It’s that time of year. Where we get bombarded with feel-good rom-com at Christmastime films. After all, the holiday season is about presents, family, and romantic connections. While The Hallmark Channel pretty much has a lock on this genre as they usually put out about two dozen a day starting the day after Thanksgiving, that doesn’t mean that Amazon can’t get into the Christmas spirit with their newest film Something From Tiffany’s.
Something From Tiffany’s is clever because it twists the genre into new and different territory. Usually, it’s a predictable format of two strangers meeting around the holidays, and the cat-and-mouse game of will they or won’t they go on for the next 90 minutes with the cumulation that the two people are soulmates destined for each other. Rachael (Zoey Deutch) and Ethan (Kendrick Sampson) are both in happy relationships, or are they? Rachael runs her own bakery with her best friend Terri (Jojo T. Gibbs) and is in love with her boyfriend Gary (Ray Nicholson). Meanwhile, Ethan is on vacation in New York City with his girlfriend Vanessa (Shay Mitchell), and his daughter from a previous marriage Daisy (Leah Jeffries). Their fates become intertwined one day at Tiffany’s.
As much as this movie is a nice cute romantic comedy, it’s also a massive advertisement for Tiffany’s!
At Tiffany’s, Ethan and his daughter were choosing an engagement ring for his girlfriend, Vanessa. He has chosen the ideal engagement ring for his love with Daisy’s assistance. At the same time, Gary is in Tiffany’s looking to get Rachael a wonderful Christmas present without thinking about getting engaged. He decides to acquire her a nice pair of earrings with the jeweler’s assistance. Gary is struck by a car and knocked to the ground in the street after bumping into Ethan and suffers a concussion. Ethan rushes to check on Gary to make sure he’s okay before the ambulance shows up, as suggested by Daisy. His and Gary’s identical Tiffany’s bags are switched during the hubbub. Now Gary has the engagement ring, and Ethan has the earrings.
This sets in motion a series of random coincidences that cause him to meet Rachael after checking in on Gary at the hospital. As Ethan and Rachael engage in small talk, a connection develops between them right away. We all know where this is leading, despite the fact that there are no significant intentions for a relationship between the two. Before the major gift exchanges on Christmas morning, when all hell breaks free, the two enjoy a few meet-cute moments. Both Ethan and Gary are aware that the bags were switched, but Gary chooses to keep it a secret since he’s unable to pay for the engagement ring on a tattoo artist’s wage. Ethan also attempts to play things safe by keeping it a secret since he doesn’t want to offend Rachael (seriously, this is New York City; how do they keep running into each other?!?) and they continue to go for coffee.
Of course, Rachael/and Gary’s Ethan/external Vanessa’s baggage also adds fuel to the fire because, in classic Hallmark Channel style, everyone has a big secret they’re holding from their partners. This helps clear the way for Rachael and Ethan to start to realize they may have feelings for each other. We all know how it will end, and it does end exactly how you would expect it to, so the finale is quite predictable. However, Something From Tiffany’s is elevated to be more than what it is thanks to the charisma and chemistry between the two leads.
While a small film, the cast of Something From Tiffany’s is great. At first, Jojo T. Gibbs’ Terri comes across as the stereotypical black best friend to Rachael, but the introduction of Batwoman herself, Javicia Leslie as Terri’s partner Sophia, helps give Terri her own story. While Zoey Deutch and Kendrick Sampson truly stand out, the star of the film is young actress Leah Jeffries as Daisy. Expect big things from this rising young actress. Something From Tiffany’s isn’t a big game-changer for the movie as a whole, but it is a pleasant, charming, and endearing movie to see for an hour and a half to get into the holiday spirit.
Something From Tiffany’s streams on Prime Video beginning December 9th.
