Another Charming British Holiday Movie

The recipe for any British holiday movie, the type pioneered by merchants of sap like , requires a fine balance of sentimentality and cynicism. Yes, the former ingredient is more crucial—the audience should exit the theater with the sickly satisfaction that comes with eating one too many cookies—but even the gooiest stories have to come with a little bite. is a mostly charming new comedy from two seasoned practitioners of the) and the writer Emma Thompson. Where the film succeeds, it’s because Feig and Thompson have remembered to mix in a little sour with the sweet.