For whatever reason, Champagne Problems is listed with Christmas films on Netflix.  The holiday is in it, and as with most of its supposed ilk, there are plenty of lights and trees in the background of this romantic comedy.  However, it does provide a tidbit to offer a different perspective as to the broader criticisms I have of this subgenre.  At one point, Die Hard (1988) is brought up by the female lead, business acquisitions representative Sydney Price (Minka Kelly), referencing it among the films she quotes when nervous.  Die Hard is no romantic comedy, but it has the same seasonal backdrop as the rest of these iterations to make many an argument among fans.  I have a separate, completely unprovable theory: that Die Hard is mentioned because the makers of Champagne Problems see the two pieces of cinema as kindred spirits that have nothing to do with Christmas.

Speaking of having nothing to do with Christmas, Champagne Problems begins with a boardroom meeting with other executives of the Roth Group, the company for which Sydney works.  She is giving a fanciful pitch to the bigwigs as to the proposition of acquiring the legendary label Cassell Champagne.  After hearing her presentation, she is surprised by getting the opportunity to travel to Paris to make the offer.  Before departing, she spends some time with her younger sister, Skyler Price (Maeve Courtier-Lilley).  Citing how driven has Sydney been since the death of their mother, Skyler makes Sydney pinky swear that the young executive will have some fun while she is in the City of Lights for Christmas.  Yet, upon getting to the hotel, Sydney sits down at her computer until she is prompted by Skyler from across the Atlantic to go out.  Getting directions to a book store, she meets Henri Cassell (Tom Wozniczka), though she does not know he is the heir to the Cassell champagne business.  For now, he is just Henri, and he uses their instant attraction to coax her into letting him show her around Paris.  The magic of the time carries them away and they end up having adult time at his place.  Upon stirring in the morning, she finds a note from him saying that he will be right back, but it makes her realize that she is late for her meeting.  Rushing back across town to change, and then also hurriedly making it to the conference, she gets a few more unexpected developments.  The first is that there are four others present who are also bidding to purchase Cassell Champagne.  The others will be introduced as needed.  The final twist is when Henri enters the room.  The pleasantness of the moment is ruined when he learns that she has come on behalf of the Roth Group.  In his experience, the American conglomerate has been responsible for taking over businesses and breaking them apart.  Seeing the contentious argument, Henri’s father, Hugo Cassell (Thibault de Montalembert), decides to take a different approach.  Instead of making the decision that afternoon, he proposes that they all come to his rural château so that he can get to know all the prospective buyers.  Though Henri feels like he is letting his father down by not wanting to take over the company, he goes as well, making the excuse of looking after Hugo’s interest.  It is evident that he is really there to rekindle things with Sydney, and they spend the first evening taking in the local seasonal festival during which they mostly focus on themselves and ignore their companions.  Over the next couple of days, Hugo manages to spend some time with each of the buyers, and notices the attention his son is paying to Sydney.  Yet, to the Roth Group, she is not getting the job done.  Hence, they send one of her competing co-workers, Ryan Garner (Xavier Samuel), in order to finish the deal.  Would you be astonished to learn, though, that it is Sydney who is most responsible for Hugo choosing the Roth Group.  Indeed, Ryan is complimenting her for her work, while also discussing how they plan to break apart Cassell Champagne and sell it off piecemeal.  This is devastating news for Sydney because part of her pitch had been to leave the enterprise intact with Hugo as the president.  The person who is the first to learn of the Roth Group’s intentions outside of Ryan and Sydney is Henri, who overhears part of the scheme through the door.  Thus, he is ready to cast her aside once the weekend is over.  Distraught, she goes to Hugo and tells him everything the Roth Group plans to do before departing in the morning without saying goodbye.  Carrying on without her, Hugo announces that he has decided to sell to eccentric billionaire Roberto Salazar (Sean Amsing), who says a number of times that he is only in the bidding for the fun of it.  He is as shocked as the rest and immediately says he will be handing the running of the label over to Hugo.  Next, with Hugo’s blessing, Henri tracks down Sydney in the same bookstore in which they first met.  Of course, they make their amends, and the final scene is a year later with them opening Henri’s dream book/wine store.

The opening of that book/wine store at the end of Champagne Problems happens around Christmas, which makes sense chronologically speaking.  Still, this is the slightest of reasons to call this a Christmas movie.  As for more direct references to Yuletide, there is a scene when German buyer Otto Moller (Flula Borg) and Roberto decorate two sides of the same tree.  It is stereotypical and useless for my purposes.  What is more prominent is the fact that the book store where Henri and Sydney meet is called Les Étoiles, which means The Stars.  If you know your Christmas Scripture, you will remember that it was a heavenly body that guided people to Jesus’ birthplace.  Then again, it is not spoken of in such a context, making it another strike against this being a holiday film.  What is of more interest to a Catholic reviewer are the details Sydney cites in her presentation at the beginning.  Specifically, she talks about the inventor of champagne, Dom Pérignon.  It is not just a brand of the bubbly, but a real-life Benedictine monk born in seventeenth century France.  Then again, this is hardly the first Catholic contribution to drinking culture.  Many beers, wines, and other spirits were developed by male and female religious.  By the way, this is not necessarily because of that old stereotype about the lack of clean water.  It is undeniable that water quality was not always the greatest, but non-toxic liquid could be had quite easily in most places if you knew where to look.  Instead, monasteries and other religious institutions developed alcoholic beverages sometimes for Sacramental purposes, or to supplement caloric intake.  Liquor keeps better than other comestibles.  In the case of Father Pérignon, which is what “Dom” loosely translates as, the film portrays him as basically messing around and discovering champagne on accident.  Instead, the true story had more to do with problems with fermentation in cold weather.  This does not sound as romantic, but it is more interesting to me than the film’s version.

Actually, I should not be so hard on Champagne Problems outside of it not being a Christmas movie.  It has some good production values and okay performances.  Also, being set in France, it gave me a chance to practice my French.  There are some adult situations in it, but nothing too over the top.  So, whatever.