Watched: 12/05/2024
Format: Netflix
Viewing: Second
Director: Michael Mayer
Two things:
1) I watched this originally during the holidays of 2021, and like a lot of things that happened during Deep COVID - I remembered I had watched this movie, but who was in it? Couldn't tell you. Any details other than the basic plot? Nope.
2) I also failed to write it up somehow, which is likely *part* of how it was not committed to memory. So, add another movie to my depressingly large number of movies watched in 2021.
I was looking, and this movie got lukewarm reviews when it came out. Which is understandable in some ways. It has a weird Metacritic score of 49 - but based on just six reviews. And a user score of 6.2, with most people feeling "it's fine", a few not liking it, and twice as many liking it.
But, especially this year, here's what I'm saying to you people: The past few years have been marked by people having a rough idea of what a Hallmark movie is, but not really watching them for more than a couple of minutes. But they don't actually know what they're talking about - and mostly still discussing the movies from eight years ago. And somehow, if something *resembles* one of those movies in form, it's sport to knock it down a few pegs. And - fair enough! Do that.
But if you judge this movie against actual Hallmark movies and not what you imagine Hallmark movies to be, Single All The Way (2021) is *good*. It is also not Hallmark, it's Netflix, but does mark a seismic shift that occurred when these movies stopped being exclusively about white, straight women of a certain age and the Christmas Tree farmers they fall for.
Is it the best movie ever? No. Is it even good outside of the holiday romcom context? It's mediocre. But against the tsunami of made-for-TV holiday movies, this one is sitting at the top of the crest. As someone who has made it an academic pursuit and watched twinkly trash for something like 20 years - you take your wins where you can get them.
I know that's like saying "of the punches to the face I took, this one was pretty nice". But here we are. This content is free, people.
But - show me an actually good Christmas romcom, and I'll explain to you why Love Actually is a movie for sociopaths who just like staring at pretty people. (Shop Around the Corner is baller, tho).
This one sees two gay best friends go from their place in LA to visit one of their families in New Hampshire. Or Vermont. I don't remember. Along the way, they figure out that, actually, they're in love and decide to move to the lovely Northeastern town.
That's it. But the movie does a few things.
It is littered with a wacky family that is made up of a great cast. Kathy Najimy as the too-positive-LGBQT+-supporting- mom. Jennifer Coolidge as the nutty aunt. Barry Bostwick as the cool dad. My fave: Jennifer Robertson (of Schitt's Creek fame) as the sister constantly running interference and helping out.
Our stars are Michael Urie - currently of Apple+'s Shrinking, and Philemon Chambers - who really doesn't have a robust IMDB page, but who is pretty solid, imho, as Nick - a children's book author. And they're good! Urie's character could have seemed like an unsympathetic whiny dweeb, but he makes a guy dealing with indecision relatable and fun.
And that cast is really what's fun. Who doesn't want Jennifer Coolidge to direct a Christmas pageant? Who doesn't want to see Kathy Majimy lecturing from the one book she read? The teen girls are *hilarious*. The romance isn't entirely an afterthought, but it's also an excuse to showcase the talents and generate a world which Urie would want to come back to.
The big thing is - unlike the "romcoms" of Hallmark, it's funny. Like, legit funny. I laughed. If you want to know the difference between between this movie and a Hallmark flick, it's that a soft smile is not the best response you'll get. I mean, the pageant alone... Maybe it's not Blazing Saddles, but Hallmark dumps out dozens of these things that cue you to know that was a joke or something funny with a shitty musical cue.
Anyway, that's that. Weird I didn't write it up before.
No comments:
Post a Comment