1 Hour 37 Minutes
Rating: 3.0/5
Some good, silly slapstick humor, some that has aged poorly, and some mean-spirited jokes that were never good to begin with. The story is razor thin and completely idiotic, while still managing to repeat the classic "A Christmas Carol" gospel of the grumpy but ultimately benevolent capitalist saving the poor worker's Christmas. It does one interesting thing with this though: while in almost all other versions of this story, the protagonist realizes that they don't need money to be happy as long as they have their family—and only then get the money anyways—here it really is the monetary windfall that saves the day and nothing else. In that sense, it might actually be more honest and realistic than most other Carol-likes. That being said, apart from Clark's cringe daydreams about Nicolette Scorsese, it was really surprising to see the loving, supportive family dynamic between Clark and Ellen Griswold. They both clearly love each other and find each other attractive. A welcome twist on the regular boomer humor stereotype of the couple that basically despises each other.
10 Episodes, 4 Hours 29 Minutes
Rating: 3.0/5
Solid modernization of the classic romcom formula, for better and for worse. The characters act like relatable human beings now, but, well, of course it’s a series instead of a movie. So the density of memorable moments—the currency these stories deal in—is a bit thin at times. And there are simply no surprises, nothing you wouldn’t expect. On the other hand, some things you might traditionally expect are missing—but that’s mostly an improvement. I’m talking about characters overreacting to the smallest things or misunderstanding each other in the most idiotic ways. At times, it can almost be distracting how much the writers wanted you to know they don’t do this, setting up multiple such situations only for them to resolve in pretty mature, understated ways.
10 Episodes, 8 Hours 30 Minutes
Rating: 3.5/5 + ❤︎
Normally not a big Redmayne fan but whoever decided to cast him here has made an inspired choice. Beautifully shot. Some really good choices on the soundtrack. Basically its only weakness is the writing. Not all the time, but often enough. The ending shook things up well enough for season two to potentially feel meaningfully different.
6 Episodes, 5 Hours 35 Minutes
Rating: 3.5/5
Very well made series that stops just shy of doing or saying anything original. The score has this one track that kinda sounds like Andy Stott, which is cool but would be the worst track on any of his albums. Impeccable Christmas and London and Christmas in London vibes though.
8 Episodes, 4 Hours 1 Minute
Rating: 4/5 + ❤︎
The absolutely incredible performance by Ted Denson elevates the sometimes overly saccharine writing and turns this into a sweet, melancholic little show about old age and flawed people trying to be kind.
Bit of a cringe love letter to the big-tech dominated modern Sans Francisco at times, but easy to look past.
6 Episodes, 4 Hours 58 Minutes
Rating: 4/5 + ❤︎
Solid improvement over the already good first season. Great character work and performances all around. Well paced throughout. Visually rather flat for the most part, except for the fantastic blocking.