It’s the most wonderful time of the year: holiday movie season. With temperatures cooling and days getting shorter, what better way to spend an evening than by cozying up with loved ones for some heartwarming laughs? In Best. Christmas. Ever!, Brandy Norwood (the actor and musician better known as Brandy) and Heather Graham bring the cheer — and the carols! The Christmas comedy follows two longtime frenemies who are reunited over the holidays in a twist of fate. Every Christmas, Jackie (Brandy) sends a boastful holiday newsletter that makes her old college friend Charlotte (Graham) feel like a lump of coal. But when Charlotte lands on Jackie’s snowy doorstep just days before Christmas, she seizes the opportunity to prove her old friend’s life can’t possibly be that perfect. Will the two overcome their differences and find joy in the holidays? “It’s not as easy as it sounds, though,” director Mary Lambert tells Tudum. “And I think for me, the movie tries to say that. Let’s find something to laugh at in all this craziness.”
Brandy shines as the generous and incredibly kind Jackie Jennings, who opens her home to her college friends Charlotte (Graham) and Rob Sanders (Jason Biggs) when they mistakenly end up on her snowy doorstep just days before Christmas. Now Charlotte has to figure out how to put aside her complicated feelings about Jackie and get into the holiday spirit.
Lambert, who also directed A Castle for Christmas, says she loved that the story was driven by two powerful women and found that Brandy and Graham really complemented one another in real life. “It was actually a lot of fun because their characters are so different in the movie,” she says.
“We hit it off right away,” Brandy tells Tudum about working with Graham. “I absolutely loved Heather’s energy. I felt so comfortable and I felt like I could be myself. It was something that was real and authentic between us.”
Likewise, Graham has nothing but praise for her co-star. “Brandy shows up like, ‘I’m going to give my whole heart and soul and I am open to connect with you, Heather, as a person, as well as your character,’ ” she says. Addressing Brandy directly, she adds: “You give a lot. You show up as your whole beautiful energy. You’re just so generous. [and] I feel like you really gave so much, not only to the scenes that you were in, but just in spending time with me. And then you gave me a badass purse, which I still have in my closet.”
Ahead, find out more about Best. Christmas. Ever! and check out the trailer for the movie above.
’Twas five days before Christmas and all through the house, the Sanders prepared for the holidays but Charlotte had doubts.
Our story begins when Charlotte receives a holiday newsletter from her college friend Jackie that makes her feel like a bit of a grinch. After all, Charlotte is stuck in a job she doesn’t much like and her family’s finances are tight. Meanwhile, Jackie recently sold her aviation company for millions of dollars and is enjoying an early retirement with her loving husband and incredibly smart children.
As the Sanders family embarks on their long drive to Charlotte’s sister’s house, where they intend to spend the holidays, everyone is surprised when they unexpectedly arrive at the Jennings’ home instead. All except for Charlotte’s mischievous son Grant (Wyatt Hunt) — and his trusty stuffed sidekick Monkey Bob — who put the wrong address into the GPS. Now that they’re stuck spending Christmas with the Jennings, Charlotte makes it her mission to prove that Jackie’s life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, but she also may learn a lesson or two about the spirit of the season along the way.
This Christmas comedy is now streaming on Netflix.
Jackie is the embodiment of holiday cheer and is excited when the Sanders family unexpectedly arrives at her house just days before Christmas. She’s a supportive friend to both Charlotte and Rob, her college ex-boyfriend — or Robbie, as she calls him — and a thoughtful wife and mother to her family. Everything seems perfect in the Jennings household, but she and Charlotte have something to learn from each other.
“I love my character, Jackie, how she sees the positive outlook on life and tries to find the good in everything, loves her friends,” Brandy says. “She’s just so excited to spend Christmas with them and make Christmas an event, and that’s what I do in my real life, so I can relate.”
Brandy is an award-winning R&B singer and actor, famously known for playing Moesha on the sitcom of the same name. Lambert says she was drawn to Brandy’s versatility as an actor, but also to her natural joy. “Jackie needed to have a certain kind of mystery and a certain kind of joy, but an inscrutable joy,” Lambert says. So, Brandy felt perfect for the role because she “just makes you feel like she’s really happy to see you.” Plus, she can sing! “Jackie was the lead singer in this band with Rob. That’s part of their past history. And I wanted somebody who could really convincingly give us that.”
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Charlotte is a wife and mother to a loving, quirky, and at times chaotic family. When she receives a holiday newsletter from her good friend Jackie waxing poetic about her family’s happiness and successes, Charlotte begins to feel insecure about her own life. So when she finds herself stuck with the Jennings for the holidays after a GPS mix-up, Charlotte is determined to prove that Jackie is lying about her seemingly perfect life. In doing so, Charlotte might learn a lesson or two from her friend about the spirit of Christmas.
“Brandy's character is the spirit of Christmas,” Graham says. Charlotte on the other hand, finds the holidays a little more difficult to deal with — a feeling Graham could relate to on a personal level. The character goes on a journey, she adds, from “I don't really feel that good about myself. I don't really enjoy Christmas” to finding “the joy and love and peace of the moment.”
“[The film has] a beautiful message,” Graham says. “Just enjoy life, enjoy all the good.”
Graham is an award-winning actor with an extensive career. She’s done everything from comedies to independent films to TV dramas and brings a nuance to her characters that Lambert was excited about.
“I knew she could become this slightly over-the-top personality, but with complexity so that when you see her being jealous, there’s a lot of conflicting emotions going on there,” says Lambert. The director also feels especially drawn to Charlotte’s relatability as a character. “[She] doesn’t really like Christmas, and feels that Christmas is a time where everyone expects more from her than she can give,” Lambert says, adding, “I also liked that she overcame it.”
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Rob is Charlotte’s loving husband, whom she describes as a dreamer. He’s proud of his humble life with Charlotte and their two kids and is an optimist who sees the bright side of every situation. He and Jackie used to date in college, and together they were in a No Doubt cover band.
Biggs is an actor and comedian known for playing Jim Levenstein in the American Pie series. He later went on to join the main cast of the Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black.
Lambert describes Biggs as just perfect to play Rob. “He’s an incredible comedian. I think because he brings a reality to the comedy that makes it even funnier,” she says. “He just embraces the comedy without overdoing it, without hitting it so hard that it’s no longer funny.”
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Valentino is Jackie’s hunky and romantic husband, who’s planning and directing the annual Christmas pageant. He’s understanding and sensitive and is thrilled to host the Sanders family for the holidays.
“Matt’s character had a lot of baggage,” Lambert told Netflix. “Namely that he had to be incredibly handsome, physically fit, and intelligent. The perfect man. Matt is such a lovely human being that he managed to deliver this without arrogance or pretense.”
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Dora is Rob and Charlotte’s daughter, whose obsession with Marvel leads her to believe that she has superpowers of her own. She’s always on a mission to figure out what they might be.
Grant is Charlotte and Rob’s mischievous son who thinks he’s a ninja warrior. With his trusty sidekick, a stuffed animal named Monkey Bob, Grant can do anything, including embark on a Christmas adventure of his own.
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Jackie and Valentino’s 10-year-old daughter, Beatrix, is a child prodigy. But she might be too smart for her own good, as she convinces Grant and Dora to join her investigation into whether Santa is real.
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Of course, Brandy sings! As Jackie, the singer performs Christmas standards including “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” and “Let It Snow.”
“I can do both!” Brandy says. “So I was happy that they were open to me singing in the movie. I love [Christmas] songs.” In fact, she loves them so much that she has just released a new holiday album, Christmas with Brandy.
Ready to turn up the volume on festive tunes? Check out the official Netflix holiday playlist here.
Of course. If you look closely, you’ll catch characters watching The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star and Lindsay Lohan’s Falling for Christmas. Need some more holiday movie insp? Check out the recommendations below:
