Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Kate is a young woman who has a habit of making bad decisions, and her last date with disaster occurs after she accepts work as Santa's elf for a department store. However, after she meets Tom there, her life takes a new turn.
Last Christmas is a pleasant but uneven romantic comedy buoyed by Emilia Clarke's charming performance and a London Christmas atmosphere that works better than expected. The plot, however, is its weakest element — the central twist (Tom is revealed to be a ghost, having donated his heart to Kate) is telegraphed poorly and lands more as a gimmick than an earned emotional revelation, leaving the narrative feeling contrived. The George Michael song catalogue integration is fun but occasionally feels like a jukebox exercise. Cinematography is competent holiday-fare without much visual ambition. The novelty earns a modest bump for the twist structure and the immigrant/identity themes woven into the Christmas backdrop, though neither is explored deeply enough. The ending struggles to resolve its tonal contradictions satisfyingly.