TV Pick of the Week: I Hate Christmas - review by Yvette Huddleston
I Hate Christmas Netflix, review by Yvette Huddleston
This Italian version of the hit Norwegian romantic comedy series Home for Christmas is every bit as charming and heart-warming as the original, this time with a southern European sensibility rather than a Scandi one. And despite the title, it is actually full of yuletide cheer, the perfect easy viewing – the Venice setting also means that it is extremely photogenic – to get you in the mood for the festive season.
Thirty-year-old nurse Gianna (Pilar Fogliati) is single after breaking up with her long-term boyfriend three years earlier. She is dedicated to her job and happy being single, but she feels under pressure from her family – particularly her mother Marta (Sabrina Paravicini) – to find a partner. It can feel a little relentless to Gianna and one weekend at a family lunch with her parents and her siblings when the subject of Christmas Eve celebration dinner comes up, she blurts out that this year she will be bringing her boyfriend. That means she has only a few weeks to actually find one…
Gianni’s group of friends – who range from the cynical to the hopelessly romantic – have all sorts of conflicting advice on how to do that and so she begins her search. There then follows a series of dates which for various and different reasons turn out not to be suitable. There is the local fishmonger Mario (Alessio Praticò) who turns out to be childish, supersensitive and lacking a sense of humour, then there is Carlo (Marco Rossetti), the wealthy businessman that one of her friends sets her up with, who is controlling and over the top with his attention – he advises her on what to wear and sends her a hundred red roses after their first date.
She has a lot of fun with Davide (Nicolas Maupas), a young man she meets in a nightclub who turns out to be a lot younger than she thought. Then there is the charismatic older politician Dante (Andrea di Stefano), who is one of her patients – and, it transpires, her mother’s university sweetheart. Maybe she is not looking in the right place… Her kind and attentive doctor colleague Umberto (Glen Blackhall) seems very nice – and interested in her – but doesn’t appear to notice.
The engaging narrative is not quite as predictable as you might think, skilfully teased out with some quirky twists and turns. It is warm, good-humoured and very entertaining and the central performance from Fogliati is extremely endearing.