Christmas with You

Starring Freddie Prinze, Jr. And Aimee Garcia (from television's Lucifer), this lovely Christmas rom-com does not break any new ground but it has a screen presence for its solid script, consistent plot and pacing and smooth delivery. Aimee Garcia plays a famous singer who has settled on replaying her past hits but is in need of a new song. She decides to respond to a young girl's fan who wishes to meet her. Based on the movie's opening credits, Aimee Garcia wrote and sang the opening song "Sweet and Spicy." It is everything audiences expect from a fun Christmas holiday movie. A perfect complement to a plethora of Christmas movies.

Angelina (Aimee Garcia) is a popular pop star who is now feeling her age. She needs a new song for an event but is drawing a blank as far as inspiration goes. She sees a video of a young fan, Cristina (Deja Monique Cruz), whose birthday wish is to meet her. Empathizing with Cristina's longing for her departed mother, Angelina decides to grant the girl's wish.

Cristina's father, Miguel (Freddie Prince Jr), is a music teacher who happens to be composing a song that piques Angelina's interest. They develop feelings for each other while collaborating on the song.

This is another tropey, thus predictable, story. But there is something comforting about watching a familiar story unfold. It's like watching different versions of The Nativity, A Christmas Carol, Les Miserables, etc. Each version brings a different take on a classic tale.

This version of the aging-celebrity-finds-inspiration-and-love trope is brought to life by a likeable cast. It was a treat to see Freddie Prince Jr again. The process of composing a song got me engaged as it made me curious about the finished product which did not disappoint.

All in all, it made me feel good, which was what I was hoping for when I watched it.

Look, I get people that didn't like this film. The story is your basic Christmas Rom Com. No character is very nuanced or anything like that. At the same time, it's a Christmas Rom Com, nobody comes in here looking for the next Schindler's List. So by those measures, that being a Halmark-like Christmas film, it's good.

That being said, there are things that give this some unique qualities to it that make it good, and better than most Halmark style Christmas films. A good portion of that is the Latin culture peppered throughout. It's not throwing it in your face, or saying you should like it because it's a cast of Latinos/Latinas. But it's there naturally and because of that alone, this does make it stand out from your typical Halmark; in a similar way that 'The Photograph' did for Rom Com's in 2020(though I will say that film had a better story and more depth to it). And as a Latino it's just nice to see that it can be a part of a film, without it having to be the identity of the film in entirety. The second is the two leads of our cast. Aimee Garcia is charming, mostly know her from Lucifer and a few other things. While not a deep role or anything like that, she's charming and hope she gets more roles that help her spread her wings a bit more. Though in all fairness, this is much like Emilia Clarke doing 'Me Before You' near the end of Game of Thrones, just proving she can do something different other than the role she's most known for.

Freddie Prinze Jr. , hearthrob of the 90's and in the last decade or two mostly more known for his voice-acting if anything. He does a good job though and has equal amounts of charm as Aimee. The whole cast in general does a good job and even some storylines that could be way more cliche or make certain characters unlikable, they either don't do or breeze past them quickly, so that's another thing I will give this film credit for.

In general, it's a charming, harmless film with likable characters, performances, and some really good scoring of holiday classics in the background. And you know what, sometimes, especially these past two years, we all need something nice and warm with likable characters to pass a perfect runtime of an hour and a half. Not every film has to be deep or have characters that are unlikable to be good. Nor does a film have to be amazing or the best of the best. Sometimes it's okay for a film to just be good, and that's enough sometimes.

This is a completely by-the-numbers Christmas RomCom. Except that someone forgot the comedy. You can easily predict every turn in this movie because you have seen this story many times before, just with different characters. The acting for most of the characters is somewhere between passable and good.

BUT, Aimee Garcia brings a real charm to the role and makes the movie worth watching for her performance. I liked her for the role she played in Lucifer and this proves to me that I should start looking for her in other roles. I really would like to see her in another movie as the lead (or co-lead) that has a much better script to see what she can do with that.

Such a sweet movie! So surprised at the low rating! Freddie and Aimee couldn't have been better in their roles, so believable together that I suspect they might have had something going off the set as well. The grandma, the daughter, everyone was at the top of their form. Yes, it's a Christmas romcom, but the fact that it's an ethnic romcom makes it different and so interesting, seeing all the different family and holiday customs, the quinceanera....

And it delves into the life of an aging pop star who continues to set aside love, family and a normal life in order to maintain the trappings of stardom. Her competition gets younger every year and she fears that she won't be able to keep herself as well as her music relevant in a more youthful market.

This movie kept me glued to the screen. I laughed, I cried, and I was very happy with the ending. Definitely better than your average Christmas movie. Better than your average romcom.