It’s why we sit and wonder why these two are “together,” because the script and performances don’t make their connection organic or believable.Ĭlarke’s character arc is that she develops compassion being around Tom, starts helping with the shelter, going easier on her mom, matchmaking for her lonely boss.
But his inability to spark chemistry with any leading lady is an ongoing issue, and that makes the gears grind in this syrupy Paul Feig (“Bridesmaids,” “Ghostbusters”) confection. Golding has an effortless charm here that we haven’t seen in his other performances. And if you sit there pondering, as I did, “WHY are they together?” well, you’ll figure both secrets out before the first one is revealed. She meets her doctor with her mum and gets read the riot act over her unhealthy lifestyle. Tom brushes that off in a “we just met” way, and the walks continue. She takes an interest in the only way she knows how. “Might as well have ‘SAINT’ tattooed on your forehead!” And even though she’s still doing the barfly-hookup thing after they meet, she continues to take walks with Tom - appreciating the beauty, checking in at the homeless shelter where he volunteers. And as she looks up with him, she notices the glories of London in all its holiday splendor, and its quirky architectural history. She chuckles how much he’s “not my type” and how the places he wants to walk have a “serial killery” vibe.īut he’s always looking up. He’s obsessed with getting her to take a walk with him. Henry Golding of “Crazy Rich Asians” plays this patient, eccentric and very-interested-in-Kate Londoner. Then the tall handsome stranger, Tom, strolls into her life. Ours? Well, we’re going to stick around to see how she ever made friends in the first place.
And losing one more set of friends by being the roommate from Hell might be her wakeup call. Her thick-accented mother ( Emma Thompson) leaves her voice mails by metric tonne. Santa seethes at Kate’s carelessness on the job. The auditions she tumbles into suggest how unlikely that dream is - pleasant (ish) but untrained voice, pathologically tardy, self-absorbed. That’s her goal - singing on the London stage. We’ve seen her as a child, warbling a George Michael song with her choir back in pre-breakup Yugoslavia. So she imposes on one friend after another, thoughtlessly and clumsily breaking this and sullying that, and picking up guys in bars that she brings “home” for a little pre-Christmas coitus. It’s a tacky yet quirky shop, and it doesn’t pay enough to let Kate set up housekeeping on her own. She’s unintentionally made a career out of being an elf-clerk at Yuletide Wonderful, owned by the Chinese emigre who goes by the name “Santa” (Michelle Yeoh). She’s 30ish, has just moved out of her parents’ duplex and is schlepping her suitcase all over London Towne, still wearing her costume for work. But she’s the only one guffawing and showing a lot of teeth as she does, because there’s virtually nothing here that will tickle anybody else.Ĭlarke stars as Kate, “Katerina” to her Croatian family. It’s a mopey holiday romance leaning heavily on the “Game of Thrones” charms of Emilia Clarke and the music of George Michael.Īnd if you’re not ready to question her ability to play comedy and second guess the value the world puts on the George Michael songbook by the time this has burned through 102 minutes you’ll never get back, you never will be.Ĭlarke tries to sparkle every line the Emma Thompson/Bryony Kimmings screenplay gives her. Here it is, that “lost” chapter of “Love, Actually” that we’ve been rummaging through the vaults for.
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