Always with a field glass of wine-coloured in hired man .
First of all, if you haven’t seenEXmasyet,go watch it herefirst if you don’t want any spoilers. Then come back so we can talk about Leighton Meester’s character in the movie.
As a refresher, Leighton plays Ali, the ex-fiancée of Graham (played by Robbie Amell), who was invited to spend the holidays with Graham’s family after Graham said he wouldn’t be coming home. Of course, Graham shows up after all and drama ensues.
On themoral alignment spectrum, I can’t tell if Ali is more chaotic good or chaotic evil but I was either cackling or identifying with her in every single scene.
First, there’s relatable, chaotic good Ali:
1.Like when she drinks her little glass of wine alone as she prepares little bags of gingerbread for her friends.
2.Or when she always forgets her phone when she leaves the house because she’s too in the moment to be thinking about technology.
3.When her fiancée moves in with her and she already has the celebratory glasses of wine ready before he’s finished carrying the boxes in.
4.When we find out she has an irrational fear of goats grounded in childhood trauma.
5.When she cruises into Price Busters in her Christmas pajamas and robe to buy a replacement baby Jesus for her ex-mother-in-law’s nativity scene.
6.When Ali hides after Graham’s mom bursts into the room the morning after they spend the night together — but still manages to sneak a pastry from the breakfast tray his mom brought in so she can stress-eat it under the covers.
7.And then after Jeannie leaves, Ali sits up and finds a crumb on her shoulder and finishes that off, too.
Now let’s explore chaotic evil Ali:
8.First, the fact that when her ex in-laws invited her for the holidays she took them up on the offer, and then when her ex showed up to his own family home shedidn’t immediately leave.
9.And then she makes a bet with Graham that he’ll be the one who is asked to leave by Christmas morning and she’ll be allowed to stay — because his family likes her more.
10.When she getssointo game night that her extremely competitive side emerges…
11….and then she upsets her ex mother-in-law while playing Werewolf by swearing on the “spirit of Christmas” that she isn’t a werewolf when really she is, and then rubbing it in everyone’s face.
12.When she pranks her ex by tricking him into flooding the toilet, and then swoops in with the “missing” plunger to save the day.
13.Or when she tries to sabotage Graham’s chances at love with another person.
14.And then makes a very awkward attempt to be sexy with another guy to make Graham jealous.
15.Finally, every time she taunts Graham because people like her more than they like him.
That’s the end of my investigation into the chaos of Ali’s personality. Overall, despite her evil moments, I loved her.
If you haven’t seenEXmasyet, you canwatch it herenow for free on Freevee!
