Image: Netflix
One other week. One other Netflix Authentic Vacation Rom-Com to get us within the spirit. Final week introduced us a strong begin with Alicia Silverstone & crew getting a constructive evaluation from me on this web site for his or her movie, A Merry Little Ex-Mas. However will this week carry an even bigger and higher current underneath the tree?!
From Off Digital camera Leisure, Grumpy Leisure, & FullDawa Movies, Champagne Issues is the newest romantic comedy from author/director Mark Steven Johnson, who beforehand introduced 2020’s Love Assured with Rachael Leigh Cook dinner & 2022’s Love within the Villa starring Kat Graham to the platform.
Co-produced by Stephanie Slack (The Noel Diary), the story facilities round Sydney Worth (Ransom Canyon’s Minka Kelly), an on-the-rise however typically ignored enterprise govt, who lastly will get her likelihood to guide a significant acquisition: beloved champagne home Chateau Cassell.
Summoned to France round Christmastime to barter a deal, she arrives in Paris with one evening of touristy enjoyable – at her sister’s behest – earlier than her huge presentation the next morning. Whereas purchasing for a present at a neighborhood bookstore, she meets a captivating native man named Henri (Drops of God’s Tom Wozniczka) who convinces her to see the actual Paris with him as her information. An opportunity encounter with a stranger turns right into a particular night as the 2 take within the websites, share intimate secrets and techniques, and fire up a whirlwind romance that carries on till morning. However her newfound emotions are rapidly upended when she discovers that Henri is the son of the founding father of the corporate she got here to amass. But even amidst the mild competitors set forth by the daddy Hugo Cassell for all of the patrons on the household winery, Sydney & Henri discover themselves irresistibly drawn to one another, realizing that their emotions may be laborious to maintain bottled up.
Alongside Kelly & Wozniczka, the film additionally stars Thibault de Montalembert (All Quiet on the Western Entrance) because the aforementioned Hugo Cassell, Flula Borg (Pitch Excellent 2) as Otto, Astrid Whettnall (The Wages of Concern) as Brigette, & Sean Amsing (Love, Assured) as Roberto.
While you learn the plot synopsis for Champagne Issues, your cynical facet might need to play streaming vacation rom-com bingo. Excessive-powered lady who sacrifices life & love for work however needs to have all of it? Verify. Unique location? Verify. Immediately falls for a person she will’t have as a result of it might change the world she thought she wished? Verify.
However right here lies the voodoo that this movie performs on its viewers: you see the tropes, you see the emotional manipulation, you’ll be able to see the place issues will go virtually each step of the best way, however SOMEHOW you simply don’t care.
Author/Director Mark Steven Johnson mentioned in an interview with Netflix that his objective as a filmmaker “is all the time to entertain … and finally come out of the film feeling higher than they did moving into”. A taller order than it sounds as Johnson’s earlier Netflix movies weren’t that effectively acquired by critics and audiences alike getting middling-to-poor scores throughout the board, however Champagne Issues has a lot stronger characters, funnier writing, & a chemistry and likability between their leads that merely feels proper.
Minka Kelly & Tom Wozniczka should not a traditional romantic pair in a way as they don’t ooze sensuality, however what they do have is a heat & plausible emotional connection that makes the viewers lean in; a bond over childhood trauma & a ardour for making a life their dad and mom can be pleased with offers these two lovely folks one thing extra to work with.
Whereas Kelly & Wozniczka do work as a creating romantic pair, the actual key to the movie’s success lies in the way it retains its viewers engaged when the pair should not on display collectively. Whether or not it’s the subplot of coping with the substantial lack of a beloved one gone too quickly or the hilarious dialogue written for Flula Borg’s Otto & Sean Amsing’s Roberto, Johnson’s script has extra leisure worth & emotional substance than your common streaming vacation movie. Traces like “I stumble on a regular basis … I’ve simply discovered to make it a part of the dance” is nearly too good of a line for a person who was simply taking a look at a hunky Santa’s OnlyFans mere seconds earlier than, but it surely’s simply adequate to placed on a bumper sticker and ship to my home.
Champagne Issues. (L-R) Thibault De Montalembert as Hugo Cassell, Joël Cudennec as Philippe and Minka Kelly as Sydney Worth in Champagne Issues. Cr. Mika Cotellon/Netflix © 2025.
Unhappy to say, I used to be a kind of critics who was not charmed by Johnson’s earlier Netflix efforts and had subsequent to zero expectations for what this movie would offer, however Champagne Issues appears to enhance upon the dearth of relatability, character, & consistency of these earlier movies. Rather less Christmas than you might crave, much more humor than you in all probability anticipated, and a delightfully breezy romantic story that can win you over as soon as it touches down in France. The setting throughout Christmastime, particularly the neon lit pageant and the beautiful winery grounds, gave a fertile & vibrant backdrop. Each character you root for will get a little bit reward of life & love of their stocking and we’re higher for it. This one took me unexpectedly in a style filled with ineffectiveness and sure, Mark Steven Johnson, I do really feel higher than I did moving into.
Watch Champagne Issues If You Like
- A Excellent Pairing
- Love within the Villa
- Love Assured
- When In Rome
- A Fort For Christmas
MVP of Champagne Issues
Sean Amsing as Roberto (once more?!)
The go-to comedian aid for director Mark Steven Johnson strikes once more in his greatest efficiency as a Roberto but (he performed a personality named Roberto in Love Assured AND Love within the Villa for the director beforehand)! In Champagne Issues, Amsing will get all the most effective strains and lights up each scene he’s in. He’s a billionaire participant who’s solely on the desk as a result of he likes to occasion with this champagne, so he will get to enjoy throwing cash round, consistently popping bubbly, and sometimes dropping poignant strains that follow you after the movie concludes. To cite Roberto, “Doesn’t matter in the event you’re a glass half-empty or a glass half-full, all that issues is that the glass is refillable.” We may all use a little bit extra Roberto logic and much more Roberto bravado in our lives.
One other strong streaming vacation rom-com from Netflix in 2025; this time with extra depth, humor, & chemistry than a lot of its predecessors. Minka Kelly & Tom Wozniczka are delicate, candy, & extremely likeable, however the supporting comedic performances from Flula Borg & scene stealer Sean Amsing will preserve you smiling past the romance.
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