Emma Roberts and Thomas Mann make About Fate tempting
The "address-swap" rom-com leans heavily on the performances, and chemistry, of its leads

Since Hallmark Christmas movies have begun to develop a year-round fanbase, releasing a New Year’s Eve movie in September doesn’t seem quite so odd. Especially for audience members currently enduring a heat wave, frozen suburbs dusted in slow-falling snow feel like as much of a fantasy realm as Wakanda or Asgard. However, their hearts may sink when a tinny public-domain sounding song kicks things off over a banal montage in which Thomas Mann and Emma Roberts wake up and prepare for their day.
Surprisingly, though, About Fate comes with an unusual pedigree: it’s a remake of award-winning Russian filmmaker Eldar Ryazanov’s 1978 TV movie The Irony Of Fate, Or Enjoy Your Bath! In translating the original film’s centrally planned communist cities to two similar areas of tract housing, its social satire loses a bit in translation. But in a nod to the script’s origins, a Russian bath house, cab driver, and copious amounts of vodka play key roles in director Marius Vaysberg’s remake.
In the film, both Margot (Roberts) and Griffin (Mann) are counting down to December 30, when they expect to get engaged to the love of their life—or more accurately, of the last three months—at their local Bennigan’s. Although Griffin’s social-influencer girlfriend Clementine (Madelaine Petsch) agrees, she insists he re-propose on New Year’s Eve at a party where she can broadcast to her Instagram followers. But after getting wasted at the aforementioned bath house, Griffin’s cab accidentally drops him off at Margot’s address—which is the same as his, just in the wrong neighborhood.
Awakening to discover the bed he slept in is not his own, Griffin agrees to attend the wedding of Margot’s sister Carrie (Britt Robertson) the next day, posing as her flaky ex boyfriend Kip (Lewis Tan), who failed to pop the question she was waiting for. Griffin and Margot’s makeshift agreement stretches credibility—especially after the 911 operator dismisses Margot’s complaint of a strange naked man in her house. But Griffin is a super-nice guy who can’t tell people no, and Margot is extremely—if in this vulnerable state understandably—needy. Getting to the wedding and to Clementine’s party on New Year’s Eve in the middle of a blizzard proves to be a challenge. Bringing Up Baby-style screwball comedy hijinks ensue, in a slight departure from typical holiday movie fare.