Christmas As Usual (Så Var Det Jul Igjen) is a Norwegian romantic comedy directed by Petter Holmsen and produced by Motion Blur Production for Netflix. It has a runtime of about 1 hour and 29 minutes and is produced by Espen Horn, Kristian Strand Sinkerud, and Jenny Victoria Jærn.
The cast of the film includes Ida Ursin Holm as Thea, Kanan Gill as Jashan Joshi, Marit Adeleide Andreassen as Anne-Lise, Veslemøy Mørkrid as Hildegunn, Erik Follestad as Simen, Matilde Hovdegard as Ronja, Mads Sjøgård Pettersen as Jørgen and others.
The story follows Thea, who was planning to celebrate a traditional Norwegian Christmas with her family in her hometown. However, this year she is bringing along her Indian boyfriend, Jashan. What was supposed to be a typical Christmas celebration turns into a tumultuous festive affair that challenges everyone’s preconceived beliefs and traditions.
Christmas As Usual Review
The film is said to be based on a true story and starts with Thea getting proposed by her boyfriend Jashan, on December 1st with Christmas spirits. She becomes perplexed and seems to think it might be too soon to get engaged. Yet accept the sincere proposal despite them not being on the same page about various things in their lives. It also gives her the idea to reveal this new development over the Christmas week, to her family in Norway.
For Jashan, that’s like an obvious next step where the engaged partners would meet each other’s families. However, there’s just one problem – Thea’s family is completely oblivious about him. They know that she lives with her boyfriend ‘Josh’ but never expected him to be a brown guy with a name that doesn’t stick to their tongues.
From initial surprise to cultural differences, each passing day till Christmas tests Thea and Jashan’s relationship with the family. While Thea’s family is trying to celebrate the festivities just like the old times when her father was also alive. But even Jashan being there brings many changes that Thea was trying to avoid to celebrate an amicably perfect Christmas. Torn between trying to persuade her mother and encouraging Jashan to fit in with her family traditions, everything’s on the line for her.
Also Read: EXmas Review: Feels Like a Parody of Christmas Movies
Considering it’s a Christmas rom-com, the only question while watching the film was – where’s the comedy? From the start to the end, it’s quite sappy and a bit suspenseful as if something big would be revealed. But nothing of that sort happens. The more Jashan tries to indulge himself with the family, the distance between them widens. Typically, this whole scenario would be full of tragic/slapstick comedy. Here, it was just tragically icky.
It feels like he wants to be a part of the group but also doesn’t want to follow their ways. If you are trying to win somebody’s parents, then one would simply comply with any weird or nonsensical thing it would. Jashan would try to do something and in the next moment, throw up his hands in the air, complaining and not wanting to do it. For example, in eating scenes, it’s fun to watch the characters gulping down stuff that they never heard of or would try, just to win points with the parents. But Jashan spoils that fun as well by cribbing and calling it disgusting on their faces.
On top of that, he tries to shove his way of things on the family, despite being just a guest. It’s not just the boyfriend’s obnoxious character but Thea was ambiguous as well. She is shown to be conflicted about her family accepting Jashan but in reality, she is the one having second thoughts about her relationship. The family barely ever disregards the boyfriend or shows disapproval. They just seem surprised and trying to learn more about him. Even that wouldn’t have been an issue if only Thea had given them a heads-up.
Thus with the lack of family conflict and comedic moments, all that’s left is some relationship drama. The girlfriend not being sure/ ashamed of her choice and an insensible boyfriend trying to mould everything in his way, or ignorant of other’s feelings. Considering it’s based on a real story, Thea and Jashan aren’t meant to be together (in real life). Coming from different cultural backgrounds none of them seem interested to know each other better, outside of their lives in the US. Also, the makeup department needed to hand out Kanan Gill chapstick at least.
Rating: 2/5
Christmas As Usual is available for streaming on Netflix.
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