By Becca Johnson - February 25, 2025
A directorial debut from H. Nelson Tracey and starring Chandler Riggs (The Walking Dead) and Samantha Isler (Captain Fantastic) in the leading roles, Breakup Season is far from your typical Hallmark Christmas flick. The story follows Ben (Riggs) as he brings his girlfriend Cassie (Isler) to his rural Oregon hometown for Christmas, to introduce her to his family. However, things go terribly wrong upon arrival, as the pair break up on day one of the trip.
Competently acted with strong filmmaking and a unique approach to the sub-genre, Breakup Season certainly stands out with its refreshing take on relationship breakdown, though the lack of laughs and Christmas cheer may render it forgettable.
With a premise such as this one, it may seem like a good time for hijinks to ensue. Shacking up with your ex and his family, whom you’ve never met before, certainly sounds like a recipe for disaster, and one that could lead to many an awkward encounter. However, Breakup Season doesn’t take this approach. For better or for worse, the script is extremely light on the comedy, instead choosing to focus on putting forward poignant messages and giving insight into the process of breaking up with your partner. This does make for an occasionally depressing viewing, as Cassie’s loneliness over the Christmas period can really be felt, but there is also an underlying message of hope beneath it all.
The script discusses moving on in great detail, through more characters than just our leads, showing how this is a shared experience. It may seem like the worst thing ever whilst it’s happening, but with a little time and some love from your family, things do get easier. Despite lacking that Christmas cheer that many movies of this ilk harbor, it does get one thing right - the importance of family. No matter how dysfunctional it is, and no matter if the people you’re spending the holidays with are your family or someone else’s, there’s always a place at the table, and it’s the most important thing. Breakup Season does a fantastic job with its messaging, leaving you with more to take away than just laughs and predictable endings.
From a filmmaking standpoint, Breakup Season is very competent. The characters feel very lived-in and real, and are not only superbly written but well acted, too. Chandler Riggs and Samantha Isler are both good in their leading roles, putting forward the emotion needed to make this tragic breakup as believable as possible. The whole ensemble are really likable, and even annoying character traits such as vlogging over Christmas and starting debates at the dinner table can be forgiven due to how dynamic they are. Brook Hogan is fantastic in the role of Mia, truly embodying the warmth and love that mothers are so capable of giving, and Jacob Wysocki plays the lazy older brother Gordon well, getting a really good arc that ensures you’ll like him more and more as the film progresses.
The soundtrack matches everything beautifully, with the music complimenting the scenes the tracks are placed in, and the editing is very tight, too. Clocking in at just 100 minutes and not overstaying its welcome, it feels like the perfect length for a movie of this type, and the run-time suits the story. For a directorial and written debut from H. Nelson Tracey, especially given its modest budget, it’s a very impressive feat.
Although Breakup Season boasts a premise that strays from the familiar path, it may be missing one or two ingredients to make it a Christmas staple. Although this can be considered a positive when hitting play in February, there is barely any Christmas imagery or music in here. This makes it feel like more of a winter watch than a Christmas one, which though means it has legs throughout the year, prevents it from having that holiday season spark.
Choosing to include almost no laughs inside the script is certainly a choice, and though it does have occasional moments of levity, there are certainly times in which more fun and energy could’ve been injected in. It chooses to go down the drama path, and it does so very well, but giving it just a touch more spark would’ve boosted it from good to great. There is an argument for some extra humour making Breakup Season a little more on the formulaic side, but sometimes holiday season movies need that extra layer of cheese. Whether it be comedy, romance or a Christmas jumper or two, Breakup Season is certainly missing something.
Those watching for Chandler Riggs won’t be disappointed, as he delivers a great performance that is certainly different from his prior works. Audiences may also be glad to find that there’s more in here than just a little star power, as Breakup Season boasts a great ensemble cast, a fun location, well developed characters and a poignant dive into breakups that every viewer can relate to and take something away from. What it lacks in festivities and rom-com, it makes up for in uniqueness.
Coming to Tubi March 1
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