Written by: Steve Smith & Phil Traill
Starring: Odette Annable, Dave Annable, Charles Michael Davis, Alphonso McAuley
Rating: [1/5]
Given the importance of sleep to our biological function as humans, the lack of it spells trouble if one hopes to have any semblance of production in their lives. Many deal with various causes to a lack of sleep, but sometimes no concrete explanation exists, as seen in No Sleep Til’ Christmas, where two individuals cannot sleep unless they do it together. A strange position to put two strangers who do not know each other, especially with one of them slated to get married soon.
Unable to sleep, Lizzie (Odette Annable) cannot figure out what she can do to get some much-needed shut eye Even with her vast access to resources, she has no luck until she runs into this bartender named Billy (Dave Annable), who battles with this similarly mysterious affliction. By happenstance, they discover that if they lay in the same vicinity, they can both fall asleep with no other solution available.
Truly one of the stranger plot synopsis one will read, No Sleep Til’ Christmas places our characters in such an impossible situation. At the very least, it does its due diligence in providing no other solution for Lizzie in her attempts to discover how to get some sleep. She as access to all the resources one could utilize to diagnose her insomnia, which makes the revelation of sleeping next to Billy something she needs to desperately take advantage of. While much of this film leaves me aghast at what transpires, I have never dealt with insomnia and what that can eventually do to one’s mental wherewithal. This serves as the only explanation for the ridiculous decisions made in this film and exhibiting its exceptionally low quality.
There are several elements of this film that get me riled up but the main point lands on how it treats Lizzie’s fiancé, Josh (Charles Michael Davis). Yes, we share the same first name, but my defense of him goes beyond that similarity where this guy goes through all of this effort for this woman, only for her to secretly literally sleep with another man just for her to get a happy ending. This underscores one of this film’s major issues where we have seen many films where the woman leaves the man she’s currently with for the male lead in romances, but the fact they made Josh this picture-perfect figure where he literally does nothing wrong only to have this brazen infidelity is crazy. This only gets made worse by the fact we’re meant to root for Lizzie to completely throw her life away for this other guy. As you can see, I have dropped any pretense of not discussing spoilers here, but this film deserves it.
The mistreatment of Josh will not be tolerated here, especially because the end result is a pairing that has so little chemistry. I understand the two leads are actually married, but you could not tell by the way their characters mingle in this film, which leaves plenty to be desired. Much of my anger gets placed on Lizzie, as a character, given she’s the one sneaking around to share a bed with another man, even if she even pays Billy to do so. Evidently, she pays him a large enough sum for him to open the bar he has always wanted. I understand she’s not married yet to Josh in this film but taking this chunk of money without the knowledge of her soon-to-be-husband wreaks of financial infidelity. This all summarizes that we have a character devoid of honesty, who is willing to throw everything away with a handsome, successful, and nice man only to decide she wants to be with this loser Billy and I’m meant to root for that? No, thanks, I’ll pass on that opportunity.
While I can rant all day about the ridiculousness of Lizzie as a character, No Sleep Til’ Christmas does itself no favors whatsoever with its lacking of filmmaking quality, acting, and our two romantic leads. Everything about this film felt so unappealing, with the worst coming from this couple not being compelling even in the slightest. If no one else will stand up for the other Josh’s in this world then I will because the one in this story received one of the rawest deals I have seen in a genre filled with instances of men being left because they are not the male lead of the story.
Films with Josh 
