Welcome to Screen Gems, our weekend dive into queer and queer-adjacent titles of the past that deserve a watch or a rewatch.
The Fairy Tale: The Christmas Setup
Of the surprising deluge of LGBTQ-themed holiday films this year, one title managed to met our icy hearts and warm us with a fantasy romance: Lifetime’s The Christmas Setup. The film stars real-life husbands Blake Lee and Ben Lewis as Patrick and Hugo, a pair of small-town former high school classmates whose paths cross years later during the holidays. Hugo, now a successful New York lawyer, comes back to suburban Milwaukee to spend Christmas with his mom Kate (Fran Drescher, irrepressible as ever) and best friend Madelyn (Ellen Wong). When he learns that his former high school crush Patrick has come out of the closet and become a successful landscaper, Hugo’s yule log enflames. Will the to find love together after all these years?
We’ll give you one guess. The Christmas Setup takes the usual holiday movie formula–beautiful winter vistas, careers vs. love, and fairy tale romance–and adds in a gay couple for good measure. It helps, of course, that Drescher gives an all-in, sincere performance as Hugo’s matchmaking mom. It helps too that the movie understands the changing views of gay people in pop culture: though the movie doesn’t dwell on Patrick & Hugo’s coming out stories, it does acknowledge them in a way a couple of small-town gay boys actually would (we speak from knowledge on that point). But we suspect the real magic of The Christmas Setup comes from the very real romantic sparks between Lee and Lewis. When the two boys look at one another, their eyes burn with love and attraction. It’s obvious they’re falling in love, and for that matter, so are we.
Not exactly earth-shattering in terms of diversity, The Christmas Setup nevertheless represents a new high watermark in terms of inclusion in the holiday genre. With a sequel reportedly already in the works–one which will push LGBTQ diversity even further–we suggest giving it a watch with a glass of mulled wine, and yes, even a kleenex, in hand.
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Streams on Lifetime & Hulu.
Cam
The Christmas Setup and Dashing in December were both cute.
The Hallmark movie, The Christmas House was practically unwatchable. For one thing, the gay couple were a side story, while the main character was the typical “Worked in a big city, but coming back to a small town” plot. Also, they made the mother beyond crazy and the plot was just dumb.
So in other words, a typical Hallmark movie.
WashDrySpin
All of these movies continue the notion of attractive in shape wealthy gay white men…
BoomerMyles
OK hater. If you actually watched “Dashing in December” you would have seen the ranchhand character (not wealthy), Heath, is Argentinian as well as the actor, Juan Pablo di Pace, who portrays him.
Go find another cause to rail against.
lather
I thought The Setup was quite charming and as you say, the married in real life couple had such great chemistry that it really came through. The side story of the train station owner added a very nice touch and remembrance of how things haven’t always been as they are now.
Must give Dashing 2 thumbs down. They were cute, but little chemistry and boring. It had good potential, but if it hadn’t been 2 gay guys, I would have quite watching early on.
Good choice, Q.
mg10
I was disappointed with The Christmas Setup. It was watchable, but not memorable. Sweet but boring. The acting and production quality were fine. The script, not so much. There were too many little things that went nowhere, too many things that were plain stupid, and no major obstacles for the characters to overcome. It might be the least dramatic gay film that’s ever been made.
chinadad
I watched 3 of the 4 movies released: House, Setup, & Dashing. I didn’t watch the one with Kristen Stewart (yet). Of the three, my favorite (?) least objectionable mostly watchable was “Setup”.
I didn’t appreciate how Hallmark hyped “House” as a gay holiday movie when their storyline was third in importance.
I wanted to like “Dashing” but the acting by the gay actors was so bad!! They made Andie MacDowell look like Meryl Streep in comparison.
sanfranca1
“The Christmas Setup” was very good, and I’ll watch it a second time.
“Dashing in December” not so much: it’s contrived, the acting seems amateurish, and Peter Porte, “Wyatt”, comes across as condescending, is very stilted, and appears to be uncomfortable in the role.
Dick Gozinia
“The Christmas Setup” was very nice. I thoroughly enjoyed it.