This Time Next Year Digital Review

4 star slick and satisfying rom-com.

This Time Next Year is a 2024 British romantic comedy film, based on the novel of the same name by Sophie Cousens, who also adapted it for the screen. It is directed by Nick Moore (Wild Child) who worked as an editor on Notting Hill, About a Boy and Love Actually, influences which are clearly to be seen here, in a good way.

It is available to own on UK Digital Platforms from 3rd June 2024, courtesy of Signature Entertainment.

“Due to a signal failure and an incredibly unlikely combination of other technical failures, this train will be held in the tunnel until further notice. Happy New Year folks.”

Minnie Cooper (Sophie Cookson – Kingsman: The Secret Service, Infinite) is a young woman living in London. She runs a struggling pie shop called ‘No Hard Fillings’ with her best friend Leila (Mandip Gill – The Flood, Doctor Who) and employees Bev (Keala Settle – The Greatest Showman) and Fleur (Charlie Oscar – Mothering Sunday). She is also dating a useless Millennial idiot named Greg (Will Hislop – Baby Reindeer).

Her entire life she has believed (because her mother Connie (Monica Dolan – Empire of Light, The Dig) told her) that she is jinxed, she should have been named Quinn, a family name and been the first born of 1990, with a handsome cash prize of £50,00, but she was pipped at the post by another mother, who also stole the name Quinn for her baby.

The New Year jinx seems to be in full effect this year too, as she misses midnight with Greg and ends up locked in a toilet. This year though, she is rescued by a handsome stranger, Quinn (Lucien Laviscount – Last Sentinel, We Are Not Alone), the very same who stole her name all those years ago.

As the two start to become friends, she meets his mother Tara (Golda Rosheuvel – Dune, Lady Macbeth) and learns he doesn’t lead the charmed life she expected. As she moves back in with her parents, Connie and Keith (John Hannah – Bermondsey Tales: Fall of the Roman Empire, The Mummy), can the two of them overcome all the preconceptions and act on their obvious attraction?

“Do you know what name I’ve got planned? Quinn, It’s a family name. My Grandma said it held the luck of the Irish. Never knew a Quinn who didn’t live a charmed life.”

This time next year is an excellent film, entertaining and fun to watch. As rom-coms go, this is pretty much by the numbers, but that’s really all you want from this kind of film and it does it very well. It also features one of the most epic proposal scenes in modern cinema history, hilarious.

There is great chemistry between the leads and everyone pulls their weight with the well written script. It’s a classic tale of will-they-won’t-they, when deep down of course we all know they will. If you’re here for fireworks (apart from the NYE ones) you may be disappointed, it’s more of a gradual realisation, but it works well. The setting of London is also great, although I felt they failed to capture the sheer chaos of New Years Eve in the city.

It’s a wholesome and heart-warming film and although nothing really new, is certainly worth adding to your watch list.

“Just call her. We’re not the bleeding Kardashians. No-one’s invested in this decades long grudge match except you, woman.”