “Game of Thrones.” 

The ending was the showstopper and made the film worth paying for because it was something different than what I would have imagined. Many critics are saying that it was predictable from watching the trailer, but I did not think so. 

“Last Christmas” is a stereotypical love movie with a twist at the end, but it will not be a holiday classic.