Champagne Problems: He's Speaking French? In a Sweater? I'm IN!
I am a sucker for Paris. Or at least, Paris in movies. I love how arrogant and charming it is, how old and new. I also really like listening to people speak French. It's a language that forces your mouth into kisses. Last year, I enjoyed Paris Christmas Waltz way more than it probably deserves. I was predisposed to like the Netflix Christmas movie Champagne Problems because it was set in Paris, but when the hero showed up and he was speaking French AND beardy AND in a bookstore AND wearing a series of excellent sweaters, I was sunk.
Sydney Price (Minka Kelly) works for an international beverage brand that wants to acquire Chateau Cassell, a revered Champagne vineyard that has fallen on hard times. Her boss sends her to Paris to pitch the acquisition, and Sydney's sister makes her promise that she'll spend one night out in Paris, enjoying the city. Sydney decides to visit a bookstore, where she meets Henri (Tom Wozniczka). They have great chemistry, and he offers to take her off the tourist's path and show her the real Paris. He convinces her to go out with him just by speaking French at her for a minute, which, honestly, I would find convincing too.
Sydney and Henri have a lovely ramble through a Christmas market, past the Eiffel Tower, and up a Ferris wheel. Because Sydney refuses to talk about work, they end up having deep conversations about their pasts and their dreams. It's no Before Sunset, but it is more character development than you typically get in these movies. When the finally kiss on one of Paris's many bridges, you're rooting for them to make it work. But this is the beginning of a Christmas rom-com, not the end, so it can't be that easy. Sydney wakes up late the next day and has to rush off for her meeting with Chateau Cassell. And who should be there but Henri, the son of the old man who wants to sell off his vineyard?! Who could have seen this coming?!
Sydney had competition in her bid for the vineyard. Brigette (Astrid Whettnall) is a flinty French woman determined to keep control of the business in France. Then there's Roberto (Sean Amsing), a billionaire's son who only cares about buying Chateau Cassell to make sure he's got good champagne for his parties. Netflix has four new Christmas movies this year and three of them feature sassy gay characters as comic relief, which is, you know, kinda cringe. Next year, I hope Roberto gets his own movie about falling for Hot Santa, the OnlyFans model he meets while they are all out at some sort of Christmas disco. Finally, there's Otto (Flula Borg) is a German who keeps talking about increasing efficiency and maximizing productivity. Is this a culturally sensitive portrayal of a German person? No. Does he deliver a long speech about violent and torturous German Christmas traditions that had me laughing out loud? Yes.
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Anyway, Henri's father invites them all to the vineyard for Christmas, which is an insane way to conduct business but a great way to get Sydney and Henri into a bunch of winery-related romantic situations. At this point, the story mostly becomes about Henri reconciling with his father Hugo (Thibault de Montalembert - truly, the Frenchest of names), who has never understood why Henri doesn't want to take over the family business. I didn't find these scenes particularly compelling, but I did like that both actors were speaking French with subtitles rather than forcing two French guys to have their conversations in English for the sake of an American audience. Plus, they have a really cute dog, and that goes a long way.
Much like French wine and cheese, this movie lulled me into a romance coma. Minka Kelly and Tom Wozniczka have great chemistry, and I believed that they were genuinely yearning for each other. Sean Amsing and Flula Borg were both very funny, and they get to deliver all the best lines in the movie. And it gets an extra star just for filming in actual Paris. Of this year's Netflix Christmas rom-com crop, this is my favorite of the bunch.
Thanks for joining my on my Christmas movie journey! I'll post a roundup of everything I watched next week. Happy New Year!