Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever

Dir: Tim Hill

2014

***

I have now watched, witnessed and put myself through over a hundred Christmas films and apart from the classics (which are mostly overrated) most of them are beyond awful. Don't get me wrong, I like Christmas and I take part each year with an element of enthusiasm, but I'm also a realist. Christmas films are generally bloody awful, with few exceptions. In recent years the Christmas film has become something of an industry and every year brings one half decent festive film and around 500 utterly despicable ones. This is not an exaggeration. They are generally made in California, are filmed during the middle of summer and start being televised around mid-October. Most feature re-used Christmas film stories, a former b-list star and/or an annoying child or dog. So, the idea of a Christmas film based around an internet sensation and meme star is something beyond something I would most likely detest. Just the very idea that being a 'meme star' is a thing fills me with loathing but the fact that Grumpy Cat (her real name is the annoyingly misspelled Tardar Sauce) has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas and is clearly a soulless and rather unimaginative money making scheme makes me want to punch a kitten in the face out of disgust. However, Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever doesn't pretend to be anything it isn't, in fact, it knows just how cynical and awful it is and reminds the audience every other minute. I can't believe I'm admitting this but I actually quite liked it. The story itself is a little bit like Home Alone meets Paul Blart: Mall Cop and as awful as that sounds but Grumpy Cat (voiced by the suitably deadpan sounding Aubrey Plaza) will remind you consistently that a) Christmas films suck, b) What did you expect from a film that advertises itself as awful and c) "Some people are born great, other become great, and the rest watch cat movies, guess which one you are". It takes a rather satisfying swipe at Hallmark and Lifetime Christmas movies and reminds everyone just how stupid everything is, which I think is important, especially at this time of year. The festive season is a bombardment of how wonderful things are, how good we can be and how magical everything is. It's nice that a pissed off looking cat can come along and say 'No it isn't', even when you know there are a group of soulless, unimaginative and greedy people behind this monstrosity. It's no masterpiece but as far as Christmas film go its close and a refreshing change of pace. Meow.