So This is Christmas Leftovers: Last Christmas

2021, Paul Feig (Ghostbusters) -- Amazon

I went into this one cold, having forgotten any plot or spoilers, or whether I did actually know anything about the movie other than Emilia Clarke (Solo) plays a Kate, an elf. TBH, I think I started wondering whether she might be a real elf, but thankfully NO, she's just a flustered young lady working at an Xmas store, run by a woman she calls Santa (Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once) who bumps into handsome devil Tom (Henry Golding, The Gentlemen) outside the store, as he Looks Up. People don't look up enough in London, he claims; there is so much to see!

Kate is a wreck. She starts the movie booted from her latest flat, dragging around her luggage, trying to find another sofa to surf on. She knows she's a wreck but lets it keep on happening, isolating friends and family. We don't know why, but we get hints that she recently recovered from an illness. Tom also seems rather drawn to her, despite her initial lack of interest in him; we get the idea he is just too perfect & put together for her.

As Xmas progresses Kate... well, wrecks even more, while also getting wrapped up in Tom's idyllic viewpoint on the world. And yet, there is something weird going on, in that he randomly appears at odd times of the night, only to dash off unexpectedly, usually leaving Kate exposed to something she wouldn't normally be, like the homeless shelter he claims to work at, which she ends up organizing a talent show for. The expected montage scene of the homeless folks showing their "talents" is hilarious. But the late act disaster, where she leaves Santa's shop's door open so she can rush off to an ill advised audition, eventually leads to her, and the movie's realization.

SPOILER !

Kate's illness was that she had a damaged heart, and eventually it gave out. But on that night, a heart donor had a bicycle accident and she was given his strong, and one might say caring, heart. Yes, it was Tom's. She's been wandering around London's east end looking up at decorative signs, having genuine heart to hearts with a ghost. All he wants is her to not abuse and waste his heart.

Clarke and Golding are just too fucking charming. I didn't think he could pull off the quirky nice guy common to these British romcoms, as he is just such a well put together gentleman, but he does. And he balances so well against her perky, giggly, NOT manic pixie aspects. But really, what wins in this movie is Yeoh as Santa, the ever patient, caring and grumpy owner of the shop whom Kate assists in finding her own love. I love how Yeoh's recent smaller roles, and bigger ones, have so often not been typical her, as in not always the martial-arts wielding, intimidating matron. And yet, with each, she carries such weight.