Movie · 2025 · Comedy, Drama, Romance · 1h 41m · R · English
Curator score: 5.8/10 (22.6K ratings)
They found themselves. Together. In Baltimore.
Overview
A newly sober man's Christmas Eve dental emergency leads to an unexpected romance with his older dentist as they explore Baltimore together.
Ratings
Curator score: 5.8/10
IMDb: 6.9/10
Letterboxd: 3.57/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
Metacritic: 75
TMDB: 6.2/10
Director
Jay Duplass
Production
Duplass Brothers Productions
Cast
Michael Strassner, Liz Larsen, Olivia Luccardi, Chris Strassner, Lewis Peterson, Rob Phoenix, Jessie Cohen, Zoe Strassner, Brian Mendes, Mary Catherine Garrison, Morgan Dixon, Drew Limon, Stacy Caspari, David Strassner, Marina Erickson, Mike Psenick, Michael Chandler, Spence Daw, Jesse Darcangelo, Julianne Wisner
Where to watch
AMC+, Philo, Sundance Now
Curator Review
Verdict
A warm, offbeat Christmas rom-com-drama with real tenderness, Baltimore texture, and an appealingly scruffy lead performance. It sounds especially rewarding if you like small-scale relationship stories that balance awkward humor, melancholy, and hope.
Best for
fans of intimate, character-driven romances
viewers who like holiday movies with a little bite and sadness
people drawn to naturalistic comedy and city-specific atmosphere
audiences who enjoy late-blooming, unconventional love stories
Skip if
you want a clean, morally uncomplicated romance
you dislike stories built around impulsive, messy behavior
you prefer big jokes or high-concept comedy over quiet hangout energy
you are not in the mood for a Christmas setting
Overview
The Baltimorons looks like a modest movie that knows exactly what it is: a tender, funny, slightly bruised holiday romance about two people finding unexpected ease in each other’s company. The setup is wonderfully specific, and the Baltimore setting gives it a lived-in personality that helps the film feel less like a generic seasonal confection and more like a real day unfolding in a real place.
Worth noting
What stands out in the response is the balance of sweetness and unease. People are responding to its empathy, its hangout rhythm, and its willingness to let awkwardness and longing coexist with charm. That makes it sound closest to the best kind of indie rom-com: small in scale, but emotionally generous.
Bottom line
There is, though, a built-in complication in the premise that may divide viewers, especially anyone sensitive to the ethics of a romance that begins while one party is engaged. If you can accept the messiness, this seems like a very watchable, very human Christmas movie with a strong sense of voice and place.
Top Letterboxd reviews
LetMeExplain (4.5★) · 651 likes
The Holdovers for the DMV
Kit Lazer (3.5★) · 497 likes
A warm, empathetic (dark?) (romantic?) comedy about saying “yes, and” to life.
PaulWHauser (3.5★) · 481 likes
I kinda miss this genre of film that explores human relationships with simplicity. It’s sweet and honest and relatable.
Michael Strassner is extremely likable, in my opinion. Cool that he also wrote the film.
Katie Walsh · 305 likes
The most romantic movie I’ve seen this year.
I could not have loved this more. It is begging to be an annual holiday rewatch: cozy and funny and morose and life-affirming, even sexy.
Harold and Maude but the Harold is an impossibly charming, bearish ne’er-do-well who is trying very, very hard to do something, anything right. Of course I’m a goner.
Very special, please seek this one out.
leahonfilmm (3.5★) · 276 likes
girls don’t want channing tatum, they want whatever’s wrong with cliff