Netflix’s New Christmas Movie With 73% on RT Subtly Fixes a Tired Holiday Rom-Com Trope with 1 Twist

Netflix’s new Christmas movie, Meet me next Christmashas everything one might expect from a holiday movie, but with a twist, it subtly fixed a tired trope in Christmas romantic comedies. Holiday content has started on Netflix and the start of the season is Meet me next Christmas. Directed by Rusty Cundieff, Meet me next Christmas stars Christina Milian as Layla, who is in a stable relationship with her boyfriend, with whom she attends the Pentatonix Christmas show every year. Unfortunately, Layla finds her boyfriend cheating on her a few days before Christmas Eve.

Remembering a deal she made with James (Kofi Siriboe) the previous year, when they met at the airport, about meeting the following year at the Pentatonix concert if they were both single, Layla desperately tries to get a ticket. Layla enlists the help of Teddy (Devale Ellis), who works at a company that aims to get its customers everything they need, but Layla and Teddy end up teaming up in their wild quest to get a ticket to the show. While Meet me next Christmas It’s predictable, it has a twist that corrects a tired Christmas romantic comedy trope.

Meet Me Next Christmas gave Layla and James a happy ending

There were no broken hearts at the end of Meet Me Next Christmas

When Layla meets James at the beginning of Meet me next ChristmasShe’s in a serious relationship, but she can’t deny there’s a connection. That’s why, when she breaks up with her boyfriend a year later, she’s determined to get a ticket to the Pentatonix concert after seeing a photo of James on the event’s website with his ticket. Meet me next Christmas is as predictable as any other Christmas movie, so one expects Layla to meet James at the concert just to tell him she’s fallen in love with Teddy, and that’s exactly what happens – but with a twist.

The classic (but tired) trope is that in this case, James will be heartbroken hearing that Layla has fallen in love with someone else but is coming to terms with it, and maybe the magic of Christmas will make him meet his person on the show. Happily, Meet me next Christmas fixes this by giving Layla and James a happy ending without heartbreak. James goes to the Pentatonix concert not because he is honoring his agreement with Layla, but because he now has a partner and is going with her.

James found his person before the following Christmas and didn’t even remember he had a deal with Layla – and even if he had, he was there with his girlfriend. While the end of Meet me next Christmas It’s predictable, it’s refreshing to see a holiday romantic comedy that skips the cliché third-act heartbreak scene and instead gives all of its main characters a well-deserved happy ending without any more obstacles.

Meet Me Next Christmas also puts a twist on the “Fate” trope of Rom-Coms – but there’s a problem

Meet Me Next Christmas plays with the concept of destiny

Meet me next Christmas also uses a trope commonly used not just in holiday romantic comedies, but romantic comedies in general: destiny and people they were “meant to be with”. Layla firmly believes that she should be with James, so she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get that ticket to Pentatonix. Layla even sees “signs” of James being her “person” everywhere, like the Eiffel Tower, as they both dream of spending Christmas in Paris someday. Teddy, on the other hand, does not share these beliefs and has a more realistic, although sometimes pessimistic, outlook on life.

Layla finally discovers that it’s not about destiny, it’s about creating your own path. and make decisions on your own that make you happy, like staying with Teddy, thus letting go of the “destiny” mentality. However, it can be argued that fate still played a role in the outcome of the Meet me next Christmas and that she should stay with Teddy, who she also met at the airport minutes before meeting James. This part of Meet me next Christmas is open to interpretation, but also brings a subtle yet refreshing twist to holiday romantic comedies.