My Top Five Christmas Films By Debbie Johnson

Another tour that I’m delighted to be starting is, Debbie Johnson’s brand new Christmas book, ‘Never Kiss A Man In A Christmas Jumper’ and on the first day of the tour, Debbie talks about her top five Christmas films.

You can’t beat a good Christmas movie. There’s nothing quite like settling down on the sofa with a plate of mince pies, a glass of Baileys, and some fine cinematic company!

In my new book – ‘Never Kiss A Man In A Christmas Jumper’ – my hero and heroine Maggie and Marco spends lots of cosy nights in with each other. They don’t have much choice, as Marco has a badly broken leg and struggles to get out of bed – so he’s a captive audience. As a result, they spend hours and hours talking, playing on the X Box, and watching TV over a pizza and a beer – perfect!

I don’t go into detail about exactly what they watch, but I did have fun imagining it. As the book is set in Oxford, I could picture them both going on an Inspector Morse binge, and Marco being amazed at the high murder rate in such a quaint English city! I toyed with the idea of creating a scene where they go on a Christmas movie watching marathon together; and having my big, brawny hero shed a tear or two! In the end, I concentrated on their own story – which has plenty of big screen moments of its own.

Thinking about my own favourite Christmas movies for this piece, I realised I have very bad taste – while many of my friends swoon to It’s A Wonderful Life every year, I’m much more likely to be chuckling away at something involving farting sounds and swearing! What can I say? I’m just made that way!

Here’s my top 5 festive movies – I hope you enjoy them!

1. Bad Santa
It’s rude, it’s crude, and it’s right at the top of my list! Billy Bob Thornton – who I adore – plays a hard-drinking, foul-mouthed thief who uses Christmas as a way to rip off shopping malls. His Bad Santa, accompanied by his dwarf friend, are two of the most vulgar Christmas creations ever – and I can’t help loving them! But beneath the swearing and the gross-out laughs, there’s actually, under several layers of cringe, a lovely story about redemption and love. Not one to watch with the kids – unless your kids are grown up, or you want them to get into trouble at school!

2. Elf
You know, I’ve seen this film approximately seven hundred times – but I still laugh and laugh and laugh every time it’s on! In fact, even thinking about Will Ferrell in those tights as Buddy, I’m laughing. Favourite scenes: when he whizzes round and round in the revolving doors, then throws up in a rubbish bin; getting attacked by Peter Dinklage’s ‘angry elf’, and – best of all – that amazing burping scene around the dining table! Again, though, it’s not just about the laughs – it’s actually an adorable tale about family and belonging.

[amazon_link id=”0008150230″ target=”_blank” ][/amazon_link]

3. Bridget Jones’s Diary
How can you not love Bridget? She’s so silly, self-obsessed, and constantly making horrendous cock-ups – just like a lot of us at her age! But she’s also looking for love amid the cigarette-counting and singing into wine bottles and boozy nights out, which so many women can identify with. Plus, that scene where Mark Darcy turns round and reveals that he is wearing a reindeer Christmas jumper inspired the title for my book – it’s even referred to in the story! There are so many funny, and touching, moments – anything to do with a turkey curry buffet, Bridget running through the blizzard in her animal print knickers, and that final, wonderfully wintery kiss among the snowflakes, where he wraps her up in his coat – aaah!

4. Nativity/Nativity 2
I love these films, even if they are silly to the max! There’s something brilliant about watching all these talentless kids transform their comedy turns into something more than that, and even though you know exactly how everything is going to turn out, it’s such a fun ride – one of the main themes is overcoming cynicism, which I think is a great Christmas message! There are also some brilliant character acting moments, in the greatest tradition of the British comedy: Jason Watkins as Gordon Shakespeare; Marc Wootton as Mr Poppy; Pam Ferris as Mrs Bevan – excellent stuff that works for both adults and children.

5. Home Alone
This was a tough one – it was a scrap between ‘Home Alone’, ‘National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation’, and ‘Love Actually’! But in the end Kevin McCallister and the way he foils the two bumbling thieves at Christmas won out – it’s yet another film you can watch over and over again and still laugh at. Parts of it are actually quite dark – a little kid being forgotten by his whole family as they jet off on holiday isn’t that festive! – but the slapstick comedy, imaginative use of household supplies as booby traps, sharp script and fine acting win out every time.

You can buy [amazon_link id=”0008150230″ target=”_blank” ]Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Jumper from Amazon [/amazon_link] and is available to buy from good bookshops. Check out Debbie’s full length novel called ‘The Birthday’ which is out at the end of January.