How do you like your Christmas movies? Funny? Sweet? Or with a Red Ryder BB gun?

Image Credit: Everett CollectionWhile my local Target happily broke out its festive red-and-green decorations before Halloween this year, personally, I’m just not all that comfortable finding Bing Crosby unironically cool, untangling a twisting string of tiny lights, and watching my favorite Christmas movies until after my calender reaches its final page. And whaddaya know, today is December 1! Happy holidays, PopWatchers!

So: What movie should I watch? Actually, if you’re my boyfriend or my mom, that’s a terribly silly question, since the obvious answer is that 2003 ensemble British gem Love Actually, which I believe I watched at least three times last year. If you’re my dad, meanwhile, the answer is clearly 1989's National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation; I can still vividly recall him laughing harder than I think I’d ever seen him when we saw it together in the theater. But while I certainly do enjoy watching Colin Firth speak halting Portuguese to his beloved with an entire village watching behind him, or Chevy Chase defy the laws of physics riding a metal disc snow sled, in my own heart of hearts, I will always hold 1983's A Christmas Story as my all time favorite Christmas film. From the frozen tongue to the sexy leg lamp, the Red Ryder BB gun to “Oh fudge,” it is sheer holiday perfection.

But that’s me. The great thing about Christmas movies is they come in so many different flavors. You’ve got animated (The Polar Express, The Nightmare Before Christmas), family comedy (Home Alone, Elf), irreverent adult comedy (Scrooged, Bad Santa), heartwarming black-and-white classicism (It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street), and oh-yeah-I’d-kinda-forgotten-that-was-set-at-Christmas genre pics (Gremlins, Die Hard).

So, P-Dubs, what’s your favorite Christmas movie? Sound off in the message boards! If you need a reminder of when you can watch your favorite Christmas films, check out EW’s Holiday TV Guide here!

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Lee DeWyze single: How 'Sweet'?

There’s nothing wrong with “Sweet Serendipity,” the bouncy debut single from American Idol season 9 champ Lee DeWyze. Rhythmically, it skips along like a smooth stone across a placid pond. Melodically, it could serve as the baby greens on a satisfactory lite-rock sandwich. But at the risk of overtaxing those ridiculous/disparate similes, it’s hard to imagine “Sweet Serendipity” creating a lot of waves, or becoming anybody’s favorite new flavor at radio. It’s a vaguely inspirational, vaguely catchy affair, tailor made for the middle third of a Katherine Heigl or Kate Hudson rom-com trailer. You know, the part where they show a couple of sun-drenched urban vistas and quick-cut shots of our working-girl heroine learning to let loose, be free, and put a little love in her heart. Which isn’t the worst thing in the world, really. And though the song itself is a little generic, Lee’s gruff growl of a voice manages to not get sandpapered into submission by the major-label production; 15 seconds in, you know exactly who’s singing it. A couple other thoughts:

* Much like “Live Like We’re Dying,” the debut single from season 8 champ Kris Allen, “Sweet Serendipity” packs words into its chorus more aggressively than an overstuffed New York-style deli sandwich: “And I’m doing just fine/ I’m always landing on my feet/ In the nick of time/ And by the skin of my teeth/ I ain’t gonna stress/ ‘Cause the worst ain’t happened yet/ Something’s watching over me/ Like sweet serendipity.” Even with all the studio wizardry in the world, that “’cause the worst ain’t happened yet” line sounds like marbles in a paper bag. This isn’t going to be an easy one to perform live.

* To continue the “Live Like We’re Dying” comparison (because I can, and because they are not dissimilar ditties) I wish “Sweet Serendipity” contained some of the former song’s coiled energy. The tense guitar line of Kris’s track — combined with the drawn-out strain he delivered on “liiiiive like we’re dying” (not to mention the background “whoa-oh-oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh, oh-oh-ohs“) gave that single an intensity — a demand that you drop what you’re doing and pay attention, or at least sing along — that “Sweet Serendipity” lacks. Lee’s song is also missing the hummability factor of, say, Jason Castro’s “Let’s Just Fall in Love Again.” And if that one couldn’t get much traction at radio, how will “Sweet Serendipity” fare?

* From a thematic standpoint, Lee gets the slightly dubious distinction of hitting radio with a song that — thematically speaking — strikes the kind of fuzzily inspirational chord of an Idol victory anthem. “Set sail without a destination/ See where the wind will take you“? Uff da. Though I do kinda dig that worn-out denim metaphor in the first verse.

Listen below, then tell me: What do you think of “Sweet Serendipity”? Will it find a home in your music collection? Will it be a “Jesus Take the Wheel”-style smash, or will it go the way of “Over It”? Sound off below! And for all my Idol-related musings, follow me on Twitter @EWMichaelSlezak; while you’re at it, get hip to EW’s Music Mix blog @EWMusicMix!

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