There’s something about watching Christmas movies in December that makes you a little more lenient when you come across some clichés, especially in romantic comedies. For Prime Video’s Something From Tiffany’s, you can see every beat of the story coming as soon as the movie begins, but yet the warmth of the story makes you feel like you’re coming home for the holidays – and gearing up to watch all the old family problems pop up again.

Based on a novel by author Melissa Hill and produced by Reese Witherspoon, Something From Tiffany’s follows two couples whose relationships are in a rut. Yet, as the holidays approach, the men decide to pay a visit to Tiffany’s and buy their SOs a fancy present. While Gary (Ray Nicholson) decides to buy earrings, Ethan (Kendrick Sampson) goes the extra mile and buys an engagement ring. However, on their way out of the store, Gary is hit by a car and as Ethan tries to help him, their Tiffany’s bags get mixed up – and they’ll only find out when the time comes to open the presents.
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With the table set, it’s pretty easy to see how the mix-up will unfold. What you can’t predict is the pleasant chemistry between Sampson and Zoey Deutch. Once Ethan tracks Rachel (Dutch) down, they strike up a walk-and-talk dynamic that flows so naturally – and flirty – that you feel like you’re watching an entry in the Before film series from Richard Linklater. The movie could be just Dutch and Sampson talking as they make their way through New York City, and it would be totally fine.

Image via Prime Video

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Unfortunately, the rest of the elements of Something From Tiffany’s don’t feel as fluid as the relationship between its duo of stars. Most of the time, it feels like Tamara Chestna’s script is checking boxes for what a romantic comedy and holiday movie are supposed to be like. This kid needs to be witty, this guy needs to have a special romantic place, there needs to be confusion about the mixed bags even after they’ve figured out what happened.

At the same time, we’re so used to dealing with clichés in this genre that it’s pretty easy to stomach them at this point. The area in which Something From Tiffany’s really falls flat is its supporting cast. The movie makes no effort in evolving any of them past one dimension, and also spends no time with the other halves of the couples, except when it needs to establish they are jerks, self-absorbed, unlikeable, or all of these. Of course, having no redeeming qualities makes Gary easy to let go of, but Vanessa (Shay Mitchell) doesn’t seem to be beyond saving – the problem is, the movie isn’t interested in her at all.

The same is true for Rachel’s roommate and business partner Terri (Jojo T. Gibbs), whose presence also feels like a box checked – and she barely escapes the gay best friend trope. Of course, there’s only so much you can do within a 90-minute runtime, but that would be yet another reason not to stuff in characters who add very little or nothing to the narrative.

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With all this background noise, it falls to Deutch and Sampson to hold the movie together, and they certainly do. Whenever the duo shares the screen, Something From Tiffany’s just lights up like a Christmas tree, and they can make even the most ordinary conversations feel engaging and romantic. Their performances are so electric you can easily forgive their character’s mistakes and questionable decisions. At a certain point in the movie, for example, Rachel receives an important visitor at her bakery. She knows that it’s vital that she goes see them, but she weirdly decides that it’s the perfect time to bake bread and leave her visitor waiting. For Ethan, you get bits and pieces of information that reveal he’s also been kind of a dick to his current girlfriend Vanessa, but he gets the screen time to captivate us and earn our forgiveness.

Another great merit of Something From Tiffany’s is that director Daryl Wein does a great job of not making it feel like an hour-and-a-half-long commercial for the store. It is, of course—it’s in the title after all—but you never feel like Tiffany’s products are at the center of the story, and the movie never makes the mistake of equating earrings or wedding rings to love and happiness. It just treats them as they are: Nice products that you buy when you want to give someone an expensive gift.

Image via Prime Video

Wein also does a good job in the scene where everyone realizes the bags were swapped. The editing here is excellent in building anticipation for the audience, and the director makes the wise choice of cutting together both couples finding out at the same time, rather than making us watch two scenes that would be pretty similar if played in sequence. The scene also comes pretty early in the movie, which shows that in some aspects Chestna’s script was at least aiming to do something different, as most romantic movies drag out misunderstandings all the way to the end of the movie, commonly known as the “boy loses girl” part.

At the end of the day, if you’re scrolling through this year’s options of holiday movies to watch, Something From Tiffany’s certainly has enough elements to set it apart from other titles that don’t even try to do their own thing. If you’re comfortable with clichés from romantic comedies and underdeveloped secondary characters, you’ll have nothing to complain about. But if you press play on this one, you’ll find it hard to look away whenever Deutch and Sampson are together, and if you’re looking for that warm feeling of curling up in bed with comfort food, both actors will certainly give you that.

Rating: B-

Something From Tiffany’s is available to stream now on Prime Video.