Trading Places runs from before Christmas to New Year's Eve, and Christmas is all over it: decorated city streets, an office party, snow, a festive dinner, and one of cinema's least dignified Santa suits.
The question is whether Christmas matters to the story or only to the calendar. The rubric points to the calendar. Christmas is the occasion, the plot would survive a different season, and the climax comes after Christmas is over.
It is very comfortable viewing all the same, and the rubric uses it as a calibration film for exactly that combination: an easy watch with Christmas as the occasion only. If your Cosiness comes out well above your Festive Factor, you have scored it the way we did.
Sources
- AFI Catalog, checked 16 October 2026
- How Festive Factor is scored
Updated 16 October 2026