Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Jen Maravegias | Film | November 24, 2025
The problem with Champagne Problems is that there isn’t enough champagne in the world to make me think Minka Kelly is a good actress. But congratulations to her on convincing Netflix to pay her to hang out in France for this silly rom-com.
There is also not enough of Thibault de Montalembert in Champagne Problems. He’s a fairly well-known French actor. In this, he plays Hugo Cassell, the patriarch of a champagne-producing family that has fallen on hard times after a bad growing season. His son, Henri (Drops of God’s Tom Wozniczka), isn’t interested in the family business. He has his own dream of opening a bookstore, but it will have a wine section, so you know, on theme. Hugo is searching for buyers to bail him out and take over the company.
Minka plays Sydney Price, an executive with a strong acquisition proposal, so her boss sends her to Paris to pitch Château Cassell. After having her heart broken, Sydney is career-driven and hyper-focused on having as little fun in life as possible. Her sister, Skyler, makes her promise she’ll take one night to have fun in Paris while she’s there. Oh, little sister, you have no idea what that promise is about to lead to!
There’s a meet-cute between Sydney and Henri in a magical bookstore that leads to a magical night exploring Paris and ends in a magical bedroom romp that makes Sydney late for her VERY IMPORTANT PROPOSAL MEETING the next morning. Quelle dommage.
At the meeting, she’s introduced to her competitors: the stereotypically affectless German guy, the stern French businesswoman, and the comic-relief billionaire playboy who’s only interested in buying the company to make sure the quality of his favorite champagne doesn’t suffer.
Lo and behold, Henri is also part of this meeting as the VP of Château Cassell. If only the two had talked about anything practical before falling into bed with each other. But that’s not how the magic of Paris works, I guess. I don’t know. I’ve only been there once, when I was 11. There was no Ferris wheel back then (what a rip-off).
What follows is a paint-by-numbers romance full of misunderstandings and wine-based bonding exercises devised by the elder Cassell, who can clearly see what Sydney and Henri refuse to. C’est l’amour!
Sydney loses the man, then loses her job. Then she gets the man back because she proves herself to be honorable by losing her job instead of insisting that Château Cassell sign a bad business deal. Bravo! Magnifique! Everyone lives happily ever after. In France, at the Château. The competitors, the little sister, the Cassell family dog—everybody. They open a bookstore that sells champagne, which is actually an excellent idea. Why aren’t there more wine bar/bookstores? I would buy way more books after a couple of glasses of wine.
But let’s talk about Minka Kelly. Minka is 45 years old. I don’t know how old Sydney is supposed to be, but she’s played with such doe-eyed naïveté that I had a hard time believing her as a 45-year-old professional American woman. She has closed herself off from the world after having her heart broken by her cheating ex-husband, but her character choices felt inauthentic. Like, she’s just not mad enough? She’s not even mourning the relationship; she’s moping. I don’t know a lot of 45-year-old women who have the time or energy to mope over a failed relationship. Especially if it failed because their partner cheated, that’s when you get mad, get revenge, or get your groove back.
You can argue that it’s just a silly Netflix rom-com that I should not be watching for authenticity. But as an actor, all you’ve got is authenticity. If I don’t believe what you’re saying or how you’re reacting, what’s the point? I didn’t love last year’s Lindsay Lohan Netflix rom-coms, but I believed what her character was saying and how she was affected by the events of the plot. I cannot say the same for Minka Kelly in Champagne Problems. Plus, there’s an entire minute of dialogue when she mispronounces macaron as macaroon multiple times. It was neither cute nor endearing. How did that make it through editing?
Netflix, call me if you want someone to write the angry divorcée goes to Paris to have a revenge relationship with a sexy cheesemonger (or something) script!
Champagne Problems is now streaming.
