“Christmas With You” is the perfect Christmas love story to kick off the holiday season. Its message to follow your heart took front and center stage when a famous female music artist facing burnout was forced to question what was most important in life. The film stars Freddie Prinze Jr. and Aimee Garcia as the two main protagonists who find love in this Latino oriented family holiday rom-com.
As with most holiday love stories, the cheesy factor is prevalent but not over the top like most other films. The acting is superb, and I was most notably impressed with our beloved Freddie Prinze Jr., who portrayed his character in a beautiful way as a music teacher and single father whose daughter Cristina (Deja Monique Cruz) was just about to turn 15 and in preparation for her quinceañera.
We are able to embrace our latinidad with this film by seeing a number of our cultural traditions taking place within the roughly hour and a half. We saw family style eating and comida which made me want to make my own pozole and frijoles for dinner. We see machismo in full bloom with a character play on “Quién es más macho?” We also have an abuela that is loyal about watching her novelas and loves to drink her tequila (see recipe for one of our favorite drinks featuring tequila).
I give this film a loving 10/10! It was cute. It was funny. It was everything I would want in a love story. I am so happy to see Freddie incorporating his Latino heritage in such a momentous way. His father would be proud!
