'A Merry Little Ex-Mas' Review: A Festive, Funny Holiday Heart Warmer
- Romey Norton
- Nov 15, 2025
- 3 min read
By Romey Norton - November 15, 2025
A perfectly imperfect festive rom-com with heart, humour, and just enough sparkle to make you believe in second chances.
We’re in November, which means it’s time for streaming platforms to shove Christmas throats down our throat until we choke. Netflix’s Christmas catalogue gets a welcome dose of grown-up sparkle this year with A Merry Little Ex-Mas, a warm, witty, and gently chaotic festive comedy about love, loss, and the weirdness of celebrating Christmas with your soon-to-be ex. Directed by Steve Carr and written by Holly Hester, the film proves that even when the snow looks fake and the mistletoe moments are predictable, there’s still plenty of heart to be found in holiday heartbreak.
What is 'A Merry Little Ex-mas' about?
The story centres on Kate (Alicia Silverstone), a soon-to-be divorcée trying to hold her family together for “one last Christmas” before she and her husband Everett (Oliver Hudson) officially go their separate ways. The plan is simple: fake festive harmony for the kids, sell the house, and move on. But when Everett’s much younger new girlfriend (Jameela Jamil) unexpectedly shows up, Kate’s perfectly planned Christmas turns into a battlefield of awkward activities, emotional nostalgia, and a show of sledging.
As far as holiday setups go, it’s a clever twist on the traditional “getting back together” story. Instead of a fairytale romance, A Merry Little Ex-Mas explores what happens after the fairytale ends — when the stockings are still hanging, but love has packed its bags.
Silverstone brings warmth, humour, and emotional honesty to Kate, making her both relatable and funny. Silverstone balances this beautifully with her trademark comic timing, reminding viewers why she became such a beloved screen presence in the first place.
Hudson plays Everett with endearing confusion, a man torn between comfort and change, while Jamil adds sass and style as the new woman caught in the middle of the holiday chaos. Together, the trio delivers plenty of sharp banter and emotional friction that feels refreshingly adult for a Netflix Christmas movie.
While some jokes lean into slapstick territory, the script has enough self-awareness to laugh at the clichés it embraces. Sure, the film is predictable in places, but that makes it comfortable as audiences know what’s coming. Some side characters feel underwritten (Melissa Joan Hart) and deserve more screentime and comedic moments. And like most Christmas films, to me anyway, the ending rushes through resolution in favour of wrapping things up neatly — pun intended.
A Festive Farewell That Finds the Right Sparkle
A Merry Little Ex-Mas isn’t here to reinvent the Christmas rom-com — and that’s fine. It’s exactly what audiences want from a Netflix festive film: escapism with a hint of emotional truth. It’s a film about letting go without losing your sparkle, about finding peace in imperfection, and about how even when love changes shape, it doesn’t disappear completely. And if this film is setting the precedent for the rest of Netflix’s Christmas film roster, I’m okay with it. I’m still not over how horrible Hot Frosty was.
'A Merry Little Ex-Mas' is now streaming on Netflix.
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