Christmas movies, especially in our modern streaming era, exist on a different plane than other forms of filmed entertainment.
We look to these movies not for innovation, but for comfort. They’re background entertainment stuffed with holiday cheer and puffy coats, the more clichés they pack in before the final lessons are learned about the true spirit of the holiday season, the better.
They’re often vehicles for stars who aren’t headlining mainstream movies anymore, or are on their way back from a career hiatus — see Lindsay Lohan in 2022’s “Falling for Christmas” — and in that vein, we have Netflix’s “A Merry Little Ex-Mas,” which gives Alicia Silverstone her most high-profile screen role in years.
The “Clueless” star remains a steady presence in movies, notably appearing in small roles in several Yorgos Lanthimos films (including 2017’s “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” and this year’s “Bugonia”). But she hasn’t been allowed to sparkle in years, the way she does in “Ex-Mas.”
Silverstone stars as Kate, a mom who is recently divorced from her husband Everett (Christmas movie mainstay Oliver Hudson). But when he starts parading around his new boo Tess (Jameela Jamil), the plot gears start churning, and darned if Kate realizes there’s no one else she wants to spend the holiday with than her favorite Santa Claus.
“A Merry Little Ex-Mas” unfolds in the town of Winterlight, which sure, why not, and it at least appears to have been shot in the wintertime, rather than filming in July and having all the snow and Christmas lights added in during post-production. (The movie was shot in the Toronto area.) Fellow ’90s it-girl Melissa Joan Hart has a small role as one of Kate’s friends, and there are enough good vibes to carry the movie through to its conclusion (although those “conscious uncoupling” jokes seem to have been lifted from a decade-old issue of People magazine).
The majority of “Ex-Mas” rests on Silverstone’s very capable shoulders, and she’s what makes it work. In Lanthimos’ films, or in other thrillers in which she’s been cast in recent years, she’s often treated like a curiosity or a freak show, or a type to be played against. Here she’s allowed to be charming and sweet and adorable, which is where she shines, and she makes herself a figure to root for, both on screen and off.
“A Merry Little Ex-Mas” may or may not count as a comeback for Silverstone, but it’s a reminder of her particular talents, and she makes “Ex-Mas” a tiny little holiday treat.
Also entering the holiday movie fray this year are the Jonas Brothers, who star in the Disney+ original “A Very Jonas Christmas Movie,” a let’s-get-home-for-Christmas race against the clock where the Brothers — Nick, Kevin and Joe — learn to once again appreciate each other, with the help of a little holiday magic.
It goes a little something like this. The JoBros finish up a show in London and plan to head home to their respective families for Christmas. But their brotherly bond has been stretched thin due to years of official JoBros duty, and an intervening Santa Claus (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) shows up to teach the boys a thing or two about brotherly love, and he blows up their airplane to make sure they have a little holiday adversity to overcome.
It’s actually one of two plane explosions in “A Very Jonas Christmas Movie,” which is double the plane explosions usually found in Christmas movies, unless you’re mounting an argument for “Die Hard 2’s” place in the holiday canon. (A case can be made, if we’re ever able to get over the discourse surrounding the first film.) But it’s an example of the way that “A Very Jonas Christmas Movie” plays with the idea of not being a cheesy Christmas movie even while embracing its very essence as a cheesy Christmas movie, a deft two-step that director Jessica Yu and screenwriters Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger manage well.
Having been part of the Disney machine for years — this year marks the band’s 20th anniversary, if you can believe it — the Jonases know their way around a camera, a joke, and a heartthrob moment. “AVJCM” plays to those strengths while giving the group’s fans exactly what they want from the trio, wrapped like a present beneath the tree on Christmas morning.
The Brothers Jonas fold several songs into the film’s scant 80-minute runtime, which is a holiday treat unto itself. We get Jonas in-jokes (including a running gag about Jonas-branded candles), several star cameos (including Kenny G!) and enough holiday goodwill to know the Bros are in on the joke of the whole thing, which makes “A Very Jonas Christmas Movie” — much like “A Merry Little Ex-Mas” — go down as smooth as a glass of eggnog.
agraham@detroitnews.com
‘A Merry Little Ex-Mas’
GRADE: B-
Not rated: Nothing objectionable
Runtime: 91 minutes
On Netflix
‘A Very Jonas Christmas Movie’
GRADE: B
Not rated: Nothing objectionable
Running time: 80 minutes
On Disney+