Giant Pictures
There’s a classic sort of TV episode type called a ‘bottle episode’ (Community had the best version of this) where everyone is in the same place the whole episode to save on location costs. The trick is to maximize the story potential if you’re limited in where you can go — this applies to some ‘bottle’ movies as well, and some really pull off something interesting and others, not so much. And what better idea for such a tale than the age old one of the holiday party?
See You Next Christmas comes from writer/director Christine Weatherup, who also stars as one of the people in the movie — but this is her first feature film as a creator. She stars as Annie, married to Tom (Vin Vescio), a ‘soulmate’ couple that has their annual holiday party they call ‘Clarkmas’ after their last names. The movie is essentially just this party over the course of a few years, as we really only spend time in a few apartments — a more low budget sort of approach that works for this sort of tale.
Our first year joining them we meet Natalie, the sister of Annie (Elizabeth Guest) and Logan, a friend of Tom (AJ Meijer) — and naturally that means we’re about to get into a classic rom-com nonsense situation. The party also introduces some recurring background characters that add flavor to the story, like brusque and annoying Cliff or nerd/on the spectrum cliché Doug, but the real interesting moments are between the couple that exists and the couple that might.
The first year ends up with the two single people almost hooking up in the bathroom before they must flee due to a small fire — and they don’t see each other again until the next year. As the year’s party comes around, they inevitably run into awkwardness and mild drama due to never seeing each other until then.
At the same time, the lives of everyone change in small ways, with the married couple of Annie and Tom as a sort of measure to see how things move over time. Job changes, apartment changes, life changes — and how as people ‘grow up’ they might change or change not at all. The background characters provide a mix of fun, not fun, and occasionally meaningful moments — the ‘nerd’ jokes are a bit much, but that’s really the exception. Most of the stories told are quite interesting.
Since we see different years come and go, different people also come and go, including some surprise cameos from such (my) favorites as Janet Varney or Marc Evan Jackson. That stuff is a lot of fun, but the real stories come from the growth and push/pull of the two main couples — maybe it ultimately ends up in a pretty cheesy way, but I enjoyed the path to get there.
Considering the limited nature of the setting, the movie clips around pretty well, and is shot decently — sometimes there are slightly off sound mixing issues, but for the most part, the movie is carried through the conceit with the amiable personalities of the four leads — I think perhaps some of the ‘single’ people stories might have been expanded with a bit more complexity but it’s ultimately a fun, pleasant rom-com sort of tale that is a decent entry into the holiday rom-com genre.
Want to see See You Next Christmas and judge for yourself? Click below to see the movie, and be sure to come back and tell us what you thought!
See You Next Christmas has a run time of 1 hour 39 minutes and is unrated.
Giant Pictures
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