Another Set of Ho-Ho-Horrible Rom Coms

An opinion article by Kimia Faroughi

It’s officially the holiday season, and nothing says Christmas like irritatingly unrealistic, overly sentimental, and boring romantic comedies. As if Christmas isn’t milked for all it’s worth already, Netflix, among many other entertainment providers, is using the holiday season as an excuse to churn out more of these galling movies. If you will recall, the last time I watched a set of Netflix rom coms, I felt like bashing my brains out.  This time was no different.

I watched The Holiday Calendar and The Princess Switch, both Netflix original holiday rom coms and both a complete waste of my life. The Holiday Calendar is about a young girl, Abby, who is a photographer struggling to jump start her career and receives an advent calendar from her grandfather that used to belong to her grandmother. The entire movie is basically about how this holiday calendar is leading her to realize that she is in love with her best friend, Josh, who has recently returned home from spending time traveling abroad as an artist.

The Princess Switch is about a Chicago baker, Stacy, who runs a pastry shop with her best friend, Kevin. They get invited to a prestigious baking competition in the Kingdom of Belgravia, whose prince, Edward, is set to marry the Duchess of Montenaro, Margaret. In Belgravia, Stacy and Margaret run into each other and discover they look exactly the same. They decided to switch places for two days before the baking competition to allow the duchess to experience life as a normal person. While they substitute for each other (following the basic premise of Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper), Tracy and Edward fall in love with each other, and Kevin and Margaret do too. In the end, when the switch has been revealed, Margaret decides that being a princess is not right for her and ends up with Kevin, while Tracy realizes that she was born to lead people and ends up with Edward.

The criteria that I am using to judge these films are the same as last time: If the movie makes me root for the couple and makes me laugh, then it is a successful romantic comedy. I can definitely say, having watched both, that these were not successful rom coms at all. And what’s worse is that far from feeling any sort of emotion while watching them, such as happiness, sadness, even outrage over how bad they were, I simply did not care.

I’ll start with The Holiday Calendar. Watching this movie really just felt like watching a massive compilation of every single time I have rolled my eyes in all the movies I have watched in my lifetime. At one point I think I heard the line: “It’s been you this whole time… It’s always been you.” It is overused and unoriginal right down to the “oh my god what outfit should I wear to this date” montage. The dialogue was stilted, the acting was forced, and the plot was the most monotonous and boring storyline I have ever followed.

That’s not the point, though. The point is that, in the end, I definitely did not want the couple to end up together. It isn’t that I hated them being together; it’s that I did not care enough to have an opinion on their romance. About 30 minutes into the movie, I had forgotten what both their names were and was just waiting for it to be over. Not to mention the fact that I did not move a single facial muscle when watching it and nothing in that entire film had the resemblance of being comical, except for the fact that whoever made this movie felt that it would be a good idea to make it an hour and a half long–an hour and a half too long. But, honestly, what can you expect from a movie that is literally about an advent calendar?

The Princess Switch was far more entertaining than The Holiday Calendar, but that is about all the good credit I can give it. Starring Vanessa Hudgens as well as Vanessa Hudgens with an unconvincing British accent, I don’t think any single scene in that entire film was original, and I felt like I had watched this exact movie on the Disney Channel when I was five years old. Just by hearing the premise–two girls who happen to look exactly alike switch lives for two days and then after decide to spend the rest of their lives with people they had only met two days before– you can tell what kind of movie you are getting into.

So was it a successful romantic comedy? The answer is no. I did not want the couples to end up together at the end because, again, I just didn’t care. I did not feel anything when watching the movie, including amusement or humor. I just wanted it to be over. And I just can’t get over the fact that they all fell in love with each other after just 48 hours of spending time with each other, and around 20 of those hours were probably spent sleeping.

I did not hate these two films. They are not problematic romantic comedies like The Kissing Booth or Sierra Burgess Is a Loser, but they just are not worth watching. I will say this, though. If anyone is looking for holiday movies that they can watch with their entire family and enjoys the cheesy, unoriginal appeal that any romantic comedy provides, then these Netflix rom coms are for you. One aspect I enjoyed about these movies is that they reminded me, as I mentioned, of the Disney Channel original movies I used to watch in elementary school; however, the sense of nostalgia they provided me was far outweighed by how bored I was throughout both films. So, if you are like me and can’t understand the appeal of romantic comedies, much less holiday- themed ones, then for the love of God watch something else. I’m warning you before it’s too late.