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Melissa Harris-Perry: It's the most wonderful time of the year because it's time to check in with The Takeaway's favorite movie critic duo.

Kristen Meinzer: I'm Kristen Meinzer.

Rafer Guzman: And I'm Rafer Guzman.

Kristen Meinzer: Together, we host Movie Therapy with Rafer & Kristen.

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Melissa Harris-Perry: They're sharing their movie prescriptions fit for the holiday season because there's nothing better than curling up with some cocoa or a hot toddy and finding that perfect movie to watch.

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Melissa Harris-Perry: For both of you, I'm curious, are you big on holiday movie-watching?

Kristen Meinzer: I usually try to watch about 60-holiday movies in 60 days in the lead-up to Christmas all the way through early January. I see them in the theater, I watch made-for-TV movies, I watch classics. I don't discriminate. I'll watch everything from the latest on Hallmark to, for example, this year, the very exciting and very violent action movie Violent Night. I will watch it all, and I will love it all, and I will stand up and cheer, and I will feel the holiday magic.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Oh, I love it. How about you, Rafer? Are you with us on this?

Rafer Guzman: You know, for some strange reason, I'm not a big Christmas movie fan, but my Christmas spirit comes from music. I have a playlist of probably a few thousand songs, and they're all very obscure. You can't find them on streaming services. I compile them all on an old iPod, and I plug it into my stereo, and I drive my family insane with all these bizarre Christmas songs that I play every year. That's my Christmas ritual.

Melissa Harris-Perry: I love that your Christmas gift to others is something that they hate.

Rafer Guzman: That's exactly right.

Melissa Harris-Perry: That's the spirit of giving there. Kristen, I want to get right into your movie prescriptions. You have one from this year. You say that this is the best Hallmark holiday movie. Let's take a listen.

Speaker 4: Who are you?

Jason: Jason. Your family's neighbor.

Speaker 6: Jason's great with kids.

Jason: I just need someone to help me until I get the hang of things.

Kristen Meinzer: Oh, my gosh. This is The Holiday Sitter. It just came out on December 11th, and it is Hallmark's first official gay Christmas rom-com. It stars Hallmark holiday star Jonathan Bennett, who many of us know best as Lindsay Lohan's crush in Mean Girls. In The Holiday Sitter, he plays a child-free, commitment-phobe, big-city New York single, who gets cornered into babysitting his sister's kids in the suburbs during the holidays. Along the way, he enlists the help of one of his sister's neighbors, a very handsome handyman, who happens to be great with kids, played by George Krissa. Of course, the two hit it off, but can they overcome their differences? Will Christmas magic prevail? I'm not going to tell you. You have to watch to find out. It is a delight.

Melissa Harris-Perry: It's a Hallmark movie. Is Christmas magic going to prevail? Come on.

Kristen Meinzer: [laughs] No spoilers here, but yes, it will.

Melissa Harris-Perry: [laughs] Rafer, you also have a prescription for this season, a kind of best-movie version of an ugly Christmas sweater? What does that mean?

Rafer Guzman: Well, yes, I call this an ugly Christmas sweater. I'll explain in a minute. This is a Netflix movie. We have a Lindsay Lohan connection here, too. This actually is the comeback of Lindsay Lohan. It's called Falling for Christmas, and it is her first major movie role in nearly a decade. She plays Sierra Belmont. It's a thinly disguised version of Paris Hilton, if you ask me. She's a rich, spoiled hotel heiress, who's never worked a day in her life. One day, Sierra goes up to a mountain top with her boyfriend Tad, who surprises her with a proposal, just like Paris Hilton's fiancé did, as you may recall. In this case, Sierra accidentally falls off the mountain top, bumps her head, and develops amnesia. Oh, no.

Sierra: Sir, could you please tell her to let me out of here?

Speaker 8: First, we need to figure out who you are.

Sierra: What do you mean who I am? My name is-- my name is--

Speaker 9: What are we supposed to do with her?

Speaker 10: I have a place.

Sierra: Does it have room service?

Rafer Guzman: She wakes up in the arms of a handsome, conveniently widowed guy named Jake, played by Chord Overstreet, and of course, now rich Sierra will have to be put to work in Jake's humble ski lodge. Now, okay. Here's why I call this an ugly sweater movie. Because I personally found it eye-watering. I could barely look at this film while it was playing on my television screen.

Kristen Meinzer: What? Rafer, I loved it.

Rafer Guzman: Oh, I knew you would love it. I knew you would love it, Kristen. I gave this one of my rare zero-star reviews. However, the movie was a hit for Netflix. It was their number one movie briefly in November, and you can find some pretty positive reviews out there. I will say, Lindsay Lohan is actually not bad in that you can see a little glimmer of the old magic there. I would say, some people found this ugly sweater of a movie to be charming and endearing. I wouldn't be caught dead wearing it, but some things are a matter of taste. If you're a Lindsay Lohan fan, check out Falling for Christmas.

Kristen Meinzer: I would wear that sweater year-round, Rafer.

Melissa Harris-Perry: I mean, amnesia, Lindsay Lohan, Christmas?

Rafer Guzman: Yes, it's a little bit like-- it's a Wonderful Overboard is how I would put this movie.

Melissa Harris-Perry: [laughs] Rafer, by giving us that It's a Wonderful, you're going to let us go back in time a little bit. You've given us some of what's happening now. Kristen, tell me, what is your prescription for a classic holiday movie?

Kristen Meinzer: Oh, this is really tough because there are so many great classics out there, obviously, but I'm guessing most of the listeners have already seen those classics. It's a Wonderful Life, for example, my favorite. Christmas in Connecticut, Miracle on 34th Street, White Christmas. Most of us have seen those classics. I'm going to suggest a modern classic, which is a remake of an old classic from the olden days. It's Last Holiday, starring Queen Latifah, from 2006. I think this movie is a classic, and 100 years from now, people are still going to watch this movie.

Queen Latifah: Now, that all sounds so good. Will he have the same specials tomorrow night?

Speaker 11: No. Chef Didier never creates the same menu twice.

Queen Latifah: I guess I better try more tonight then.

Kristen Meinzer: That is Queen Latifah playing Georgia, who is a shy woman who gets a sadly terminal diagnosis right around the holidays. She decides, "I'm not going to live a quiet, shy life anymore. I am going to live my dreams. I'm going to go to Central Europe. I'm going to meet the chef who I idolize. I'm going to go skiing. I'm going to do daring things like cliff diving. I'm going to go to a casino, and I'm going to bet on red. I'm going to do it all during my last holiday."

The movie is just such a delight because Queen Latifah sparkles through the entire thing. It's a great movie not just for the holiday spirit but, because it's such a great reminder that life is better when we let go of what people think of us, which she used to worry a lot about, and when we step out of our comfort zone and chase our dreams. This movie always fills me with so much joy, not just holiday joy but joy all around.

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Melissa Harris-Perry: Don't go anywhere, we've got more movie prescriptions for the holiday season when we return. It's The Takeaway.

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Melissa Harris-Perry: It's The Takeaway. I'm Melissa Harris-Merry. We've been sharing some holiday cheer with a healthy dose of holiday movie prescriptions from Rafer Guzman and Kristen Meinzer. Rafer, do you have a classic holiday movie prescription?

Rafer Guzman: I do, and mine is also sort of a modern classic. I know it's a little bit of an obvious choice, but I never get tired of Elf with Will Ferrell. I just love that movie. I do think that movie has become a real bonafide classic right up there with, let's say, A Christmas Story or even an older movie, like Kristen was saying, something like Miracle on 34th Street. I think Elf is right up there.

The casting of Will Ferrell as an overgrown Santa’s helper named Buddy is just genius casting. You throw him into modern-day New York, you've got material for endless jokes. Great support cast. Ed Asner as Santa Clause, Bob Newhart as the narrator. I love Zoey Deschanel as Buddy’s crush. Of course, she works as an elf at a department store. I just think it's very charming. It's filled with some great lines. Here's a little bit of Elf.

Gimbel's Manager: Why you smiling like that?

Buddy: I just like to smile. Smiling is my favorite.

Gimbel's Manager: Make work your favorite. That's your favorite, okay?

Buddy: Okay.

Gimbel's Manager: Work is your new favorite.

Buddy: Fine.

Gimbel's Manager: It's time for an announcement.

Buddy: Okay.

Gimbel's Manager: Okay, people. Tomorrow morning, 10:00 AM, Santa's coming to town.

Buddy: Santa. Oh, my God. Santa, here? I know him.

Melissa Harris-Perry: "I know him." [chuckles]

Rafer Guzman: That's one of my favorite lines in that movie. "I know him." God, there's so many. "This is Buddy, what's your favorite color?" It's just endless, endless parade of lines. Of course, I've got to mention, one of the reasons I'm choosing Elf is because it also stars James Caan, who died this year at 82. It's just great to see James Caan in this movie. He's such a great tough guy. Here's the guy that we all know as Sonny Corleone. You've got Sonny Corleone fighting off this giant hairy elf all through the movie. It's just great.

Melissa Harris-Perry: It is kind of perfect. It just does every single thing that you need a holiday movie to do. Kristen, I will say, though, Elf, on the one hand, is a perfect holiday movie, it's also very holiday, it's very sweet. I mean, literally syrup on spaghetti kind of sweet.

Melissa: for those who may not want all the holiday cheer packed into a single movie. Kristen, what's your prescription for a non-holiday holiday movie?

Kristen: Oh, well, one of my absolute favorites is from 2002. It is Catch Me if You Can, Steven Spielberg's chase movie, which is the mostly true story of Frank Abagnale Jr. played by Leonardo DiCaprio, who after running away from his family successfully impersonates a pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer all before the age of 20. The fictional FBI agent Carl, who's been chasing him all through this adventure, is Tom Hanks, and playing Frank's dad is Christopher Walken.

The film spans a few different years in Abagnale's young Life as he moves from scheme to scheme in exciting ways that are hard not to cheer for. Beneath all of his scheming, young Frank is also struggling with the breakdown of his parent's marriage. That struggle is punctuated by about half a dozen Christmas scenes sprinkled throughout the movie. Most people would say this is not actually a Christmas movie, but there is Christmas in it. Those are some very poignant scenes in the movie, the Christmas scenes.

Dr. Connors: Hello, Carl. Merry Christmas.

Frank: Why are you, Dr. Connors?

Dr. Connors: Carl, I haven't been Dr. Connors for months now.

Carl: I'm sitting here in my office.

Dr. Connors: On Christmas Eve. What do you want?

Kristen: Ah, I love the heart that's in this movie and I do honestly love the Christmas scenes where you see some of the pain in Frank's heart.

Melissa: Yes. Do you Rafer have a non-holiday holiday flick-pick?

Rafer: Yes, I picked one. It's a very, very dark comedy from 2008 called In Bruges. It's from Martin McDonagh, the Irish playwright and screenwriter, the guy who did Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. In Bruges is the story of two hitmen who have just finished a job that went extremely wrong and now they're hiding out in a little tourist town in Belgium called Bruges. The older hitman Ken is played by Brendan Gleason, the younger one. Ray is played by Colin Ferrell, two great actors. As the two of them are sitting around board and going on sightseeing trips and trying to kill some time, this father-son relationship develops. We learned that Ray has done something unforgivable. Here's a little scene from In Bruges.

Ken: My vote would be we are quietly sightseeing, like he says, and awaiting his call to see what we do next.

Ray: What are you talking about?

Ken: You don't even know. We're not here in a job?

Ray: What on a job?

Ken: Yes.

Ray: Here in Bruges?

Ray: Yes.

Ray: Here in Bruges, on a job?

Ken: Yes.

Rafer: I picked this movie for a couple of reasons. One is because people probably don't remember that it actually does take place during Christmas time. Granted, when you're watching the movie, you'll have to squint pretty hard to see the holiday lights in the background and you got to listen very closely for one person to mention that it's Christmas. It counts, so I call this a non-holiday holiday movie.

The other reason I mentioned this, of course, is because Gleeson and Farrell and Martin McDonagh are all back together again for the Banshees of Inisherin, which is in theaters and doing very well right now. It just got nominated for Eight Golden Globes. If you want to see where that movie began, you go to In Bruge by the way. Don't show this to your kids. It's not a family-friendly Christmas movie by any means.

Melissa: All right, I have a question for both of you. Does Die Hard count as a Christmas movie?

Kristen: Oh yes. Absolutely.

Rafer: The perennial question. The perennial question.

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Rafer: I think it does. I think it totally does. I was just emailing with someone who out of nowhere mentioned Die Hard and insisted that it was not a Christmas movie. People get very, very angry about this debate. They're very invested in it, but I think it's a Christmas movie as well. Ho ho ho.

Kristen: I absolutely do too. Yes. Just to shout out to Reginald VelJohnson, who stars as Sergeant Al Powell in Die Hard. He also is in a great Christmas movie called The Mistle-Tones opposite Tori Spelling and Tia Mowry. Ah, he's everywhere. Reginald VelJohnson, always a Christmas King in my heart.

Rafer: That sounds good. That one sounds good.

Melissa: Kristen, tell me just a little bit more about The Mistle-Tones?

Kristen: Oh, I'm so glad I get a chance to talk about it because it's one of my favorite movies. It stars Tia Mowry as Holly, who auditions for the newly vacated spot in a local Christmas group founded by her late mother. When the Villainist group's leader, Marci played by Tori Spelling, ices her out, Holly sets out to create her own musical group, The Missile Tones, with of course the love and support of her dad, Reginald VelJohnson, who I just mentioned. The movie is hilarious. It's caddy, it's mean, it's funny, and it's got lots of great acapella singing. I love this movie.

Marci: This is the perfect pleasure to rehearse and it is totally soundproof.

Holly: Let's start with something simple.

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On the first day of Christmas.

My true love gave to me.

A partridge in a pear tree.

Melissa: I cannot think of any better way to wrap this moment.

Kristen: [laughs] Please check out this movie. It will fill you with holiday cheer. I promise.

Melissa: I did start maybe dancing a little bit. In studio here,[chuckles] Kristen Meinzer is culture critic and host of the podcast by the book. Rafer Guzman is film Critic for Newsday, and they're both hosts of the podcast Movie Therapy. Thank you both for being here. Happy holidays and thanks for sharing your holiday movie prescriptions.

Kristen: Thank you so much and happy holidays to you.

Rafer: Thanks, Melissa. Happy holidays.

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[00:16:11] [END OF AUDIO]

 

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