Movies At Christmas, but Not About Christmas?

November 28, 2006 7:45 PM

What movies take place around Christmas time but don't actually have anything to do with Christmas?

This is actually being asked by proxy. A friend of mine can think of Brazil, and would like to come up with other movies that occur around Christmas, but aren't actually about Christmas. Help me help him.

posted by SansPoint to media & arts (37 comments total)

The latter half of The Matador
posted by anarcation at 7:47 PM on November 28, 2006

Die Hard & Die Hard II

(I can't believe I'm posting that w/o also posting something more highbrow, but there it is)
posted by JekPorkins at 7:47 PM on November 28, 2006

Gremlins
posted by cosmicbandito at 7:47 PM on November 28, 2006

Serendipity
posted by youngergirl44 at 7:48 PM on November 28, 2006

Home Alone
posted by brevator at 7:50 PM on November 28, 2006

All Shane Black's movies, basically. Long Kiss Goodnight, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and at least one of the Lethal Weapon movies? I don't watch them because of my boycott of Mel...
posted by AmbroseChapel at 7:52 PM on November 28, 2006

Rent
posted by candyland at 7:53 PM on November 28, 2006

Eyes Wide Shut.
posted by oflinkey at 7:55 PM on November 28, 2006

Two lists.
posted by iconomy at 8:04 PM on November 28, 2006

The Ice Harvest.
posted by Token Meme at 8:05 PM on November 28, 2006

Reindeer Games
posted by Doublewhiskeycokenoice at 8:22 PM on November 28, 2006

The Hudsucker Proxy
posted by Paragon at 8:22 PM on November 28, 2006

movies that occur around Christmas, but aren't actually about Christmas

There's no such thing. All movies that feature Christmas as a thematic device are, on some level, ironically or unironically drawing comparisons and contrasts about Christmas itself. They're all "about" Christmas, just in different ways.

* Die Hard is ultimately about a Christmastime family reunion, of McClane and his wife.
* Gremlins is about a comic perversion of a familiar holiday.
* Home Alone is a comedy about a family forgetting their own child at an unusual time (see, you wouldn't expect it to happen on Christmas).
* Serendipity uses the Central Park ice rink and the Christmas backdrop of New York City as the "magic" of the movie that brings the lovers together.
* Rent is about the "family" created by the artists in the Village that comes together at the end.
* Eyes Wide Shut is the "nightmare" Christmas party, when we really should all just go home to wives and family.
* The Ice Harvest is how perverted Christmas can become when the parents are out playing key party and the kids are left alone to experiment.
posted by frogan at 8:25 PM on November 28, 2006

Nah, that was the The Ice Storm. Know thy ice. The Ice Harvest was about how depraved people can become with a backdrop of Christmastime...well, come to think of it, it wasn't all that much different from your interpretation for Storm. Even had a couple kids destined for serious dysfunction.
posted by mdevore at 8:46 PM on November 28, 2006

Any of the many terrible movies about Pearl Harbor, if 12/7 counts as around Christmas.
1941.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:51 PM on November 28, 2006

8 Crazy Nights.
posted by smackfu at 8:53 PM on November 28, 2006

Stepmom

*cries*
posted by cholly at 9:19 PM on November 28, 2006

Believe it or not, Psycho ... only because Christmas decorations happened to be clearly visible in some footage of Phoenix. Rather than reshoot, Hitchcock simply added an opening title: "FRIDAY, DECEMBER THE ELEVENTH."
posted by pmurray63 at 9:42 PM on November 28, 2006

Love Actually. Argh, I cry at everything.
posted by amtho at 9:53 PM on November 28, 2006

My favorite movie, The Lion in Winter.
posted by Hildago at 9:55 PM on November 28, 2006

Batman Returns.
posted by Robot Johnny at 10:15 PM on November 28, 2006

Just a couple off the top of my head:
The Poseidon Adventure (New Year's Eve)
Lethal Weapon

You can also look at The Movie Timeline, which offers a chronological listing of movie events. This google search should yield a few results.
posted by mach at 11:17 PM on November 28, 2006

I believe Narnia takes place around xmas as Santa makes an appearance.
posted by gfrobe at 12:43 AM on November 29, 2006

"Falling In Love". It has a plot device centred around the two main characters bumping into one another and accidentally picking up a wrapped gift intended for the other's spouse, but it's not a Christmas story.
posted by essexjan at 1:44 AM on November 29, 2006

Dark Angel, starring Dolph Lundgren.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 1:58 AM on November 29, 2006

Little Women. While it takes place across several different seasons, it always feels like a Christmassy movie to me. It also makes me feel the (physical) distance between me and my siblings more accutely than usual.
posted by shiu mai baby at 4:40 AM on November 29, 2006

Brazil
posted by JigSawMan at 5:47 AM on November 29, 2006

From looking at my movies, what comes to mind is Beauty and the Beast, Anastasia, Hook, the beginning of Cast Away, and Batman Returns. (The first three have snow, the last two specifically mention Christmas, but do not have a significance to the plot.)
posted by itchie at 5:55 AM on November 29, 2006

I obviously scanned the question too quickly. Sorry.
posted by JigSawMan at 6:19 AM on November 29, 2006

The Shop Around the Corner
posted by drycleanonly at 7:25 AM on November 29, 2006

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
posted by thivaia at 7:57 AM on November 29, 2006

Dawn of the Dead
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:03 AM on November 29, 2006

I wouldn't say The Shop Around The Corner isn't about Christmas. So much of it is about getting a Christmas gift for the penpal.

And Love Actually has a Christmas song as one of its plots.

I'd say Bridget Jones Diary. Not all of it, though.
posted by pyjammy at 9:14 AM on November 29, 2006

Enemy of the State.
Plus something recent, can't recall, but it was originally scheduled for a holiday release, but was then delayed (so its Christmas trimmings made no sense at all).
posted by Rash at 9:38 AM on November 29, 2006

While You Were Sleeping.
posted by itchie at 11:28 AM on November 29, 2006

Catch me if you can.
posted by Margalo Epps at 4:22 PM on November 29, 2006

And Love Actually has a Christmas song as one of its plots.

Several characters in the movie make obvious, deliberate remarks on the theme of, "It's Christmas, and at Christmas, you're supposed to be with the ones you love, you're supposed to tell them you love them, etc."
posted by frogan at 9:07 PM on November 29, 2006