EXmas may not have turned it into my go-to holiday movie, but the joy of seeing Leighton Meester grace my screen again made it a merry experience! Overall, its adorable charm and the added perk of being free on Freevee make it a delightful holiday treat worth watching.
If you’ve never heard of Freevee, that’s okay. There are too many streaming services. This one is a free ad-supported streamer by Amazon. EXmas is the first thing I’ve seen on Freevee, so I can’t speak for the site as a whole. I was slightly taken aback by the message of product placements. It’s not a bad idea. It’s hard to make money off streaming services, so why not make money off of endorsements? That Kay Jewelry box was certainly front and center.
EXmas is pretty much what the title says it is—Christmas, where exes spend it together. Graham (Robbie Amell) tells his parents he isn’t coming home for Christmas because he has a deadline on a video game he’s making. So, his parents invite his ex, Ali (Leighton), whom his family loves. He ends up showing up as a surprise, and Ali and Graham bet each other that the other would be asked to leave and the winner would get to keep his family. Pranks and sabotage ensue from there.
Some of the things Ali and Graham did to each other were pretty childish. At first, I thought it was just Graham being childish, but it ended up being both of them. Though, at times, Leighton felt like her former character, Blair Wardolf from Gossip Girl. She was scheming her way into keeping herself in the Stroop family. Even in Gossip Girl, sometimes Blair took it too far or played childish games, so it was fitting. The lead-up to the happy ending was pretty fun, though. And there was a mystery about who was stealing the baby Jesus from the manger decoration.
EXmas is overall a cute holiday film. As with all other made-for-TV holiday movies, it plays out exactly how you expect it to. There was some weird blurriness going on with the picture. It was annoying at times. But given you don’t need to pay for it, it’s worth watching, especially if you are a Leighton Meester or Robbie Amell fan.
The family is pretty fun, especially the way that they love Ali. I like Graham’s sister, Mindy (Veronika Slowikowska). She’s funny, the voice of reason for her brother and besties with Ali. His mom, Jeannie (Kathryn Greenwood), loves Christmas and takes the baby Jesus missing the hardest.
EXmas will get you in the Christmas spirit and craving sugar cookies. Ali is a baker, and her goodies look tasty. I advise having some treats while watching.
To watch EXmas, either download the Freevee app or watch it right on Amazon Prime Video. You’ll have to sit through commercials, but at least you won’t have to pay for it.
