Champagne Problems Review – The Streaming Giant’s Newest Holiday Romantic Comedy Falls Flat.

At the risk of come across as the Grinch, it’s hard not to lament the premature release of holiday films prior to the Thanksgiving holiday. While the weather cools, it seems premature to completely immerse in Netflix’s annual buffet of low-cost holiday treats.

Similar to US candy that no longer contain real chocolate, Netflix’s holiday films are counted on for their style of mediocrity. They provide rote familiarity – familiar actors, low budgets, artificial winter scenes, and unbelievable plots. At worst, these films are unmemorable disasters; in the best scenarios, they are lighthearted distractions.

Champagne Problems, the newest holiday concoction, blends into the vast middle of the forgettable spectrum. Helmed by the filmmaker, whose previous romantic comedy was utterly forgettable, this movie feels like low-quality champagne – fittingly lackluster and situational.

The story starts with what appears to be a computer-made commercial for drug store brand champagne. This ad is actually the proposal of the main character, portrayed by Minka Kelly, to her coworkers at a financial firm. Sydney is the stereotypical image of a professional female – underestimated, phone-obsessed, and ambitious to the detriment of her private world. After her boss sends her to Paris to finalize an acquisition over Christmas, her sibling insists she spend an evening in the city to live for herself.

Naturally, Paris is the ideal location to wrest one away from Google Maps, despite Paris is covered in below-grade CGI snow. In an overly quaint bookshop, Sydney has a charming encounter with the male lead, who distracts her from her device. As demanded by the genre, she initially resists this ideal guy for frivolous excuses.

Just as predictable are the film elements that unfold at sudden shifts, mirroring the turning of aging champagne bottles in the vaults of the family vineyard. The catch? Henri is the successor to Chateau Cassel, hesitant to manage it and bitter toward his father for selling it. In perhaps the movie’s most salient contribution to romantic comedies, he is highly critical of corporate buyouts. The problem? The heroine sincerely believes she’s not stripping this family-owned company for parts, vying against three stereotypical rivals: a severe French grand dame, a rigid German, and a delusional gay billionaire.

The twist? Her shady colleague Ryan shows up unannounced. The core? The two leads gaze longingly at one another in holiday pajamas, across a vast chasm in economic worldview.

The gift and the curse is that nothing here sticks beyond a short-lived thrill on an empty stomach. There’s a lack of substantial content – Minka Kelly, most famous for her part in Friday Night Lights, delivers a merely adequate portrayal, superficially pleasant and gestures of care, more maternal than romantic lead. Tom Wozniczka provides just the right amount of Gallic appeal with mild self-torture and little else. The tricks are not amusing, the love story is harmless, and the ending is predictable.

For all its waxing poetic on the exclusivity of sparkling wine, nobody claims this is anything other than a mass market item. The things to hate are also the things to like. One might call an expert’s opinion about it a minor issue.

• The Holiday Film is now available on the platform.