If you're looking for something to do in New York between Christmas and New Year's, a time of year I've affectionately labeled the "denouement of the holiday season," you're in luck. Film Forum is holding a week-long screening event of Ernst Lubitsch's The Shop Around The Corner. As the studios start to re-release the year's films leading up to awards season, it's a perfect opportunity to catch a classic film on the big screen. "Classic," is certainly the operative word, being that Lubitsch's film is well-acted, well-structured, puckishly funny, and all-around airtight. Here's five reasons you can't miss The Shop Around The Corner, at Film Forum.

1. The Hook

Miss Novak (Sullavan) and Mr. Kralik (Stewart) are coworkers who can't stand each other as coworkers, yet are gradually falling in love as secret pen pals. This is a plot device that is used today as if it's a foolproof ingredient; the notion that all a romantic comedy ought to do is take a couple from hating to loving each other. The reason that Novak and Kralik can hate each other personally and love each other in anonymity is not because their love is merely a function of time or some storybook inevitability. No, their complicated relationship is a symbol of what the entire film is cautioning against: judging others based on appearance alone. Mr. Kralik says it best, "There might be a lot we don't know about each other. You know, people seldom go to the trouble of scratching the surface of things to find the inner truth." This is all to say that there is an attention to detail in the forming of Novak and Kralik's romance that makes their coming together that much more special.

2. Incredible performances

Margaret Sullavan is simultaneously pithy and sweet as Klara Novak, able to slice through a tense situation with a fierce laugh. James Stewart, not surprisingly, takes a commanding role like Mr. Kralik and makes him human, vulnerable, and real. Just as noteworthy are the supporting performances, from Frank Morgan (The Wizard of Oz) as Mr. Hugo Matuschek and the wickedly funny William Tracy as Pepi. The only thing more inspired than these actors are the electric performances they yield onscreen.

3. You'll laugh, you'll cry

The conjunction of laughter and crying is the tried and true testimonial of a successful romantic comedy. Typically, we expect a delicate zig-zag between humor and heartbreak in a rom-com – one that mimics waking life and its bizarre and sometimes confusing pairing of emotions. The Shop Around The Corner, is a success because it doesn't deliver humor for the sake of humor. Jokes reveal character, further the plot, and move the story closer to its goal. The hook itself is funny. What's more, by the end of it you'll be able to apply what these characters have learned to your own life.

4. It will be screened on an archival 35mm print

There's a lot of chatter these days about film being released, well, on film. Regardless of where the medium is going, it's a treat to be able to see where it's already been. The 35mm print is vivid, nuanced, and an all around beautiful black and white. Miraculously, The Shop Around The Corner hasn't lost a pigment of its luster.

5. The Payoff

There's more than one reason a film's conclusion is so important in an audience's overall impression of the whole thing. The final act is often labeled a place "where good films go to die."  In the final moments, The Shop Around The Corner, proves why it's earned the right to be a classic. It proves to us that in order to be happy, we must be authentic. By the end, these characters have come to love each other, and we love them too.

In reality, one could list dozens of reasons to check out Ernst Lubitsch's romantic comedy classic. It's a funny and heartwarming look at love that is as relevant today as it was in 1940 when it was released.

The Shop Around The Corner is screening at Film Forum Dec. 25th–31st. Click here for tickets.