“LAST CHRISTMAS” — 21⁄2 stars — Emilia Clarke, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Emma Thompson; PG-13 (language and sexual content); in general release; running time: 102 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — “Last Christmas” certainly has its heart in the right place, but that’s about it.
Paul Feig’s film follows the misadventures of a young singer during the holiday season. When we first meet Kate, she’s front and center in her church youth choir, singing a soaring solo in her native Yugoslavia home back in 1999. Fast-forward to 2017 and adult Kate (Emilia Clarke) is now in London, and something seems to have gone terribly wrong along the way.
Kate tries out for West End musicals, and practically gets laughed off the stage. She’s borderline homeless, since her clumsy and irresponsible behavior keeps getting her kicked out by every friend she crashes with. Her dating life is a series of one-night-stands that end in catastrophe, and she’s barely clinging to a menial retail job at a holiday boutique that specializes in truly horrifying Christmas-themed novelties.
Enter Tom (Henry Golding), a dashing young man in a tan overcoat who appears outside Kate’s shop one day. They have a mild meet-cute moment that involves a pigeon pooping on her face, and subsequently the pair keep running into each other in random places.
Initially Kate pushes back on Tom’s interest, insisting that he’s not her type, and a little creepy. For his part, Tom — who is a little too quirky — doesn’t seem to have romance on his mind. When Kate finally warms up to him and asks for his phone number, he tells her he left his phone at home ... in the cupboard.
In time, they develop a curious friendship, and thanks to Tom’s influence, Kate starts volunteering at a local soup kitchen, plays cupid for her eccentric boss Santa (Michelle Yeoh) and even reconnects with her family, including her estranged sister Marta (Lydia Leonard) and intense mother Petra (Emma Thompson). Kate also opens up to Tom about a medical condition that seems to have triggered the dramatic derailment of her grandiose life plans.
It doesn’t take long to realize something fishy is going on with “Last Christmas” — which, according to the opening credits, was inspired by the popular Wham! tune from the 1980s. It isn’t hard to guess the big third-act twist long before it arrives, and though at a distance the whole trajectory is a noble exercise, Feig’s film is clunky and feels more cliched than sincere.
Part of the problem is that, in spite of Clarke’s obvious charms, Kate is a pretty miserable character and tough to sympathize with early on. She also seems like an odd match for Tom, which make the early stages of their relationship hard to buy into, and several offhand if sincere references to immigration tensions seem out of place. Though “Last Christmas’” final destination answers some of those questions, it feels like the total product makes a better argument on paper than on the screen.
If nothing else, “Last Christmas” should please George Michael fans. In addition to the five different versions of the titular song that are sprinkled through the movie, several other tracks from Michael — who died Christmas Day 2016 — pop up across the film’s 102-minute run time.
It’s really too bad; Clarke could really shine with the right material, but this is her second romantic outing that has dropped the ball after 2016’s “Me Before You.” Maybe the third time will be the charm?
Rating explained: “Last Christmas” is rated PG-13 for adult themes and situations, plus some vulgarity and profanity.