A big city girl, a playboy prince of a made up country, and a magical heirloom… you know how the rest goes…
We all know there are classic Christmas movies that work themselves into our yearly traditions. Whether it’s Elf, or Love, Actually, or The Holiday, these cinematic Christmas staples are widely acclaimed, and critically loved by many. But it’s time that another type of Christmas movie gets the recognition it so obviously deserves. I’m talking about the cringe-worthy so-bad-they’re-good, Christmas movies. And if you can’t bring yourself to binge watch them by plugging into the endless stream of them currently airing on tv, you can do so from the comfort of your computer with the magic of Netflix.
Here are five terrible Christmas movies you need to binge watch before Christmas this year.
A Christmas Prince 1 & 2
A Christmas Prince was the runaway hit during the last holiday season. The story is about a feisty journalist, who is on a mission to prove herself as a “serious reporter”. After sneaking into the royal palace of a made-up country to collect gossip on the nation’s party boy bachelor prince. The two (obviously) fall in love, and you can probably guess what happens in the sequel, A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding.
Why this movie works: Premiering around the same time as the Harry and Meghan engagement, A Christmas Prince solidified our belief that us regular girls could nab a hot bachelor prince ourselves. Bonus “relatable” points goes to the main character when she wears a pair of sneakers under her gown at the royal ball at the end of the movie.
The Holiday Calendar
The Holiday Calendar was a fresh 2018 release. The movie looked like it might be a promising holiday movie starring Kat Graham, and Quincy Brown. The movie is about a down-on-her-luck photographer that gets the gift of a lifetime when she is given a family heirloom countdown calendar that also predicts the future. Through the holiday season, the calendar provides the main character with luck, prosperity, and of course… love.
Why this movie works: It has the right amount of magic, cheese, cozy sweaters/skirt combos, and fake snow. The idea of a magical advent calendar might be out there, but we all still want to believe in a little holiday magic.
The Princess Switch
If you put the Parent Trap in a blender with The Princess Diaries, you would get The Princess Switch . Vanessa Hudgens stars as both main characters in this new holiday movie about a baker who upon arriving in yet, another made up country, finds out she looks exactly like the princess. While the commoner baker wishes for a life of luxury, the princess, always clad in a tweed suit, longs for a normal life. The two obviously decide to freaky Friday, and the rest is history. Though the story is everything we’ve ever wanted, the true star of the movie is the continuity errors… Special shout out goes to all of Vanessa’s hand tattoos that remained visible while she was playing Lady Margaret.
Why this movie works: There is something about royalty that seems to get us all into the holiday spirit. It comes back around to the very slim possibility that someone as regular as a baker from Chicago could become a princess. We all want to believe it could happen for us too. So as long as they keep making royal Christmas stories, we’ll keep soaking them all up.
A Christmas Tale
A Christmas Tale has to be the worst Christmas movie I watched this year, and that’s why it deserves a spot on this list. A Christmas Tale is about a spoiled college student that does all of her Christmas shopping on her parents credit cards. After her boyfriend breaks up with her just before the holidays because she “lacks depth” and her parents cut her off financially, she decides to make some extra cash by signing up to be a dog walker (something super normal for any 22-year-old to do). On her trips to the community dog park she meets a cast of community characters that teach her the true meaning of Christmas.
Why this movie works: The over-acting and dogs really make this holiday movie a standout on the list. It’s everything a low budget holiday film should be, with the underlying message that love really is the true, and only meaning of Christmas.
Christmas Inheritance
The last film on the list checks all the boxes. A city businesswoman travels to a small snowy town for Christmas (check). Inheriting a business, and a lot of money is on the line (check). Members of this small, but warm community band together to save something, and teach the main character all about giving, and the true meaning of the holiday season (check). It takes all of the magic of the classic A Christmas Carol and brings it into 2018.
Why this movie works: Any holiday movie that involves travelling, and possibly getting stranded in a small town immediately wins over my heart. The combination of the small town, and someone from a big city (who doesn’t ever know the meaning of hard work for some reason) learning how to be a “good-person” is what Christmas is all about.
The magic of a lot of these movies is that a lot of them follow the same plotlines. The endings are always predictable, and the actors are (mostly) unknown. So of course, you could watch Christmas classics, but why not mix it up a bit and stream some of these train wreck holiday films. So get streaming, drag your friends down the rabbit hole with you, and have a cheesy, predictable, holiday season!
