One of this year’s biggest Christmas movie tropes have been “former couple loses touch and gets back together.” To name a few from this year’s crop: A Godwink Christmas: Second Chance, First Love, The Christmas House, and Meet Me At Christmas. Then we get it again with Let’s Meet Again On Christmas Eve.
Corinne (Kyla Pratt) and Rob (Brooks Darnell) were college sweethearts. When Rob got an offer to go to Paris for two years to work on his photography skills, Corinne makes a deal with him. They will break up for the two years then meet again at the campus Christmas tree on Christmas Eve to see if they still have the spark of love. Seven years later, Corinne gets a job planning a Christmas wedding for a wealthy couple - Nancy (Nancy Sorel) and Sam (Paul Essiembre). Rob happens to be their wedding photographer. What will happen when the former couple has to spend two weeks on a project together?
One of the things that annoys me about these ‘lost love’ storylines is - why didn’t they just call/email/text each other? When Rob didn’t show up, why didn’t Corinne email him to see why he didn’t come? When Rob saw the picture of Corinne with her boss, Victor (Erik Athavale), why didn’t he ask her if she was seeing someone instead of assuming Victor was her boyfriend? All of this could have been cleared up with an email or a phone call or even a DM,
I’m also annoyed with Nancy’s daughter, Tracy (Sarah Luby). She looks like she’s 25 but she talks like she’s 15. Not only is she using outdated slang, she’s also talking with his weird….it’s not really an accent but spacing of words. They could have cut her character out completely with no consequence.
Oh, and they have the Christmas movie trope of planning an entire wedding at the last minute. This time they have a whole two weeks. No one does that. Venues and bakers and florists and dressmakers all need ample time to plan their part of the ceremony. Two weeks isn’t nearly enough time. At least not for something that is supposed to be extravagant.
Beyond that, the movie is fine. Pratt and Darnell have good chemistry together. They were quite believable both as a couple and as a bitter former couple. If you decide to watch Let’s Meet Again On Christmas Eve, do it for Pratt and Darnell, not for the plot.