That Christmas (2024)

‘That Christmas’ Finds ‘Love Actually’s Richard Curtis in Gently Amusing if Bland Festive Spirit. Directed by Simon Otto, the film adapts Curtis’ children’s book and sees multiple families dealing with Christmas mayhem in a small English town. Landing on Netflix on December 4th, ‘That Christmas,’ which is driven by the work of festive veteran Richard Curtis (even if his one contribution to cinematic Christmas is the divisive ‘Love Actually’), who here adapts his children’s’ book series, illustrated by Rebecca Cobb.

Attempting to slot into the highly-prized pantheon of re-watchable Christmas movies (or at least be something that tired parents can plunk sugar-powered children down in front of while they try to sleep off the stresses of the season) is a risky maneuver and its one that this cheery, if somewhat simple comedy just falls short of.