Jingle Bell Heist embraces the fun of classic heist film tropes to deliver holiday fun, even if the romance falls flat.
Cheesy holiday rom-coms have become a beloved if not always respected genre at this point. Netflix has become one of the foremost purveyors of the holiday rom-com and Jingle Bell Heist is their latest effort. Jingle Bell Heist aims to distinguish itself by mainly being a traditional heist film that happens to take place at Christmas and adds a splash of romance. In the end, director Michael Fimognari can’t quite wrangle all all of the disparate elements together but a solid screenplay from Abby McDonald and Amy Reed, two likable leads in Olivia Holt and Connor Swindells, and competent filmmaking put Jingle Bell Heist in the upper tier of disposable holiday fare.
Holt and Swindells star as Sophie and Nick, two down-on-their-luck retail workers who form an uneasy alliance when Sophie has a sudden need for money to pay her for her ailing mother’s medical treatment. They set out to rob Sophie’s employer, Sterlings department store, with Nick also having a score to settle with the pompous owner of the store, Maxwell Sterling (Peter Serafinowicz). As they spend time working out how to successfully execute their scheme Sophie and Nick uncover more about each other’s pasts and slowly fall for each other.
A lack of chemistry almost ruins the holidays.
Photo Credit: Netflix
Fimognari and McDonald bring solid experience to Jingle Bell Heist. Fimognari is a long time collaborator of Mike Flanagan and directed the final two films in Netflix’s hugely successful To All the Boys franchise. McDonald is a longtime author and writer on Bridgerton. Their combined experience seems perfect for this genre, but it’s the romance elements that surprisingly don’t work well in Jingle Bell Heist.
Holt and Swindells are charming enough. They’re both good looking young actors that bring enough vulnerability to their characters Sophie and Nick. The problem is that they have no romantic chemistry whatsoever and the plot hinges on Sophie and Nick reluctantly joining forces to rob a fancy department store. Obviously as they plan their heist, they learn about each other’s requisite tragic backstories and fall in love.
Perhaps Fimognari and company recognized this lack of chemistry during production because the film is mostly uninterested in their developing romance. Jingle Bell Heist is happy to check off the minimum required steps in Sophie and Nick’s love story while spending more time on the heist portion of its plot.
Tropes can be fun.
Photo Credit: Netflix
McDonald’s screenplay shines when Sophie and Nick are working together on their big score. Heist movies have just as many cliches and well worn tropes as holiday rom-coms and Jingle Bell Heist has them all. Sympathetic back stories for our thieves, including dying relatives or adorable children? Check. Thieves with oddly specific sets of skills? Double check. A mustache twirling villain that deserves to be robbed? Triple check!
Despite how familiar all of these components are, the execution of them is well done. There are fun fake-outs and failed attempts to get the job done early and Fimognari keeps the film moving quickly from one sequence to the next. Any scene that is needed for exposition or to move the plot along is only as long as it needs to be which helps bring the film in at a brisk 96 minutes. Cutting out all the fat allows Jingle Bell Heist to stay focused on the fun bits.
There are great moments of levity and legitimate laughs to be had. Despite a relatively small cast, there are fun supporting characters that make the world feel lived in and experienced performers like Lucy Punch and Peter Serafinowicz are deployed expertly. Punch in particular gets an extended sequence to bring her particular brand of comedy to the table that is a lot of fun.
The bottom line.
Jingle Bell Heist doesn’t overstay its welcome. It knows what its strengths are and sticks to them, leaning on classic heist film tropes and a charming cast. Even amongst the familiar tropes it manages to throw in a genuinely fun twist that recontextualizes the job. Where a lot of other films of this type feel like the entire team is just going through the motions Fimognari, McDonald and the rest of the crew appear to actually enjoy making movies. That goes a long way in the current era of “content production” and makes Jingle Bell Heist feel like a throwback to a different time. A good time.
Jingle Bell Heist is now streaming on Netflix. Watch the trailer here.
Images courtesy of Netflix. Read more articles by Jose Cordova here.
REVIEW RATING
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Jingle Bell Heist - 7/10
7/10
Jose Cordova is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. A lifelong appreciator of film, television, and video games, he can usually be found sitting on his couch desperately trying to make a dent in his watchlist.
