| Jingle Bell Heist a rom-com crime caper, deftly combines the two genres to deliver something a little different. It’s not a traditional rom-com by any means and incorporates the romance seamlessly into the heist plot. It’s also not a traditional crime caper since it’s a lot slower with a lot less action than heist movies are known for. | | 2025
Directed by: Michael Fimognari
Screenplay by: Abby McDonald, Amy Reed
Starring: Olivia Holt, Connor Swindells,
Peter Serafinowicz and Lucy Punch
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Sophia (Olivia Holt) works at a high-scale department store in London which suits her penchant for petty theft, whether it’s wallets of assholes or necklaces in lost and found. Meanwhile across town, Nick (Connor Swindells), a career criminal, has hacked into the security camera feed to surveil the store only to discover burgeoning thief Sophia.
One of the many things this film does well is how quickly Sophia and Nick consider if they should be enemies or allies. For viewers that lean on the crime caper side of the movie, it slows down in the first half as Nick and Sophia (and the audience) get to know each other. Some unsurprising backstory is revealed, like Sophia has a sick mother and they’re broke which is one of the main reasons she’s turning to crime, or that the store owner Maxwell Sterling (Peter Serafinowicz) who has the perfect name of an upper-crust British corporate scrooge is indeed a rich asshole.
There’s still plenty of time for unpredictable backstories to emerge. None of the twists are all that outrageous or surprising, which might be what has lowered the average rating, but all of the advancements in the plot are fun and fit with the characters we’ve already met. Remember it’s part rom-com, and Nick and Sophia exist in that tame, grounded simplistic genre more than they fit in a high-octane crime caper. This isn’t high-octane, this is a heist movie in the vein of a romantic drama.
I really like how this film unfolds, it’s slower pace fits the atmosphere, and then it just keeps building into something fun and heartfelt without going schmaltzy or maudlin. It has a different feel compared to every other Christmas movie out there and should be on the top of Netflix’s watch list.
The poster gives a good indication of the feel and atmosphere of the movie. It’s simplistic with a focus on the characters, and it’s never intending to be smooth, it’s supposed to be just a little bit gritty. It focuses on the characters like any good rom-com does, but it also simplifies the heist like any good crime caper does, and still leaves room to grow in both aspects. Jingle Bell Heist is an unexpected winner, exactly what Netflix needs more of.
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