Holiday Season Gets Another Heartfelt, Cheesy Christmas Movie

Sydney Hershberger, Staff Writer

The Holidays: A time known for snow, cheer, cookies, gifts, trees and Santa. This time of year is also known for its abundance of Christmas movies.

I usually try to stay away from holiday movies for the simple reason that they usually aren’t that good unless they’re “Die Hard.” “Last Christmas,” however, surprised me.

“Last Christmas” follows the life of Kate (Emilia Clarke), who works in a year-round Christmas store, but isn’t exactly filled with Christmas cheer. She is rather burnt out on the idea of Christmas and isn’t too fond of the idea anymore.

This is until Kate meets the positive, cheerful and charming Tom (Henry Golding).

They, of course, hit it off as Tom tries to convince Kate that Christmas isn’t so bad and Kate denies the idea all together. Throughout the movie however, she slowly begins to adopt to Tom’s way of thinking.

It seems like a simple enough story, but it really ends up being a lot more than that.

Last Christmas is a story of self-betterment and learning to love oneself, which is something all of us could use.

At first, Kate is reluctant and uneasy to Tom’s trying to make her like Christmas, but eventually she goes along with it. We also see her overall self-image improve.

Kate is initially broken and feels like she has no true purpose in life. She is homeless with no friends and has a bitter outlook on life. It is through admitting the past and making amends that she learns to forgive herself and live a happier life.

Even after Tom is gone she continues to take better care of herself. She makes up with her sister, gets her boss a boyfriend and volunteers at a local homeless shelter.

At the end, you may begin to realize that Tom was never really the one helping her. She helped herself through the image of Tom, which I think is a beautiful message to anyone who feels similarly to Kate.

Of course this didn’t make it a perfect movie. It was cheesy, the jokes weren’t great and the acting is what you would expect for a movie of its kind.

But what moved me was the overall story and message of the movie. It was heartwarming and sweet without being Hallmark-y. It took what seemed like another “Spirit of Christmas” movie and ended up being so much more.

It was never about learning to love Christmas. It was about learning to love yourself.