Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Meeting your partner’s family for the first time, especially if they have close to zero idea about who you are, can be daunting as hell. So when Thea invites her boyfriend Jashan to spend Christmas at her home in Norway, she leaves out a very crucial detail – her family doesn’t know he is Indian or that they are freshly engaged.
Directed and written by Petter Holmsen, the 2023 movie “Christmas as Usual” (Original title: Så Var Det Jul Igjen) is supposedly inspired by real events but will instantly remind some viewers of the 2020 Christmas romance “Happiest Season,” which has a very similar plot – the protagonist gets carried away in a romantic moment and invites their partner to spend the holidays with her family, and then behaves like a total prick to please their parents. Thea (Ida Ursin-Holm) does nothing to make Jashan (Kanan Gill) feel at home, her mom isn’t welcoming either, and you feel bad for the man for most of the runtime.
Marit Andreassen plays Thea’s stiff mother Anne-Lise, who tries to push her daughter towards her ex-boyfriend, which was just an awful little plot twist that wasn’t funny at all. Although a running gag about Anne-Lise not getting Jashan’s name right and calling him Shazam was kinda hilarious albeit mean. The actors are pretty good in their roles, weird around each other, capturing the awkwardness typical of initial family encounters. However their relationship barely improves as the plot progresses and everybody is obsessed with having their perfect Norwegian Christmas instead of acknowledging their guest.
Even Thea’s brother and sister-in-law don’t do much to make Jashan comfortable, and instead are outright rude by gossiping about him to his face in Norwegian. A stereotypical Indian sitar music that only a firang* would choose to play would often accompany some of Jashan’s scenes and one would think a seasoned comedian like Kanan (who ironically shot to fame by mocking movies) would’ve advised the makers against it.
On the positive side, the cinematography captures the essence of Christmas well, seamlessly blending the serene, snowy landscapes of Norwegian winters with the warm and vibrant colors of festive celebrations. Ida Ursin-Holm and Kanan Gill make a sweet inter-cultural couple, but that romance lasts for only the first few minutes in “Christmas as Usual”, after that it’s all about Thea struggling and failing to be a supportive partner.
The story does have some fun inter-cultural moments, like when Thea’s family isn’t able to take Jashan’s Indian cooking due to the spices or when Jashan has a tough time digesting Anne-Lise’s bland Christmas dinner. Kanan Gill is casual, laid-back and likable as Jashan, who is comfortable in his skin and doesn’t put on any pretensions to please Thea’s family, too bad Thea’s character wasn’t written better.
Just as its title suggests, the plot is the usual stuff – after a painful few days of misunderstandings and awkwardness, things come to a head between Thea and Jashan. A conflict ensues, and then viewers get a clichéd grand gesture finale to wrap up “Christmas as Usual” – with the overdone airport make-up scene. This could have been a quirky, fresh film, but it’s just another title in a long list of Christmas films that flood the movie market in December.
Rating: 5 on 10. You can stream “Christmas as Usual” on Netflix.
*firang is an Indian slang for foreigners.
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