Skip to main content

Some Kind of Christmas

By Golu
This is pretty much your standard holiday season Christmas movie, just with gay characters in the lead roles. Probably made for TV originally, and honestly I'm not sure how this one slipped past me when it first came out, because if there's one thing I've learned, it's that these kinds of movies really need to be watched while you're actually in a holiday mood. Outside of that window, they tend to feel exaggerated and a bit off. The core idea and plot here were fine enough, but this low budget indie film leaned into some pretty over the top dramatic beats, which, weirdly enough, I kind of saw coming anyway. For the first time in five years, Gary decides to break from his usual pattern and actually head home to Atlanta from Miami to spend Christmas with his family. After telling his mom Rachel, who's always pushing him about family stuff, that he's coming, Gary drops a hint that he won't be arriving solo. Then, right before the trip, the guy he's been...
Post a Comment

Some Kind of Christmas

By Golu

This is pretty much your standard holiday season Christmas movie, just with gay characters in the lead roles. Probably made for TV originally, and honestly I'm not sure how this one slipped past me when it first came out, because if there's one thing I've learned, it's that these kinds of movies really need to be watched while you're actually in a holiday mood. Outside of that window, they tend to feel exaggerated and a bit off. The core idea and plot here were fine enough, but this low budget indie film leaned into some pretty over the top dramatic beats, which, weirdly enough, I kind of saw coming anyway.

For the first time in five years, Gary decides to break from his usual pattern and actually head home to Atlanta from Miami to spend Christmas with his family. After telling his mom Rachel, who's always pushing him about family stuff, that he's coming, Gary drops a hint that he won't be arriving solo. Then, right before the trip, the guy he's been seeing dumps him on their anniversary, just two days before he's supposed to head home. On a friend and coworker's suggestion, he ends up hiring a fake boyfriend named Ken to bring along with him. What's interesting is that Gary hasn't actually come out to his family yet. Once they arrive, nobody really welcomes Ken warmly except for Gary's dad. There's a sister married to a much older guy, and a brother with a wife and kids who's always been treated like the golden child by their parents, especially their mom. Between Gary's recent breakup, sibling tension, and some leftover childhood baggage, things start boiling over, and conversations happen that nobody really expected. It turns into one of those holiday trips where the unexpected just keeps happening. Once all the emotional stuff settles down, it's time for the fake boyfriend to head back home for the weekend, but something real has clearly developed between the two of them, and Ken ends up showing up in Miami later to surprise Gary and ask him out for real.

This is obviously a low budget production. The acting isn't great in a lot of places, and there are way too many awkward pauses that kill the flow of the story. A bunch of loose threads never really get tied up, and you're mostly just guessing at what's actually happening. Honestly I couldn't even decide if I liked Gary as a person by the end. Sure, he's got real issues, but he refuses to actually open up and talk things through with anyone, and staying silent never actually solves anything. Ken does his best to get Gary to really look at himself. The mom was another rough character, putting on this fake warmth toward everyone while clearly running the show and favoring her older son over the rest of her kids. There's real potential in the setup, we've seen plenty of movies use this fake boyfriend or girlfriend premise to great comedic effect before. This one gets marketed as a comedy, but there isn't a single actual laugh in it. At this point I'm not too upset I missed it when it originally released. Best to skip this one unless you've genuinely got nothing else to watch. (3/10)

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Tuxedo (Thai Series)

By Golu
When I saw this series with 8 episodes of about 20-25 minutes each, I thought, good: Finally someone has come to senses and made a show which is not stretched out and they have tried to squeeze in a decent storyline in a good small episode format. But unfortunately, despite a decent premise on hand, the clunky writing, bad screenplay and an extreme tasteless portrayal of mental illness makes this show, not a fun watch. By the time it finishes, you just want to laugh off at the entire absurdity of it all. Aioun is talented tuxedo designer and very much in demand but he has handful of clients and he builds suits only for people who he feels a connection to. One night when his younger brother is about to get mugged, he is helped by a total stranger named Sichol. Since he tears his suit in the fight and has an interview the next day, Aioun gifts him a suit form his design as an expression of thanks. Sichol's interview is for. Personal assistant of a man named Nawee, a wealthy heir to h...
25 comments
Read more

Heartstopper: Season 2 (Web Series) (UK)

By Golu
Heartstopper Season 1 was a universal hit. You could not have read one bad review or heard from anyone who has seen the show not liking it. It was the kind of series that is easy to love, with sweetness exploding out of every scene without overwhelming you. So naturally, when Netflix greenly Season 2, expectations were naturally high and the same happened with me. I didn't know what to expect, but I had high expectations of this very very sweet teenage love story. And with eagerness and being a little late to the game by a few days, here I am, pouring my t thoughts down having just finished one of the most anticipated shows of the year. The second season also has 10 episodes and has all of our loved ones from the original season. The show continues from where it had left off in Season 1. Charlie and Nick are a couple and only their very close circle of friends know about it. This includes Charlie's best friend Tao and his trans best friend Elle. The center of the show is still ...
19 comments
Read more

Gaya Sa Pelikula (Filipino Series) [Like In The Movies]

By Golu
Pinoy BL series seem to be catching up to the popularity of the Thai shows. And I must say that they are doing a pretty good job at it. Where Thai series started to get repetitive with so many shows based in a college setting with seemingly similar storylines, Pinoy series are offering the viewers with new and interesting stories and some really good sets and surroundings. This series was 8 episodes of about 25-20 minutes each. Karl, a 19-year old introvert architecture student is in the middle of an identity crisis. Prior to the start of the second semester in college and forced by his parents, he moves into his uncle's condominium unit so that he can learn to be financially independent. Karl takes on odd jobs online to do so. But when one of his major clients suddenly goes MIA, he is left short on funds and without a means to pay for his utilities. An opportunity presents itself when his cocky neighbor Vlad has to hide from his family and proposes to share Karl's space for th...
23 comments
Read more