Based on the most Dad-joke reading possible of the first two lines of the Wham! song “Last Christmas”, Paul Feig’s slight rom-com wears its genre clichés on its sleeve and uses copious fairy lights and tinsel to distract from its threadbare plot.

Kate (Emilia Clarke) is a cynical, self-destructive Christmas shop worker, estranged from her family and rapidly running out of friends to exploit for a…

From the opening strains of Jean Paul Keller’s “Ca S’est Arrange”, you can practically feel Paul Feig donning on a black turtleneck and slipping into auteurship with a mischievous sense of insouciance. He’s in playful mood indeed as he indulges his inner Hitchcock even as he can’t quite resist giving in to his quirky comedic instincts.

When mom-blogger Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) is brought…