Boxing Day Review

It’s that time of year again for festive films old and new. One of the big cinematic Christmas films of the year is Boxing Day, the first British Christmas film with a predominately black cast.

Melvin McKenzie (Aml Ameen) is an author who fled to America after his parents announced their divorce on Boxing Day two years ago. Since that time he has fallen for Lisa (Aja Naomi King) and proposes to her. However, Lisa has her own secrets, along with the rest of the McKenzie clan. Melvin goes to London for the first time in two years and deals with the fallout from his decision to leave.

Love Actually is a British Christmas film that looms large. Many people, especially in the UK see it as a holiday classic and Garry Marshall attempted to copy that success with two holiday-themed rom-coms with an all-star cast.  All these films showed many characters who are loosely connected having romantic storylines. Boxing Day followed elements of the Love Actually template.

The central storyline involved the love triangle between Melvin, Lisa, and Melvin’s ex, Georgia (Leigh-Anne Pinnock), and the various time bombs they produced. Melvin and Lisa were hiding their engagement, Lisa was hiding her pregnancy and a job offer in New Zealand, and Melvin tried to hide Georgia was his ex. Georgia wanted to get back with Melvin, leading to passive aggression between the two women.

The other romantic storylines involved Melvin’s mother and brother. Melvin’s mother Shirley (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) was in a secret relationship with Richard (Stephen Dillane). The big controversy of their relationship was Richard’s ethnicity. Whilst Melvin’s brother, Josh (Sheyi Cole) wanted to be in a relationship with Alison (Yasmin Monet Prince), but risks the wrath of Alison’s ex, Joseph (Samson Kayo).

Love Actually had multiple storylines that were only loosely connected. Boxing Day had a better building block because it focused on a family. The connections were obvious and easy to get personally invested in. Even Georgia’s connection was more than just being Melvin’s ex, she was also a family friend which made things even more complex. Melvin’s sister, sided more with Georgia than her own brother because of his past actions.

Boxing Day also has plenty of homages to Love Actually. Both films opened with a voiceover, there was a naivety play which plays an important role in the narrative and lots of grand gestures. Boxing Day even pokes some fun at a few of Love Actually’s most famous scenes. The comparison with Love Actually goes deeper because Georgia was a successful singer aiming to have the Christmas Number One. It was a little nod to Bill Nighy’s character in the 2003 film. Being a Christmas rom-com Boxing Day does have the obligatory levels of cheese.

Ameen who also directed and co-wrote Boxing Day aimed to make a film that was a celebration of Black British culture and have mainstream appeal to a British audience. Ameen managed this because most audiences can relate to the family drama and chaos of the season, whilst the events like the Christmas Eve meeting had some more culturally specific references. These culturally specific references shouldn’t alienate audiences who would be unfamiliar with them. Richard does act as an audience surrogate because Shirley has to explain certain things to him.

Boxing Day was made with the best intentions, but there were big issues. Beyond the drama involving Melvin, Lisa, and Georgia the film was undercooked. The worst example of this was the storyline involving Josh. His character and romance were underdeveloped, and it felt like an afterthought in either the writing or editing process. It could have been cut without any impact on the rest of the film.

Melvin did come across as really unlikeable at times. He was a coward because he ran away from his family because of one bad incident when his parents announced their divorce. He’s a 30-year-old man, he should have shown a bit more maturity. He ditched Georgia when he ran off to America and he literally ran away from her in the hotel. He acted like a real jerk to a couple with a baby at LAX.

For a film that was billed as a comedy it did have the issue of not being very funny. There were a few chuckle-worthy moments, but this wasn’t enough to give Boxing Day any lasting power.

Boxing Day was a minor Christmas offering. It was inoffensive but it doesn’t do much to make it stand out either.