It’s the junkiest time of the year for streamers, churning out cheap Christmas films that are so tinnily made and carelessly written that enduring them requires more seasonal spirit than even Buddy the Elf could even muster. Will Ferrell’s comedy turns 20 this year, along with Love Actually and Bad Santa, and all recall an unusually magic time for the festive film, each in their different ways earning an easy rewatch slot when November kicks in.
It’s obviously, stupidly unfair to compare any of Netflix’s many many low-stakes films of the season to those beloved standouts, but while Best. Christmas. Ever! was never intended to be quite as good, it really doesn’t need to be quite this bad. Shoddy seasonal slop had been previously siloed on Hallmark and Lifetime channels, for those who had become accustomed to reduced standards all year round, but Netflix has enthusiastically got in on the game too, and while its brand has lost considerable lustre in recent years, it’s still the same platform that attracts small and big screen auteurs with a vision. Nestled next to the new David Fincher, again expectations would not be as high for a comedy headlined by Heather Graham, but it’s easy to forget throughout the rest of the year just how lackadaisical and low-rent these films can be, lofty comparison or no, from script to direction to performances. Arguably the most important role in these films is set dresser, jamming every scene with enough decorations to distract from the listlessness elsewhere, but no amount of tinsel can disguise how boringly tossed off this one is, a bleak reminder of what’s in store for the next six weeks.
