The good ol’ holiday romcom gets a glow-up in Prime Video’s Something from Tiffany’s. Zoey Deutch (Not Okay) and Kendrick Sampson (Insecure) star in the most luxurious looking romance movie of the season — but is Something from Tiffany’s a diamond in the rough? Or is this movie really pure cubic zirconia?
SOMETHING FROM TIFFANY’S: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: Zoey Deutch stars as Rachel, a successful chef who lives in New York City with her boyfriend Gary (Ray Nicholson). Kendrick Sampson plays Ethan, a novelist on vacation in the town he once called home with his daughter Daisy (Leah Jeffries); his girlfriend Vanessa (Shay Mitchell) is on her way to meet up with them for a Christmas in New York. Ethan has a big surprise planned for Vanessa, too: he’s bought an engagement ring from Tiffany’s and he’s going to propose. But when Ethan bends down to help a man who was just hit by a car in front of Tiffany’s, he accidentally picks up the man’s little blue bag and leaves his engagement ring with a stranger.
That stranger is Rachel’s boyfriend Gary. Cue dramatic music sting!
Ethan and Daisy drop by the hospital the next day to check up on the stranger (Gary), and that’s where Ethan meets Rachel. Ethan and Rachel hit it off rather quickly — and then things get complicated when, on Christmas morning, Vanessa opens a pair of earrings and Rachel opens up a huge diamond ring. Now Ethan’s confused, Rachel is suddenly engaged, and concussed Gary is just going along with it. What ramifications will this have on Ethan and Vanessa, and Rachel and Gary, and — most importantly — Ethan and Rachel?
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: The adoring shots of the city and the way this movie so captures the feel of the season makes me think of When Harry Met Sally, for sure. And any movie with a marital mishap that spans Christmas to New Year’s is gonna have big While You Were Sleeping energy. And to throw it way back, I’d say that this one even has a lot in common with classic, holiday-adjacent romances like Holiday Affair or The Shop Around the Corner.
Performance Worth Watching: JoJo T. Gibbs (Twenties) takes what’s normally a thankless role, that of the lead’s bestie, and turns it into the movie’s biggest laugh generator. She crushes every line reading (“Don’t worry kid. I don’t know social cues yet either”) and just flat out makes you happy to see her on screen every time. Give Gibbs all of the roles.
Memorable Dialogue: I love that after Rachel introduces Terri as a business partner, Terri tells Ethan, “I also identify as her best friend.” Also Rachel and Ethan talking about the biggest failures of their career like this: “If yours was the Titanic of books, then mine was the 127 Hours of restaurants.”
A Holiday Tradition: Daisy used to wear ugly Christmas sweaters with her mom and dad every Christmas Eve, but that tradition stopped when her mom died.
Two Turtle Doves: The Holiday Switch on UPtv is about strangers who pick up the wrong luggage at baggage claim and then use all the stuff inside to reconnect with each other.
Does the Title Make Any Sense?: I mean, the title was good enough for the Melissa Hill novel that the movie is based on — ! And if EP Reese Witherspoon ain’t changing the title, who am I to argue?
Our Take: Okay, I feel like I jumped the gun when I started calling Hallmark movies the modern equivalents of all those screwball romance movies from the 1930s and 1940s. They mostly are, sure, but Something from Tiffany’s outdoes them all. From the script to the performances to the cinematography and direction, this one instantly feels like the greats from yesteryear (see: What Movies Will It Remind You Of? above).
Just overall, there is a richness to Something from Tiffany’s visuals, from the warm glow of Gillini’s to the way everyone is really bundled up for a real NYC winter. Setting the first bit of business at the Bryant Park Christmas market is also such a specific, perfect choice and really helps give this movie a high level of verisimilitude. Even the soundtrack — all of these jazzy renditions of familiar tunes — provides an elevated, timeless vibe. You will not hear Kelly Clarkson’s “Underneath the Tree” here.
However classic the movie looks and feels, the performances and dialogue are just as modern. There’s a magnetic pull between Zoey Deutch and Kendrick Sampson. They seem to get closer and closer with every line, every quip, every interjection, even if they aren’t moving at all. That’s what really makes this film feel so alive, more so than you’d expect from one of the 200 new holiday movies that are churned out every year. All of these people feel like people — even Gary and Vanessa, the two characters standing in the way of our OTP.
There are also lots of laughs in this movie, mostly from Terri, but there are plenty from the situation itself. Ethan’s face when he first sees Rachel wearing the ring that he bought for Vanessa is particularly memorable.
But what strikes me the most is that Something from Tiffany’s is a fantastic example of what can be done with something that’s close to a stock holiday romcom premise if the cast, filmmakers, but especially those in charge of the budget really believe in it. This script could have easily wound up on Lifetime, with the location moved to a small town in Montana (actually Vancouver), and with Tiffany’s changed to a ritzy antiques shop. It would be a cute movie. Instead, whatever money and care Amazon and Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine production company gave this film paid off and created a holiday movie that has real weight to it — like it was built to last.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Something from Tiffany’s is the best date night movie of the holiday season.
