‘Champagne Problems’ Review: Minka Kelly Heads Up Solid Netflix Christmas Rom-Com

Another week. Another Netflix Original Holiday Rom-Com to get us in the spirit. Last week brought us a solid start with Alicia Silverstone & crew getting a positive review from me on this site for their film, A Merry Little Ex-Mas. But will this week bring a bigger and better present under the tree?!

From Off Camera Entertainment, Grumpy Entertainment, & FullDawa Films, Champagne Problems is the latest romantic comedy from writer/director Mark Steven Johnson, who previously brought 2020’s Love Guaranteed with Rachael Leigh Cook & 2022’s Love in the Villa starring Kat Graham to the platform.

Co-produced by Stephanie Slack (The Noel Diary), the story centers around Sydney Price (Ransom Canyon’s Minka Kelly), an on-the-rise but often overlooked business executive, who finally gets her chance to lead a major acquisition: beloved champagne house Chateau Cassell.

Summoned to France around Christmastime to negotiate a deal, she arrives in Paris with one night of touristy fun – at her sister’s behest – before her big presentation the following morning. While shopping for a gift at a local bookstore, she meets a charming local man named Henri (Drops of God’s Tom Wozniczka) who convinces her to see the real Paris with him as her guide. A chance encounter with a stranger turns into a special evening as the two take in the sites, share intimate secrets, and stir up a whirlwind romance that carries on until morning. But her newfound feelings are quickly upended when she discovers that Henri is the son of the founder of the company she came to acquire. Yet even amidst the gentle competition set forth by the father Hugo Cassell for all the buyers at the family vineyard, Sydney & Henri find themselves irresistibly drawn to each other, realizing that their feelings might be hard to keep bottled up.

Alongside Kelly & Wozniczka, the movie also stars Thibault de Montalembert (All Quiet on the Western Front) as the aforementioned Hugo Cassell, Flula Borg (Pitch Perfect 2) as Otto, Astrid Whettnall (The Wages of Fear) as Brigette, & Sean Amsing (Love, Guaranteed) as Roberto.

When you read the plot synopsis for Champagne Problems, your cynical side may want to play streaming holiday rom-com bingo. High-powered woman who sacrifices life & love for work but wants to have it all? Check. Exotic location? Check. Instantly falls for a man she can’t have because it would change the world she thought she wanted? Check.

But here lies the voodoo that this film plays on its audience: you see the tropes, you see the emotional manipulation, you can see where things will go almost every step of the way, but SOMEHOW you just don’t care.

Writer/Director Mark Steven Johnson said in an interview with Netflix that his goal as a filmmaker “is always to entertain … and ultimately come out of the movie feeling better than they did going in”. A taller order than it sounds, as Johnson’s previous Netflix films were not that well received by critics and audiences alik,e getting middling-to-poor scores across the board, but Champagne Problems has much stronger characters, funnier writing, & a chemistry and likability between their leads that simply feels right.

Minka Kelly & Tom Wozniczka are not a classic romantic pair in a sense as they don’t ooze sensuality, but what they do have is a warmth & believable emotional connection that makes the audience lean in; a bond over childhood trauma & a passion for making a life their parents would be proud of gives these two beautiful people something more to work with.

While Kelly & Wozniczka do work as a developing romantic pair, the real key to the film’s success lies in how it keeps its audience engaged when the pair are not on screen together. Whether it’s the subplot of dealing with the substantial loss of a loved one gone too soon or the hilarious dialogue written for Flula Borg’s Otto & Sean Amsing’s Roberto, Johnson’s script has more entertainment value & emotional substance than your average streaming holiday film. Lines like “I stumble all the time … I’ve just learned to make it part of the dance” is almost too good of a line for a man who was just looking at a hunky Santa’s OnlyFans mere seconds before, but it’s just good enough to put on a bumper sticker and send to my house.

Sad to say, I was one of those critics who was not charmed by Johnson’s previous Netflix efforts and had next to zero expectations for what this film would provide, but Champagne Problems seems to improve upon the lack of relatability, character, & consistency of those previous films. A little less Christmas than you may crave, a lot more humor than you probably expected, and a delightfully breezy romantic story that will win you over once it touches down in France. The setting during Christmastime, especially the neon-lit festival and the exquisite vineyard grounds, gave a fertile & vibrant backdrop. Every character you root for gets a little gift of life & love in their stocking, and we are better for it. This one took me by surprise in a genre full of ineffectiveness, and yes, Mark Steven Johnson, I do feel better than I did going in.

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Watch Champagne Problems If You Like

• A Perfect Pairing
• Love in the Villa
• Love Guaranteed
• When In Rome
• A Castle For Christmas

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MVP of Champagne Problems

Sean Amsing as Roberto (again?!)

The go-to comic relief for director Mark Steven Johnson strikes again in his best performance as a Roberto yet (he played a character named Roberto in Love Guaranteed AND Love in the Villa for the director previously)! In Champagne Problems, Amsing gets all the best lines and lights up every scene he’s in. He’s a billionaire player who’s only at the table because he loves to party with this champagne, so he gets to revel in throwing money around, constantly popping bubbly, and occasionally dropping poignant lines that stick with you after the film concludes. To quote Roberto, “Doesn’t matter if you’re a glass half-empty or a glass half-full, all that matters is that the glass is refillable.” We could all use a little more Roberto logic and a lot more Roberto bravado in our lives.

Another solid streaming holiday rom-com from Netflix in 2025; this time with more depth, humor, & chemistry than many of its predecessors. Minka Kelly & Tom Wozniczka are subtle, sweet, & incredibly likeable, but the supporting comedic performances from Flula Borg & scene stealer Sean Amsing will keep you smiling beyond the romance.