Film Review: Cup of Cheer

I really wasn’t sure what to expect from a parody of low-budget Christmas movies but Cup of Cheer wasn’t it—it was better, despite some swings and misses. It’s the classic “big-city journalist moves to a small town for a story”, where she meets a cute guy who spills (an absurd amount of) hot cocoa on her. Of course the whole town (especially the overly horny older lady who runs a diner) is immediately invested in them dating and saving the town’s annual Christmas festival. 

A lot of the dialogue in Cup of Cheer is great and takes amusing turns; I got quite a few solid laughs. The leads—Storm Steenson as Mary and Alexander Oliver as Chris—are genuinely entertaining and really give it their all. The supporting cast is also weirdly believable in their very strange roles, but especially Helly Chester as Mrs. Clovenwitch, and Jacob Hogan as Authuh; a character who is completely disconnected from the main story but who manages to steal several scenes. 

Cup of Cheer is, for the most part, a lot of fun. When the dialogue is silly or clever, and directly references elements of this type of Christmas movie, it shines. However, there are parts that are crude in a way that feel like they’re from a worse movie. Some of it feels shoehorned in for like, twelve-year-old boys—who I don’t think are the target market for this—which takes away from the surprising charm of an otherwise solid parody. It was tonally odd that they’d be willing to give this an 14A rating for poop jokes and swearing, while staying relatively faithful to the genre’s very nonsexual vibe, where characters don’t seem to know what sex actually is or know how to kiss like, at all. 

Overall, it’s worth a watch, and I’d show people parts of this for kicks, but when Cup of Cheer moved away from actual tropes it got weaker. If you love the kind of movie this is parodying, you will probably love about half of this. If you love the kind of movie this is parodying with a grain of salt, like me, probably closer to 80%. 

Favourite Lines: 

“Pay rent by Christmas Eve. Or you’ll die. And then I’ll have to evict you.”
“Whatever you do, don't fall in love with some small town, 8/10 stranger. I’ve lost too many good reporters that way!” 

Pet Peeve: 

The plot line of the ex-boyfriend and his um...bowel misfortunes was too silly for an otherwise pretty clever movie.

Cup of Cheer was released November 5, 2020.
Watch it online at cupofcheermovie.com or check your local theatre/drive-in listings.