When her flight home for Christmas is canceled, Layla (Christina Milian) meets two men in the guest lounge at the airport. Teddy (Devale Ellis), whom she speaks briefly to at the buffet, and James (Kofi Siriboe), a man who seems almost perfect for her – except she’s not single and has no plans to be anytime soon. Feeling a connection, James tells Layla to meet him at the Pentatonix concert on the next Christmas Eve, should she find herself single by then.
A year later, Layla catches her longtime boyfriend with another woman and decides to try to grab a ticket to the Pentatonix concert so she can meet up with James. Unfortunately, the concert is sold out, and tickets are impossible to find. Her best friend, Roxy, suggests that Layla use a concierge service known for getting their clients difficult finds, and it’s there that Layla runs into Teddy again – except they don’t exactly recognize one another from the year before. Teddy, who is on the verge of being fired, is determined to find Layla’s concert ticket, and they grow closer as they experience various shenanigans in their quest.
Meet Me Next Christmas is one of many holiday offerings by Netflix this year. Given their track record of not-so-great rom-coms, I wasn’t expecting much from this movie, but I got a lot of contrived plots and a lot of cheese. I did get a contrived plot and some cheese, but surprisingly, I wasn’t overwhelmed by them to the point where I couldn’t enjoy this movie.
The movie takes inspiration from Serendipity, in which two people let fate decide whether they belong together. However, the outcome is very apparent from the first scene. Milian and Ellis have lovely chemistry, which makes the plot more palatable. While I may not have been a fan of her previous Netflix offerings, Milian is a reliable, likable lead for this kind of movie. It’s her leading men who seem to be interchangeable and somewhat forgettable.
The script, written by Camilla Rubis and Molly Haldeman, is passable and hits all of the typical holiday rom-com notes. It even has some funny moments, although the unfunny moments – like a shallow, wealthy couple willing to part with their Pentatonix tickets – outweigh them. And that’s another thing… why was the movie so focused on Pentatonix? The a cappella group is featured front and center, occasionally bursting out in spontaneous, harmonized responses, and follows Teddy and Layla’s journey on their manager’s phone as they debate whether Layla should be with Teddy or James. They do poke fun at themselves, which was amusing to see, but sometimes Meet Me Next Christmas felt like a 105-minute Pentatonix ad.
Tymika Tafari and Kalen Allen provide most of the laughs as Roxy, Layla’s best friend, and Jordy, Teddy’s cousin. Jordy somehow wrangles Teddy and Layla into a Christmas-themed lip sync battle in order to, you guessed it, win two tickets to Pentatonix. It’s really kind of ridiculous how we get from A to B in this movie, but if you love Pentatonix and, say, Jingle All the Way, you’ll probably really like it anyway.
Out of all of Milian’s Netflix rom-coms, Meet Me Next Christmas is the most enjoyable, and while this movie is not destined to become a Christmas classic, it’s worth a watch if you want a spirited holiday romance (and you really, really like Pentatonix).
Watched: 11/06/2024
Notable Song: Meet Me Next Christmas by Pentatonix