The Knight Before Christmas

Christmas rom coms have become enough of a cliche that they’re seen as little more than festive junk food with a heavy excess on the sap and sparkle, but this doesn’t mean all of them are automatically garbage in the more traditional sense. It’s true that a majority of them are incredibly cheap in production and construction, are hastily-produced, and are only fit for streaming or network television, and therefore aren’t going to provide the most gripping or even fresh material, but because it’s a genre that’s tied to such a positive holiday and time of year, the results are usually never overly cynical and are enjoyable as a jovial waste of time, and the 2019 Netflix film, The Knight Before Christmas, is a perfect example of this.

Set in Norwich, England during the 13th century, Sir Cole Frederick Lyons (played by Josh Whitehouse) and his brother, Geoffrey (played by Harry Jarvis) alongside many other knights participate in an annual Christmas hawking competition. Cole finds himself lost in the snow-covered woods and comes across an old crone named Kayela (played by Ella Kenon), who gives him a special medallion, informs him that he must learn what it takes to become a true knight before Christmas Eve, and magically transports him to Ohio in the year 2019. As it just so happens, recently-single high school science teacher, Brooke Winters (played by Vanessa Hudgens) is taking her niece, Claire (played by Isabella Franca) to the opening of the ‘’Christmas Castle’’, the exact place Cole was teleported which leads to a meet-up that ends with Cole being hospitalized as they believe Cole is suffering from amnesia and is deluded into thinking he’s a knight. Wanting to help him as he ‘recovers’, Brooke lets Cole stay in her guest house while she prepares for the annual Christmas Eve feast her family has prepared for their community for years, and although taken aback by this new world, Cole starts to adjust quite naturally and warms his way into the hearts of those around him (especially Brooke). With only a few days to learn what his task is, Cole and Brooke try to uncover the real reason he was sent here while inadvertently stumbling upon it as romance starts to bloom between the both of them.

The Knight Before Christmas is incredibly cheesy, almost laughably simple with its execution of a pretty ludicrous premise, and has no real sense of turmoil, stakes or conflict to warrant calling it an overall ‘good’ movie, but is so charming in its delivery thanks to its pleasant atmosphere and production value, very delightful performances (especially from the two leads), and a true sense of heart that warms the soul with its reverent honesty and goodwill, that it’s genuinely impossible to think ill of it.

The concept for this film would only work in this genre, as the idea of a knight from the distant past jumping forward in time to fall in love with a woman struggling to find true love, feels one step removed from a smutty romance novel, but adding in a more innocent touch and wholesome delivery makes it prime material for a hallmark-type feature, and it certainly doesn’t hold its tongue when it comes to presenting itself. While none of these Christmas rom-coms aren’t known for subtly and wear their corniness on their selves, The Knight Before Christmas holds nothing back and goes full-forced with its wholesomeness, mainly because it doesn’t really have much else to offer. Despite the idea being pretty wild, the unfolding events are surprisingly standard, with a very cliched outline that provides very standard romantic tropes, characters and situations that don’t lead to anything that weird or over-the-top silly, which is a bit of a shame. There’s no sense of conflict or consequence to this narrative nor any subplots to bolster it out to beyond a 90-minute running time, and for something that doesn’t have any hope of being seen as legitimate, it not offering something that any other romance could provide is a little unfortunate.

However, while very unremarkable from a narrative perspective, the movie is quite endearing due to its very perky and good-hearted cast, its enriching and vibrant Christmas aesthetic, and its overall sentimentality which, while childishly single-minded, makes it hard to resist its jolliness. The dialogue and overall scripting by Cara J. Russell is pretty cheesy, very on-the-nose and isn’t really trying to be that fresh or different, but does lead to some nice romantic moments and even a few touching scenes, the directing feels pretty comfortable with this tone and styling due to director, Monika Mitchell, making several movies of this ilk throughout her filmography, and even if comes and goes without anything meaningful, it at least manages to exude enough warmth and kindness befitting of its titular holiday to feel right at home in its genre.

A lot of the actors associated with Christmas rom coms aren’t huge names and can sometimes be struggling to find work, but another bright spot within this easily mocked roster of flicks is that it very rarely feels like the actors are slumming their performances. Even when in something that feels and looks so outlandish and dumb, it often feels like the actors are legitimately trying and giving more effort than they arguably need to, and The Knight Before Christmas is no different, with a cast saddled with honestly not very good characters and barely any personality to work with, that still manage to come across as very likeable and lively. Vanessa Hudgens had already shown she was comfortable in this genre with the 2018, The Princess Switch, and its subsequent sequels, so her being featured in this movie is no shocker, but she comes across as very sweet in this and even pretty decent during any of the more sentimental moments due to her good chemistry with most of the actors, especially her romantic interest. Josh Whitehouse is allowed to have the most fun as this out-of-time knight adapting to the modern day, and while all of his writing and befuddled reactions are very traditional of this trope, he pulls of the blissfully naïve yet good-hearted soul very naturally.

Not all of the supporting characters are acted great, like most of the kids can feel a little flat (they are kids, so it’s perfectly understandable though), and people like Emmanuelle Chriqui as Brooke’s sister, Madison, and Ella Kenion can occasionally have a strange delivery, but for the most part, the supporting cast bring enough vigor and heart to their parts that they add a bit more spark to a very one-track picture and liven up an already pretty perky ensemble. Arnold Pinnock is pretty good as the police officer constantly concerned with Cole’s mental state, Jean-Michel Le Gal is part of a touching moment at the end as a single father struggling to raise four children, and the rest of the cast all put in enough effort that even their brief inclusions are memorable because of their spirited delivery. While these characters probably are a dime a dozen and aren’t really that memorable all things considered, it’s at least a nice testament that everyone involved still put in the work to make the best of the material.

For a Christmas movie stuck on Netflix, it’s going to have a look that matches that kind of pedigree, but one of the benefits of Netflix is that even on shlock that can be recycled very easily, their content can still look decently budgeted even if it doesn’t deserve it. While this movie still looks and feels pretty cheap with the small sets, television-quality effects work, and establishing shots that just look like stock footage, it still looks nice because of its setting and the time it’s taking place in. Christmas is such a wonderful time of year, and the look is iconic through the various knick-knacks and ornaments, the trees mixed with the wintery aesthetic, and the colorful lights that brighten up even the darkest of areas, and everything about this movie screams that visage, with the snowy surroundings and the constant Christmas decorations and iconography plastered around every street and household.

It livens up the film, keeps the holiday spirit in full view, and with that mixed with the select scenes set in the past time period shot in actual castles from Ireland, it makes for an all-around nice-looking movie. The technicals of the film aren’t all perfect, like some of the editing done by Lara Mazur is very abrupt during the first act (with cuts that feel very sporadic and don’t flow very seamlessly) and the musical score by Roger Bellon is overly bouncy and noisy to the point that it can feel little much, but most of the costumes created by Barbara Gregusova have a lot of color and detail to them (especially the knight outfit which is nicely designed), and the overall sets and production design by Angela Murphy and Derek Wallace does a good job pushing forward the spirit of Christmas as well as just looking nice in general.

The Knight Before Christmas ironically isn’t weird or crazy enough to have fun with but is sweet and heartfelt enough to enjoy even with its highly cliched delivery and components, and that is a true testament to the strength of the holiday it’s focusing on, as it can bring a sense of joy even within pure tinsel-coated junk food. While the script has no sense of stakes or even weight behind its content (there’s not even a reason the titular knight needs to learn a lesson, he just gets sent for no reason), the characters are very standard, and for an idea that could’ve stood out very easily, it probably fits in a little too easily with its surrounding Christmas rom-com brethren, the likeable cast, nice visuals, and very heartwarming nature, make it a present that might seem tacky, but will still bring a smile to your face.