Christmas is still a few weeks away, and it’s not even December yet as of this writing, but Netflix isn’t wasting any time when it comes to releasing Christmas movies. In fact, the newly released Netflix original Best Christmas Ever is one of the streamer’s most-watched movies in the US at the moment — it actually hit #1 upon its release, in spite of some utterly terrible scores and reviews from both fans as well as critics.
Starring Heather Graham as well as Brandy, Best Christmas Ever racked up 16.3 million views during its first full week on Netflix last week, in addition to hitting #1 on the streaming platform in the US (it’s since slid to #2). The movie has also managed to rack up some pretty abysmal scores on Rotten Tomatoes — a 38% critics’ score and a 19% audience score, to be exact. In other words, consider yourself warned if you’re thinking of checking this Netflix release out.
What it’s about: The story behind this Christmas comedy features two longtime frenemies who find themselves reunited by chance over the holidays. Per Netflix: “Every Christmas, Jackie (Brandy) sends a boastful holiday newsletter that makes her old college friend Charlotte (Graham) feel like a lump of coal. But when Charlotte lands on Jackie’s snowy doorstep just days before Christmas, she seizes the opportunity to prove her old friend’s life can’t possibly be that perfect.”
Brandy gives off an effortless effervescence as the kind and gracious Jackie Jennings, who opens up her home to her college friends Charlotte (Graham) and Rob Sanders (Jason Biggs) after they mistakenly end up on her doorstep in the days leading up to Christmas. It’s a turn of events that threatens to upend Jackie’s efforts to get into the holiday spirit, by dredging up her complicated feelings about Charlotte.
Then again, this being a Christmas movie, the question of whether these two will overcome their differences and find some Christmas magic shouldn’t even be a question at all.
Who’s in it: The cast of Best Christmas Ever includes —
- Brandy Norwood (as Jackie Jennings)
- Heather Graham (Charlotte Sanders)
- Jason Biggs (Rob Sanders)
- Matt Cedeno (Valentino Jennings)
What everyone is saying: As we noted above, the movie has been received pretty poorly, by critics as well as viewers. “On a scale of 1-10, the new Netflix movie ‘Best. Christmas. Ever!‘ is the worst movie of all time,” one Twitter user opined. Added another, who included an animated Gif of a confused Adele: “Trying to figure out the plot of #BestChristmasEver.”
Rotten Tomatoes critics from publications like The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Daily Beast all panned the movie as mediocre and forgettable, with one of the most recent viewer reactions adding that it was: “Horrible, Awful, Terrible! They get one star for the scenery and Christmas atmosphere … Who approved this ridiculous script? Do yourself a favor and skip this waste of time.”
