If you have Netflix (though other streaming services are copying this feature), you will know that when you stop on a title, a brief snippet or trailer of a given film begins.  When you are choosing solely from among Christmas movies, these previews are superfluous.  By and large, you can be assured of some kind of romantic comedy, and No Sleep ‘Til Christmas (2018) is no exception.  When you are pressed for time as I was today, this also expedites the decision-making process.  Nonetheless, I hovered over it for a moment because, and I am positive that I am not alone in this assumption, I figured it might stretch my Catholic sensibilities.  The euphemism about premarital sex is “sleeping” with someone, and that is something the Church teaches to be a sin.  The film does delve into such matters, not from a Christian perspective, but from a more literal sense of the word, as in actual slumber.  Confused yet?  Good.

Actually, any confusion as to where No Sleep ‘Til Christmas is going to go is cleared up in the first scene.  Chicago event planner and bride-to-be, Lizzie Hinnel (Odette Annable), is at dinner with her fiancé, surgeon Josh Wright (Charles Michael Davis), and his mother, Mrs. Wright (Sheryl Lee Ralph).  Dr. Wright and Lizzie share a love for planning, and Mrs. Wright is eager to begin putting together the upcoming wedding.  Lizzie is dazed for a moment, looking up after a pause and putting forth more enthusiasm than she feels.  I could end the review here, but I guess there is more to say.  Her lack of enthusiasm has nothing to do with Dr. Wright or his character.  Indeed, as is apparent throughout, he is mostly blameless.  It is because for a while now she has been unable to get a good night’s sleep, being only able to get a few hours at a time.  Given that he is in the medical profession, he does everything within his power to help her with this problem.  In desperation, she takes to driving around the city at night wearing sunglasses and listening to boring podcasts.  This is how she literally runs into Billy Wilson (Dave Annable).  We have already spent some time with this bartender, meeting him on Thanksgiving as his girlfriend, Nicola (Brittany Bristow), comes to break up with him.  She cites his lack of follow through on any of his dreams, including opening his own bar.  However, his biggest problem is the same as Lizzie’s: a lack of shuteye.  Hence, he takes to late night jogs, which is how he crosses paths with her.  She is initially concerned for Billy, offering to drive him to the hospital.  Their opposite ways of seeing the world soon comes to the fore, and they are arguing in the parking lot without getting out of the car.  At some point, they pass out in their seats and are only stirred by concerned emergency medical technicians (EMT) who take them as in need of assistance.  It is Lizzie who first realizes the rest she has received.  Feeling revived she heads back to her career and wedding preparations.  Yet, the effect is only temporary, and she panics when she is extremely late for a dress shopping appointment with Mrs. Wright.  As for Billy, he also has extra energy but has trouble focusing before he, too, finds rest escaping him once more.  Wanting to regain that refreshed feeling, Lizzie seeks out Billy, finding him at his current place of employment and asking if they can again sleep with one another.  When he sensibly refuses, she ups the ante, offering money and adding that she needs to stay energized for her job and upcoming marriage.  They agree to meet in the same hospital parking lot where she presents him with legal documentation wherein she will invest in the new bar he wants to open in exchange for his nocturnal services.  If this sounds sordid it is only because the film uses double entendre in order to describe their situation.  They even refer to naps as “quickies.”  Naturally, their friends are dubious of the arrangement.  This Catholic was somewhat warmed by the fact that Billy is a godfather to little Rosie (Delia Lisette Chambers), whose father, Andy (Alphonso McAuley), is Billy’s best friend.  Andy and his wife, Gemma (Jess Salgeuiro), are not convinced by Billy’s denial that this is casual.  There is also the matter of Dr. Wright.  Along with Andy and Gemma, Lizzie’s assistant, Kristina (Stacey McGunnigle), is nervous about Dr. Wright discovering what is going on since Billy and Lizzie are trying to keep it secret.  This includes when one of Dr. Wright’s colleagues spots Lizzie being an elf for Billy, who is filling the role of Santa Claus for Rosie’s school.  This, by the way, is the only direct reference to Christmas.  Eventually, Dr. Wright does find out what is happening, coming to the hotel room in which Billy and Lizzie have been meeting.  Dr. Wright is understandably furious, but Billy and Lizzie are adamant that sex is not involved, that is only about sleep.  Somewhat mollified, Dr. Wright insists that the two come to the sleep clinic at the hospital to demonstrate their shared sleepiness.  When they prove their story, Dr. Wright is satisfied and he continues his future plans with Lizzie.  Of course, it is evident that Billy and Lizzie are falling for each other.  This is underscored when during Lizzie’s bachelorette party, she has their party go to Billy’s new bar.  While there, they sing a karaoke duet that displays their obvious mutual affection.  Nonetheless, she proceeds with the ceremony, even inviting Billy, Andy, Gemma, and Rosie.  Upon getting to the church, Billy realizes that he cannot watch and promptly leaves in full view of Lizzie.  During the vows, when it comes time for Lizzie to make hers, she has dozed off and has to be stirred awake.  It drives home what everyone knows but have not wanted to admit: that she is in love with Billy.  Making her apologies, she runs out of the church, takes the car meant to take her and Dr. Wright to the reception, and tracks down Billy.  One year later, Billy and Lizzie are about to fall asleep when they are stopped by the sound of a crying baby.

One would hope that child at the end of No Sleep ‘Til Christmas is the result of a happy marriage between Billy and Lizzie.  Incidentally, the actors playing these characters are married in real life.  For this Catholic, that does not justify a film that is so open about premarital sex, even if that is not what is happening.  Still, Lizzie is living with Dr. Wright before marriage, which is something any Catholic couple is told they should not do prior to their wedding.  Billy is not saint, either.  He and Nicola had been engaging in their own illicit coitus.  This film is not unique on this matter.  Participating in adult activities out of wedlock is commonplace in Hollywood material.  We see the results of this activity in the form of Rosie, whose parents are not married.  What this Catholic is here to tell you is thank God for Rosie.  When it comes to the abortion issue, those on the pro-life side are accused of not caring about women’s rights.  The pro-choice argument is that expecting mothers should have the right to do with their bodies as they please.  The pro-life counter to that is that it is less about the mother and more about the child.  That baby has a right to life no matter the circumstances of her/his conception.  Unfortunately, that comes off as callus and unfeeling towards mothers who may not be prepared to deal with the responsibilities of bringing a new life into the world.  As a man, I also do not take my pro-life position lightly because God has seen fit to not give me female reproductive organs.  At the same time, predicting how the life of either the child or mother will turn out as a result of the birth is impossible.  As a Catholic, I do not advocate what Andy and Gemma (or anyone in this film for that matter) do by staying unwed, but this imagined world would be a lot less joyful without Rosie in it.  She is the one blessing of the movie.

The blessing that is Rosie, unfortunately, does not make No Sleep ‘Til Christmas worth watching.  Aside from not really about Christmas, my abortion discussion is me inferring my Catholic perspective into the plot.  Like most of its cousins, it has little cinematic value.