As a chick-flick lover, I can guarantee you that nothing beats good Hollywood holiday movies! Those cliched storylines where enemies become lovers just in time for Christmas; those ‘’Oh look, two ex-lovers reunited at a glamorous Christmas party, they accidentally kissed. No biggie’’; or just some heart-wrenching family-centered movie which screams ‘’no one left behind’’. We KNOW how the movie would end, yet our eyes are glued to the screen.
And regardless of whether you’re staying in with family on Christmas morning, or nursing a hangover from a New Year’s Eve bash, here are some of the best films to (re)watch during this holiday season.
1. New Years’ Eve
New Year’s Eve is an interweaving film of trust, forgiveness and second chances for various New Yorkers on that celebrated night. Witness the various tales, including a rock star and his ex-beau handling conflict during an elite party, to a nurse who stays with a dying patient as he attempts to hold on to life long enough to see the ball drop one final time. Get ready to laugh and cry with this heartwarming tale.
2. The Holiday
The Holiday is a 2006 romantic comedy film which stars Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz as two lovelorn women who trade homes to escape heartbreak during Christmas, only to find that a change of address ended up changing their lives as well. While each experiences a minor case of culture stun, both women get involved with a man. You don’t want to miss young Jude Law, though.
3. Love Actually
The iconic and star-studded holiday rom-com follows the lives of eight different couples in London, as they deal with their love lives in various loosely interrelated settings, all happening during the frantic month before Christmas. Funny, irresistible and heartwarming, director Richard Curtis will take you on a breathtaking tour of love’s delightful twists and turns.
4. Last Christmas
Nothing seems to go right for young Kate, a frustrated Londoner who works as an elf in a year-round Christmas shop. But things soon take a turn for the better when she meets Tom – a handsome charmer who seems too good to be true. As the city transforms into the most wonderful time of the year.
5. Just Friends
Ryan Reynolds and Amy Smart play Jamie and Chris, old high school friends wrapped up in a similar plot: Chris is in love with Jamie, and Jamie just wants to be friends. Ten years later, Chris returns to his hometown during the holidays and tries to win Jamie’s love.
6. Four Christmases
In this modern Christmas tale, Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn play a couple whose tropical holiday plans get derailed, so they begrudgingly visit their families instead.
7. The Princess Switch
Our beloved Vanessa Hudgens plays double duty as a princess and a normal Chicago baker who’d given up on love. And it was a hit. Full of aww moments though, you definitely want to watch this movie.
8. The Princess Switch 2: Switch Again
Oh no biggies, here’s a sequel to the hit movie.
9. Last Holiday
Queen Latifah plays a terminal patient mistakenly diagnosed by a faulty MRI machine. She then takes her savings and embarks on a European vacation to meet her culinary inspiration. The problem with all of that is, when you don’t have a terminal disease and spend all your money, what comes next? You have to watch.
10. Office Christmas Party
Here’s a story of T. J. Miller and Jennifer Aniston who play feuding siblings who have different perspectives on how to run the company they inherited. One of them organises an office Christmas party to end all office Christmas parties – an event so debauched that it might end their company, too.
11. The Family Stone
Imagine Sarah Jessica Parker, Claire Danes, Rachel McAdams, Luke Wilson and Diane Keaton all in one movie. If you’ve ever been part of a family (or even known one) which was hostile to outsiders, you’ll understand where the Stone family is coming from. This movie is full of tense comedy that sees Sarah Jessica Parker kicked out of the family.
