The plot includes zero homophobia, neither of the characters have to return out of the closet and Fran Drescher is on iconic type (Image: Lifetime)
Happiest Season might have given us a uncommon alternative to see LGBTQ+ characters drive a significant romcom – nevertheless it’s not the one queer film making waves this winter.
Sure, the gays are getting their very own festive made-for-TV motion pictures too. And towards the backdrop of what I feel we will all agree is an absolute nightmare of a December, I’m joyful to substantiate that Lifetime’s The Christmas Setup (screened within the UK on Channel 5) is primary, schmaltzy, predictable – and I completely cherished it.
Full disclosure, I dwell for a naff Christmas movie. They’ve grow to be an beautiful annual custom through the years; as a lot part of the Yuletide season as mince pies, wrapper-filled tins of High quality Road and arguments with strangers on Twitter about Fairytale Of New York.
They bypass cinemas fully, appear to be they’ve a finances of round £9.50 and infrequently have outside scenes that had been clearly filmed in huge, huge warehouses.
Including to the enjoyable, some stellar names have gotten in on the motion in recent times, particularly with the rise of streaming: see Christine Baranski and Dolly Parton in Christmas On The Square, Emma Roberts in Holidate, or Vanessa Hudgens, Vanessa Hudgens and Vanessa Hudgens in The Princess Switch: Switched Again.
The humour? Ropey! The stakes? Low! The knitwear? Chunky! However I drink it up like grocery store own-brand mulled wine each rattling yr.
Actual followers of the style can be nicely conscious that Lifetime and Hallmark are the true MVPs; having introduced us such classics as 12 Males Of Christmas (with Kristen Chenoweth), Expensive Secret Santa (Jordin Sparks), Pleasure And Prejudice And Mistletoe (Lacey Chabert, aka Imply Ladies’ Gretchen Weiners), and – a private favorite – all-time turkey The Spirit of Christmas, during which a lady inexplicably falls for a ‘good-looking however cursed ghost’.
Now, in massive previous 2020, I couldn’t be happier that they’re letting LGBTQ+ characters take centre stage.
Hallmark have made progress with The Christmas House, an ensemble effort that includes a distinguished homosexual couple.
This unashamed cheese-fest is an enormous step in the correct path (Image: Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Photos)
Nevertheless it’s Lifetime who’ve gone even additional and absolutely let the gays take the wheel: The Christmas Setup is unashamedly, fully, top-to-bottom gay. Not solely are the principle characters homosexual; so are the actors, the author, the director and an government producer.
The plot (small ‘p’) follows high-flying New York Metropolis lawyer Hugo (Arrow’s Ben Lewis) as he returns dwelling for Chrimbo and comes face-to-face with highschool crush Patrick (Blake Lee, Lewis’s real-life husband).
As romance blossoms over issues like ‘the very best scorching chocolate on the planet’ and a particularly handy show of aurora borealis, Hugo’s provided a brand new job function abroad and finds himself compelled to determine what he actually desires in life: a promotion, or a smokin’ scorching boyfriend?
You realize what you’re getting from the outset, and The Christmas Setup ticks each field with, er, homosexual abandon. Witty greatest pal (GLOW’s Ellen Wong)? Tick! Sassy mom (Fran Drescher)? Tick! Low-stakes battle, healthful flirting, a musical efficiency? Tick, tick, tick! It’s all right here, and it’s all wonderful.
The plot includes zero homophobia, neither of the characters have to return out of the closet, Drescher is on iconic type… and by the point the ending rolls round (spoiler alert: there’s a prepare station, an enormous snog, and loads of CGI snow), you’ll be screaming out for a sequel.
In fact we shouldn’t faux {that a} made-for-TV film about privileged, cisgender, white homosexual males is the endgame for on-screen variety. However this unashamed cheese-fest is an enormous step in the correct path.
And with a homosexual staff of creatives behind-the-scenes – plus some beautiful chemistry between the massively likeable leads – it feels as genuine as a movie of this nature can realistically get.
How does it square-up towards, say, Happiest Season?
Truthfully, I don’t assume it might. It’d be like evaluating latest albums from Woman Gaga and Amanda Holden – they’re each totally different beasts with totally different budgets, working to very totally different briefs.
However for what it’s value, The Christmas Setup might depict a really picturesque, comparatively conflict-averse world – however at this second in time, it’s like an enormous cuddle.
