Lamar Reviews - Champagne Problems (Airdate 12/19/2025)

We all have our list of standard movies that we
watch during the Christmas season. Maybe Elf,
Miracle on 34 th Street, Die Hard of course, or
possibly Polar Express. Whatever yours might be,
sometimes you want to watch something you
haven’t seen before. Or something that is short,
simple, and sweet, but a little more than a
Hallmark movie. If so, Champagne Problems
streaming on Netflix might just be the movie for
you.
We immediately meet Sydney, a businesswoman
who works for a big corporation that buys up small
businesses and is played by the beautiful Minka
Kelly. My first thought was how handsome is the
guy that is playing her love interest?
She lands the job of flying to Paris to negotiate the
purchase of a private Champagne vineyard. Her
mother died when she was young and only her
and her younger sister are left. She has spent her
life raising her sister and working extremely hard
to succeed. Since she has never been to Paris her

sister made her “pinky swear” to take one night to
see the city. She is actually only in Paris for one
night and then the meeting the next day. She
keeps her promise and one of her stops is a
bookstore where she meets Henri, played by
smoldering, drop dead good looking, French
speaking charmer, Tom Woznicka, from Slow
Horses.
The two beautiful people fall in love, and
everything is wonderful….until it isn’t.
Sydney is heading for a one on one presentation
with the owner of the winery, Hugo, played by
Thibault de Montalembert, a famous French actor.
But Hugo turns out to be a quirky guy and has a
different plan. There are three other companies
vying to purchase the winery, and all four of them
will be negotiating in the same room at the same
time.
The movie is 1 hour 39 minutes, Rated TV-14
This movie moves with very quick and smooth
pace. And like I said the chemistry between the
two stars is excellent and fun to watch.

Even better is the comedy among the bidders.
Brigitte, played by Astrid Whettnall, has the inside
track since she owns the Winery next door and
has known Hugo for years. Otto, played by Flula
Borg, is a strait-laced German who could not be
more German. Die Hard is his favorite Christmas
movie, he does a complete diatribe about how he
hates John McClane and loves the German
national hero, Hans Gruber. The last bidder is
Roberto, played by Sean Amsing, who is an ultra-
flamboyant son of a billionaire. He knows
absolutely nothing about running a business but
loves Champagne and throwing parties.
All of this happens with the backdrop of the city of
Paris and the beautiful snow covered grounds of a
winery. It is a beautiful movie.
Champagne Problems is very predictable, but just
like all these types of movies, extremely satisfying.

My Score: Based on the scale of Christmas Rom-
Coms, 5 snow covered Budweisers.