This Christmas, Give Your Heart to a Better Movie Than Last Christmas

I don’t want to ruin Last Christmas for anyone who might see it and not figure out the film’s big twist within the first 10 or 15 minutes, so I won’t.

But I’ll give you this warning: Don’t listen to the George Michael song that inspired this movie, and refresh your memory of the lyrics, because they are a spoiler. A very literal and very big one. D’oh!

Indeed, if you can get through this supposed rom-com without figuring out how it all ends, then you may just enjoy the movie.

In Last Christmas, Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke plays Kate, a depressed woman still recovering from a heart transplant, who works as an elf in a year-round Christmas store in London. Her mood changes when she meets Tom (Henry Golding, from Crazy Rich Asians), a predictably too-good-to-be-true charmer who enjoys long walks through the city, helps the homeless, and seems to only have eyes for Kate. Is it kismet?

The two leads give winning performances — as does Emma Thompson, who co-wrote the film — and the soundtrack, full of George Michael classics like “Heal the Pain,” “Praying for Time,” and “One More Try,” is great (even if the context in which some of the songs are used is questionable). That said, I’m sure there’ll be a much better Broadway show that uses his music as inspiration some time soon.

For now, it’s used as the backbone of a lackluster holiday rom-com that isn’t very romantic or funny. Worse: Chances are good you’ll have a sixth sense about where the plot is heading. It’s really not that hard to figure out.

I’m only giving this film a C.