Review of White Christmas (1954) by Michael M — 12 Jan 2017

I'm really not sure this movie needed to be a Christmas movie. I know it's a Christmas-time classic and all, but the story really doesn't require it to be. You could really move it to any time of the year and it would still work.

That sort of bugs me, and it bugs me when any movie does that just to get that Christmas audience and try to be the next holiday classic. But hell, I guess it worked, and here we are. So how's the movie? It's fine.

It's a 50s musical, if you're into that sort of thing, you're going to love it. Personally, I thought it was cute, charming, and likable, but nothing spectacular. I've seen better movies of this type out there with better stories and better songs.

To be honest, I barely even remember what the story was about (two old war friends pursuing these two sisters who were on the run for...reasons?). What I did like about the movie were the characters, especially the bromance between Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye.

Crosby's the more cool and collected one, and Kaye is has that 50s screwball charm that I really enjoy. They were a fun pair, any scenes of the two of them together are really fun to watch because you really get a sense that these guys are buddies and have been for a while.

The sisters are pretty good too. I liked the banter between Crosby and his love interest, that sort of Han Solo/Leia we-like-each-other-but-are-both-too-stubborn-to-admit-it banter, it was cute and they were both really fast in their delivery.

In the end this isn't really a movie for me, and I don't see it becoming a Christmas classic, but I am glad I saw it once. It's cute and charming and has some fun performances, but I guess I just didn't get much out of it.

Some minor charm and escapism I guess, so there's nothing wrong with that.