A Very Merry Breakup Review – A Delightfully Quirky Holiday Film, Entertaining
- Details
- Category: Haute This Issue
- Published on Tuesday, 10 November 2026 14:59
- Written by Janet Walker
A Very Merry Breakup, from Tribeca Films, presents a surprisingly original Christmas film, as a love addict living in Manhattan meets Mr. Right and after he proposes she decides to break off the engagement and return to LA.
As the film opens we meet, Lydia, played by Elizabeth Guest, who is sitting in her favorite restaurant with Tim, played by Andrew Leeds. They are obviously comfortable with each other, and Tim begins to clumsily talk about the last six months, and how each day was special, and then moved in a scene about one of their favorite shows, and how the main character reacted when her boyfriend proposed, and for a minute the entire concept of the conversation is lost on Lydia. She is talking about the show, and other shows and suddenly we see Tim, on one knee, in the restaurant proposing.
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After an awkward pause, she finally says yes and in voice over we begin to hear the reasons behind her hesitation. Lydia, in flashbacks explains that she is a serial dater and love addict, and while this many not seem like a big thing, a love addict will serially date multiple people, double booking, and even triple booking several dates in one night. And we see Lydia did, and to top it off she is a runner. So when life began to close in on her in LA, she did what many people would do and moved to New York.
Which bring us back to the current. Now six months later she is happy, content, or at least she was before the proposal, and suddenly, the idea of commitment was closing in, suffocating her, and without thinking she tells Tim, right before Christmas, that she wants to breakup. And again she runs, this time back to LA.
We meet her family, early on, a modern blended family with two ex-wives, Lydia's mom, Stella, played by Pamela Guest, and Cheryl, played by Rachelle Carson-Begley, a happily married gay couple, Rick, Lydia's dad, played by Nicolas Guest, and Fred, played by Ed Begley Jr., all living together in a huge house they won in the lottery.
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With Lydia in crisis, and the breakup a trigger for her addiction, and her mother desperate to have her move back to LA, and her dad and his husband celebrating their anniversary, they decide to throw a two-fold party celebrating the anniversary and finding Lydia a new man to keep her in LA.
After texts, emails, and voice messages, Tim finally arrives unannounced in the middle of the man hunt party, and Lydia is dodging the break-up sex partners as she really does love him. When he sees what he misunderstands as the New Year's midnight kiss, he is done, walks out, and when she asks him to stay he says no.
This ushers in the final reflective act and the hope that a happy ending can still be out there somewhere.
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A Very Merry Breakup, the quirky feature film debut from Director Elizabeth Guest, is charming, eccentric, and delightful, without being predictable and presents the holiday season, with enough cinematic amplification, that it could really be home for the holidays for anyone.
The ensemble cast deliver heightened hijinks and hysteria coupled with tenderness, that translates well and the audience can feel the emotions from the beginning moments of what should be jubilation right through to the mortification of good intentions.
The attention to detail was also very present throughout but instantly captures the attention during the film's opening credits with the use of curated Christmas cards, each with hand drawn special moments leading up to the beginning scene of the film.
Entertaining, and appealing A Very Merry Breakup is streaming now on Apple TV, Fandango at Home, and Prime Video. See it.
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Country: U.S.
Language: English.
Runtime: 87 minutes.
Director: Elizabeth Guest.
Producer: Elizabeth Guest, Pamela Guest, Daniel Jaffe.
Executive Producer: Paul F. Bernard, Colleen Camp, Rachelle Carson Begley, Jijo Reed, Tristen Tuckfield.
Writer: Elizabeth Guest.
Cast: Elizabeth Guest, Andrew Leeds, Ed Begley Jr., Pamela Guest, Nicholas Guest, Rachelle Carson-Begley, Keith Carradine, Timm Sharp, Rachel Carson Begley, Jeff Urband, Cameron Auble-Branigan, Christine Weatherup, Delaney Zieg, Sonica Balcazar, June Christopher, Sydney Steinberg, Kaitlyn Tanimoto, Lila Ockkman, Eli Jensen, Cole Robesen, Govind Kumar, Jaymes Camery, Jay Huguley, Nicholas Guest, Karen Baughn, Kris Belman, Craig Bullock, Bryan Joh, Pete Capella, Michael Schade, Blake Rosier, Daniel Jaffe, Michael Strassner, Devis Szell, Ben Solenberger, Julian Silver, Yaki Margulies, Joe Dixon, Al Coronel, Hayden Carson Begley, Robert Carradine, Joey Bragg, Elizabeth Swackhamer, Alex Hamey, Rif Hutton, Gianna Burke, Amol Shah, Michael Roselle, Jake McLean, Lili Bernard, Uriel Bernard, Joshua Bernard Ferguson, Thurn Hoffman, Lynn Sellers, Sean Rogers.
Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade. A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Under the banner of her production company, HL Productions, LLC, Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She has also published "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," and "Days, Times, Seasons, and Events: A Collection of Poetry & Prose," which can be purchased here. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a member of the International Federation of Journalists.
