I Tried To Watch Netflix’s New Christmas Rom-Com, Champagne Problems
I should start by saying that I love cheesy romantic Christmas movies. I love the fact that you know there’s going to be a happy, cuddly ending, so there’s nothing to stress about – you know there will be a cute, wholesome family moment thrown in, some shopping dilemma or a big grand gesture with an iconic soundtrack. So when I settled in to watch Champagne Problems, the newest Christmas film in town, I didn’t expect it to fall so completely flat. I mean, are they even trying to make good Christmas films anymore? How can you go so wrong, even with two ridiculously good-looking people as your leads?
There is a chance that the film got better after the first half – I wouldn’t know, they lost me when the protagonist Sydney Price (Minka Kelly), consumes a rather large quantity of cheese even though she’s lactose intolerant. After a hard-to-watch few seconds where her love interest sees her writhing in pain and then insists on a night out (?), she jumps out of bed and ends up on a Ferris wheel, eating macarons and crepes and just having a frolicking evening. What miracle medicine did she take? How was she okay so quickly after eating all that cheese? These were the burning questions I had. Maybe it was the fact that I had just rewatched Love Actually (in the actual chapel where it was shot), so my standards were set sky high – but the first few minutes of the film just sent me to sleep. I tried. I couldn’t finish it. I hope other people have a better time with it than I did.
What is Champagne Problems about?
A driven American exec (Kelly) heads to Paris (surprise!), determined to defy the odds and acquire a world-renowned champagne brand, Chateau Cassell. Since she has “pinky promised” her sister that she would take one night off, she sets off to explore the city armed with recommendatins from said sister which include “start with the Eiffel Tower”…Sydney then ends up in bed with a charming Parisian, Henri Cassell (Tom Wozniczka), whom she meets in a bookstore. Lo and behold, he turns out to be part of the family that owns the vineyard she’s trying to acquire. Oh, crepe.
As part of the negotiations, she ends up spending a few days in the French countryside, and there are some beautiful shots of the landscape thrown in – it does make you want to escape to France this winter, I’ll give the film that much. In short, Champagne Problems is a romantic-comedy about ambition in the face of modern love, set against a backdrop of festivities and luxurious vineyards. There’s obviously a serious mix of business and pleasure here, and all the classic rom-com tropes that you would expect (literally, all of them).
If you’re looking for a Christmas film that you can watch while doom-scrolling or planning a winter getaway, then Champagne Problems is for you. Better yet, if you can’t sleep at night and you’re looking for something that can help with the process, this one’s a great choice.
Who else stars?
Other cast members include Thibault de Montalembert (Call My Agent!), Sean Amsing (Love, Guaranteed), Flula Borg (The Boss Baby: Back in Business), Astrid Whettnall (Into the Night) and Maeve Courtier-Lilley (Gran Turismo). Champagne Problems is now available to stream on Netflix.
