Champagne Problems Review – Netflix’s Newest Holiday Romcom Misses the Sparkle.

Without wanting to sound like a holiday cynic, one must lament the premature release of holiday movies before Thanksgiving. Even as the weather cools, it seems too soon to completely immerse in Netflix’s annual buffet of low-cost festive entertainment.

Similar to US candy that no longer include real chocolate, Netflix’s Christmas movies are relied upon for their style of badness. They offer rote familiarity – nostalgic casting, modest spending, artificial winter scenes, and unbelievable plots. At worst, these films are unmemorable disasters; at best, they are lighthearted distractions.

Champagne Problems, the latest Christmas concoction, blends into the broad center of the forgettable spectrum. Directed by the filmmaker, whose previous romantic comedy was so disposable, this movie feels like cheap bubbly – fittingly lackluster and situational.

It begins with what appears to be an AI-generated ad for supermarket sparkling wine. This commercial is actually the proposal of Sydney Price, played by Minka Kelly, to her coworkers at a financial firm. Sydney is the construction paper cut-out of a professional female – overlooked, phone-obsessed, and driven to the detriment of her private world. After her boss dispatches her to France to close a deal over the holidays, her sibling makes her promise take one night in the city to enjoy life.

Of course, the French capital is the ideal location to pull someone from Google Maps, even when the city is covered in unconvincing digital snowfall. In an overly quaint bookstore, Sydney has a charming encounter with Henri Cassell, and he pulls her away from her phone. As demanded by rom-com conventions, she initially resists this perfect man for silly reasons.

Just as predictable are the film elements that unfold at sudden shifts, mirroring the turning of aging champagne bottles in the vaults of the family vineyard. The catch? The love interest is the successor to Chateau Cassel, reluctant to run it and bitter toward his dad for selling it. Maybe the film’s biggest addition to the genre, Henri is extremely judgmental of corporate buyouts. The problem? The heroine truly thinks she’s not stripping this family-owned company for parts, vying against three caricatures: a stern Frenchwoman, a severe blonde German man, and an out-of-touch wealthy man.

The twist? Her shady colleague the office rival appears without warning. The core? Henri and Sydney gaze longingly at each other in festive sleepwear, across a vast chasm in economic worldview.

The upside and downside is that nothing here sticks beyond a bubbly buzz on an unfilled belly. There’s a lack of substantial content – Minka Kelly, most famous for her part in Friday Night Lights, gives a strictly serviceable performance, all sweet surfaces and acts of kindness, more maternal than love interest material. The male star provides just the right amount of Gallic appeal with light inner conflict and nothing more. The tricks are unfunny, the romance is inoffensive, and the ending is straightforward.

Despite its waxing poetic on the luxury of champagne, nobody claims this is anything other than a mass market item. The things to hate are the very reasons some enjoy it. One might call an expert’s opinion about the film a minor issue.

• The Holiday Film can be streamed on Netflix.