Netflix’s Christmas cheesy romance movie strikes again

The snow is falling, the Christmas lights are starting to appear and Netflix has just released another holiday embarrassment.

Now, I’ve only had Netflix for a little over a year, but I have already seen this trend. As I’m getting onto Netflix to drown myself in The Office once again, a Christmas movie suggestion pompously flashes across my screen with a title that sounds like my seven-year-old sister’s favorite episode of My Little Pony.

Though I have made the mistake before, I already know what’s about to happen. The temptation is too strong. My premature Christmas spirit gets the best of me. Before I know it, the movie is my best friend and my worst enemy.

One lesson: if you’ve seen the title, you know the plot of the whole movie. No watching necessary.

Last year, when The Christmas Prince came to be, I thought: “This is a movie about a hardworking, American girl who finds herself in a faraway kingdom and falls in love with the prince who is trying to claim his throne. However, there is an evil cousin who also claims this right for one reason or another. It is resolved. They get married. Everyone is happy.”

Nailed it.  

Then, this year, when I stumbled upon The Princess Switch, I was fairly certain it was about to be a “Royal version of The Parent Trap.”

Check.

So why did I sit through the entire movie in both cases? I wish I knew.

Part of me thinks it was for a few good laughs out of the horrible dialogue, strangely typical conflict resolution and complete lack of full-circle character development.

However, part of me also wonders, could it be because there is something partially glamorous about “cliche” for all of us?

Cliche is cliche for a reason. It’s because there are certain ideas and themes that, withstanding the test of time, have proven appealing to humans for generations. Christmas is the perfect time to highlight these ideas, because everyone is already in a dreamy and sentimental mood.

Maybe, at the end of the day,  Netflix is kind of an evil genius for releasing these movies this time of year. Maybe the crew that makes these seemingly pointless movies has something more brilliant in mind.

As for me, I was just on there and saw a new movie called The Christmas Wedding Planner, so I now have weekend plans.