This is Part 1 of the episode transcript.
Ron: Welcome to the final Stereo Geeks episode of 2020. We continue with our Christmas special in what we've been busy with.
Mon: I'm Mon.
Ron: I’m Ron. We will be discussing spoilers for all the movies and books that we are talking about during this episode. So, if you haven't watched them or read them, please check them out and return to our episode.
So, since we’ve been catching up with Christmas movies, I decided to watch The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two. This is a Netflix movie. I watched the first part a couple of years ago on Christmas Day. I thought, eh, whatever, I’m not going to enjoy this. But, actually it was really sweet and really captured the magic of Christmas.
It’s about a pair of siblings; the younger child, obviously, was the one who believed in Christmas. Her older brother, not so much. And now we take off in the second part and they've both already met Santa Claus, and they believe in the Christmas spirit.
But things have changed a lot since the first film when we met the siblings. They had just lost their father, and they were really struggling to celebrate Christmas without him. Now, in this film. It's been a couple of years later, and they're going to get a new dad. Their mother has met this very nice man, played by Tyrese Gibson, and it seems like certain things are going to be going ahead. But the little girl, she just can't get into it. And she needs Santa to come and bring some Christmas spirit to her life.
But, Belsnickel, a former elf turned human is here to rob Christmas of its joy. Can Santa and Mrs Claus. young Kate and her soon-to-be stepbrother Jack, save the day?
I, sadly, did not enjoy this movie. I really wanted to, and the production values are so much better than in the first film; like, we go to the North Pole and when they're in the Christmas Village, we see all these elves and everything we only got a little glimpse of in the first film. So, those bits I really liked. It was very beautiful, and it really felt like, it’s very magical and stuff.
But, the movie itself. No. It turned into a generic action film with Santa Claus in it.
Mon: That sounds terrible.
Ron: Yeah, I really wanted to capture that feeling from the first film like how you're feeling a bit down and you just want something to reignite that love for Christmas in you, especially when you're a little older. This one just doesn't do that. Like, I like action. That's fun. But this strayed so far away from the Christmas part of it that I just couldn't get into it.
Even the characters. It felt like they were manufacturing their disappointment in everything. Like, Kate is upset that they’re spending Christmas in a tropical city. So, they're like on the beach and stuff. And you're like, Okay, so what? ‘No, Christmas has to be white, and Christmas has to have snow in it’. No, it doesn't. It's so weird. And so, yeah, it just seemed like they were doing this for no reason at all.
And Bob the new dad. He seems really nice. I'm like, why doesn't Kate like him? And he's making this huge effort to be really nice and sweet and getting to know her and all. And I'm just like, you're not even trying. And I realise that Kate is young, but not that young that she should be throwing tantrums for no reason.
So yeah, it was strange. But Kurt Russell as Santa Claus is amazing. I don't know why. When I watched the first one, I was like, there is no way in hell this is gonna work. But he was great. And he's like, really enjoying himself being Santa.
Goldie Hawn as Mrs Claus, which is really fun, because they're together in real life. So, we got like this cameo from her in the first film and you're like, ‘ah, yay, and now you get to see her a bit more. She's very sweet, but I don't know. Like, I've seen Goldie Hawn in so much stuff but this one is not her best work. Whereas Kurt Russell is totally into it.
Julian Dennison as Belsnickel. Now, Julian Dennison is a really incredible young actor. We’ve seen him in Hunt for the Wilderpeople, we’ve seen him in Deadpool 2. I'm beginning to feel a lot like this boy is getting stereotyped.
Mon: Already?
Ron: Yeah. The character of Belsnickel is kind of a lot like his character in Deadpool 2, in the sense that he was betrayed by his parents and he wants to fight back, and he's really a good person at heart but he's doing bad things because he just wants revenge. And I really think that this is not fair because there's a lot more than he can do. I mean we've seen it in Hunt for the Wilderpeople. So, it's just really frustrating to see him being stereotyped in this particular kind of role.
Also, apart from Jack and his father Bob, there aren't really any other characters of color, so for the main villain to be of Maori descent is really irritating.
So yeah, despite the production values being pretty cool and there being some moments where I quite enjoyed the mythos that they've created, I really didn't enjoy this film that much.
The central family themselves, they didn't really work for me, I think in the first one, there was a good foil between the older brother and the little sister, because he was like ‘Santa Claus doesn't exist. Christmas doesn't exist. Why are we doing all this?’ And the little girl’s like no, she's a true believer and she believes in Christmas, and that worked really well together. The brother has like a teensy tiny role in this one.
So, it's all very magical in that sense, but the conflict is so manufactured, and even the happy ending, like, yeah, it's great and stuff but it just could have been done better. It's one of those sequels that feels like a sequel—bigger, better, but not.
I was sadly disappointed. I really, really wanted to enjoy this film. So, I'm sad.
Mon: Oh, that's so sad. Well, that sort of continues in the same vein for the next film.
I was kinda excited when I heard about The Christmas Setup. Apparently, it's a rare occurrence that Lifetime has queer couples in the lead. And The Christmas Setup has gay men finding true love.
So, played by Ben Lewis, Hugo is this lawyer who's been trying to become partner for three years now. Finally, just before the Christmas break, he asks one more time, and the boss kind of goes, we're not too sure you're ready for it. So, he's kind of crushed, but he has something to look forward to. He and his best friend Madelyne, who was played by Ellen Wong, they're off to his home, where they meet his mom Fran Drescher’s Kate.
She is this vivacious, Christmas-loving person—like the house cannot have enough lights, cannot have enough Christmas trees. It's just Christmas everywhere you look. And Kate, unbeknownst to Hugo, has set him up with the other gay dude in their small town, which is Patrick, played by Blake Lee.
Patrick is a couple of years older than Hugo and they went to school together. Patrick was already out in high school, but he was the most popular kid. Hugo, on the other hand, was still in the closet. He didn't come out till he was in college. And so when Patrick meets Hugo, he doesn't actually know that he's gay. He finds out later on.
And it's obvious that Hugo is kind of interested in Patrick, especially once he finds out that Patrick is not down in the dumps selling Christmas trees and needing a tip. In fact, Patrick has already retired, he made this popular app, which even Maddie knows about. And yeah, now he's giving back to the community, he's working with his dad and sending people trees and helping around town.
So anyway, this being a Christmas, romantic film, they find each other, they need to figure out whether they can be together. And in the end, there's a happy ending… If you can call it that.
Wow, I just was so disappointed in this film. I was kinda really excited, like I really was. I know Ben Lewis only from Arrow, he plays the adult version of Oliver Queen’s son. Hugo is pretty much the same as William. I didn't see any difference—like it was like if you transport him from one place to the other.
Ron: Yeah, I could totally see William going through the same thing when he goes back to Star City.
Mon: Exactly. Right? And I wanted to like this character. I really liked Ellen Wong’s Maddie.
Ron: Yeah, she was really nice.
Mon: She was really cool. She bring some natural vivacity which fit with the fact that Hugo is kind of staid from time to time. He's too restrained. And then of course, Fran Drescher, is of course like over the top. Though I thought that she was pretty believable.
Ron: Yeah, she was. She was like this really fun, cool mom who's just up in everything, so yeah.
Mon: Exactly. But the central relationship, while it worked for a bit, after a while it just fell away. Because I felt like they tried to make it seem like this idyllic happy ending. But I just feel like Hugo made the wrong decision because he was pressured into making that decision.
Ron: Throughout the film, I felt like Hugo was being pressured to do things that he didn't want to do. Like, even with the public speaking, he doesn't want to go up on stage and talk. Everybody’s like ‘no, no, go up and talk’. He doesn't want to go up and sing, it was like ‘no no, go up and sing’. Like why are you being pushed to do all these things? Just leave him be.
Mon: Yeah. And he gets this great opportunity which he's been vying for, for years. And in quintessential rom-com style, he sort of decides that love is better than opportunity, which I just can't get behind.
Ron: I didn't think it made sense in this film. Why does he have to give up the opportunity to be with Patrick? Patrick literally has everything right now, he's retired, he sold his app for a ton of money, he can do whatever he wants.
Mon: He can go wherever he wants as well, so why on earth is he pressuring Hugo?
Ron: Yeah, especially that we see them agreeing that it's going to be fine and everything’s going to be okay if it's long distance and then Hugo goes up on stage and sings this song and then suddenly there's like this weird switch that goes off and Patrick is like ‘no, I can't’. Like what? Where did this come from? What do you mean you can't? Like you were literally just saying; what changed in three minutes?
Mon: Yeah, I definitely don't agree with this story at all. I mean, it doesn't capture the Christmas spirit for me, because in the end these guys really don't know each other that well. And you want to say it's all true love and all that, but what exactly is Hugo gonna do in his hometown?
Ron: Is this a relationship that's gonna last? Or is this just a convenient relationship that's happened? I mean, yes, I get that Hugo’s mom was trying to set them up and they already have that experience from being in school together. But are there no other gay around? Why is Patrick Hugo’s only choice? Why is Hugo Patrick's only choice?
That's what pulled me up a bit shot because I was like, there has to be other reasons why these two are together. But if it's not there in the film, then how are we supposed to believe it?
And the thing is that we know that there is some kind of queer community here because Patrick talks about how there's a queer club for youth. There's a whole drag circuit happening; they didn't have that when they were growing up, so he's really happy that things have changed so much. So that means that they have other options. Why are these two together?
Mon: I agree with you. I was just so underwhelmed by it all and really frustrated because if you want to do something different, you want to make a queer film, but you're gonna go down the same road, take the same tropes, then you're not doing anything special.
Ron: Yeah, because then it seems to me like this was a straight film with gay characters in it. And also, why don't we see any other gay people?
Mon: Yeah, there's a hint that somebody in the past may have been in a queer relationship and then what? That kind of validity is required in a story where they're in a small town which isn't accepting them, but no one bats an eyelid. So, what is the point of that? It was like a red herring for the audience. Where does this go? Does this validate anything? No. It has nothing to do with it. I felt like there were two disparate stories which they just put together and said ‘hey we've made something different now. Please applaud us’.
Ron: Like, the ending as well. I actually ended up feeling a bit confused because I was like, hang on. So is he taking the new job, or is he not. And it's just kind of the way it ends, you're like, oh, I guess he's not, but it's not explicit.
I feel like the last act completely fell away. It had no clue what it was doing. They tried to wrap it all up quickly. Everything that had been happening up until that point, just forget about it—pretend it didn't happen because, obviously, it doesn't happen for the characters.
Mon: Even the central premise that this is a Christmas setup. You wouldn't know it, unless you'd seen the name of the film. Because it doesn't really come across as a setup at all.
Ron: I think it would have made more sense for it to be a Christmas setup, had the mother's intentions been a bit more clear. Like, why does she like Patrick for her son? We don't know, we don't even see them interacting. He's bringing a tree for her. That's it. So what is the connection there?
Mon: And what I felt is that set up for the setup was not built up. In the first scene had we realized that Hugo is really lacking in love, okay he's broken up with somebody, but that's okay, That's fine. It happens a lot of times, but it's not like he's feeling this grave loss, or, you know, he's just feeling so lonely. Hence this idea has sprung in Kate’s mind that, ‘oh there’s this guy’.
Maybe Kate’s had some interactions with Patrick which has made her think, yes, ‘he seems really nice. I would love to set him up with my son’. But none of that comes across. Hugo just wants to be home, he wants to get away from work, he doesn't want to think about the pressures of work—the fact that his promotion is not coming—and he wants to hang out with his best friend; he wants to hang out with his mom. And then there's the setup.
Ron: I honestly felt like for the majority of the film, Hugo's story revolved more around his job than his love life. And I thought that this romance that was happening between him and Patrick was just a consequence of them being in this place that they’re both comfortable in during a magical time of the year. But the last act makes it seem like the job was not that important, whereas finding a partner was. It ended up actually being rather jarring as a viewer, if you'd seen the whole thing, because Hugo's final decision just doesn't track with what he'd been fighting so much for from the beginning. And the thing is, I would have understood his decision had we seen him being absolutely and completely miserable at his job. He's not. He really believes in what he's doing. And he really wants to move up in this company. And he's really excited when he gets that call, right?
I'm wondering whether it was that interaction that they have on the roof where Patrick is like ‘lawyers suck’. And he was like, ‘I'm a lawyer’. Do you think that is the part of the reason why he changed his mind? I don't know.
Mon: You’re still trying to do some mental gymnastics to make it all fit and work, but it none of it does. Because at the end of the day, Hugo's magical return home for those few weeks is really dictated by the fact that he's back with his mom, he's hanging out with his best friend, he meets a cute guy, and he solves a mystery. And he saves something that he really loves. Those are great, but this isn't a long-term thing. So, if you take those elements away, what happens? Does Hugo still enjoy being back in his hometown? What is he going to do there? Like does his hometown need a hotshot lawyer? It probably doesn't, but he's worked so hard to get to a great position and he's throwing it all away.
Ron: Yeah, also is Patrick a worthy person to throw it away for?
Mon: That’s what I felt like. Patrick is a really selfish person because he's retired, he has basically nothing to do. So, he's latched on to Hugo—and that's how it came across to me—he's latched on to Hugo, who's a really sweet guy, who's a very smart guy. And that's it. So, he's like ‘no, I won't let you go’. It just seemed to me like it was a very manipulative kind of move by him.
The moment they sort of made an agreement, he just reneges and he makes Hugo feel guilty about it. I don't get it. And then everybody keeps telling Hugo that ‘you belong here’. If Hugo himself doesn't feel like that, then why are we telling him?
And the one person who really should have been telling him ‘you belong here and you stay here’ is his mom. But Kate, on the other hand, she is so happy for him. You can see in every interaction, especially after the cat is out of the bag that he's going away to London. She's the one who's still encouraging him to go and be the best version of himself. Everybody else is like ‘no stay here’. Why?
Ron: I haven't watched too many rom-coms, but in the few that I have seen, this always is the kind of gimmick that they use to keep a character in a place. Like everybody will come and tell them, ‘no you belong here’ or ‘you belong with that person’. I need to see that.
Mon: And we need to feel that, as an audience. We need to really root for them to be here, which we don't know.
Ron: Unfortunately I'm going to choose the job over the guy, sorry.
Mon: How old is Hugo? He's like, early 30s and he's being made partner in a gigantic law firm? Like, to hell with you, Patrick.
Ron: And in New York, like this is a big deal!
Mon: And, he’s being sent to London to expand his horizons. Come on, he’s going to be running the London office, and you give that all up for…Patrick.
Ron: Who you’ve only known for, like, one Christmas week. That's it. No, no.
You know what, I was with this film till the last act. Till that point I was like, oh it’s so sweet, look at how they're getting along. Oh, what's gonna happen? And then the last act happened. I was just like, what, why? It didn't work for me.
Mon: No, I agree with you, It was not a Christmas film.
Ron: I know we’ve talked about the entire film but, going back to the beginning what was with the double entendres?
Mon: Oh, I forgot about them!
Ron: That was so weird, right?
Mon: Yeah, it was really awkward and uncomfortable.
Ron: Yeah, and unnecessary.
Mon: Especially, there was this scene when Patrick has just brought the tree in. And they were framing it in such a way that I felt like they were trying to insinuate something. Hugo’s down on the ground on all fours, trying to fix a tree and Patrick is up top, trying to fix a branch. And I kept trying to think, are they trying to frame it in a particular position to say something? Because we've been so conditioned by all the double entendres up until then, that I thought that they were trying to say something or insinuate something, But it didn't make any sense. I'm guessing it was just an overlong scene where it was just badly made.
Ron: Yeah, it didn't make sense.
Also, despite the fact that Ben Lewis and Blake Lee are married in real life, I could not feel the chemistry on screen.
Mon: No, I agree. I was actually really surprised when you told me that, I was like okay, no.
Ron: They looked comfortable with each other, but yeah that chemistry just didn't come through at all.
Well, moving on to yet another Christmas film.
So, Dashing in December, sees Peter Porte’s Wyatt Burwall return to his ranch to be with his mum during Christmas. His mum, Deb, played by Andie MacDowell, is kind of struggling with the ranch. It's huge. It takes up a lot of money. And it's not really bringing anything in. Wyatt has not been back in years. So, Deb is obviously excited to see him.
But there's a little bit of tension about the ranch and what to do about it, their future, and the future of the horses that they have. And into the mix, we have Juan Pablo Di Pace’s Heath Ramos. Heath has been working on the ranch for a while, and Deb is really fond of him. He's super helpful and kind of almost a stand-in for Wyatt for her.
And we also have Caroline Harris' Blake, who is an old friend of Wyatt’s. And later on, we meet, Carlos Sanz’s Carlos, the former ranch hand, who may or may not be a little bit more important to Deb.
So, [laughing] this movie was an experience in many ways. Considering I had never heard of queer Christmas movies before, this is the fourth queer Christmas film we've seen this year. Each one has been a rollercoaster, in its own way. This was probably the strangest one.
Aside from the fact that the ranch setting is really out there for a queer movie. The characters are really strangely written. And I don't know what they were going for with this. And that ending. Yes, that’s another ending that I'm just not sure about.
Mon: So, Wyatt as a character is generally unlikable. I think they were going with the Scrooge personality for this guy. He's very grumpy at this office party that he's at just before he leaves for the ranch. He has this big project, and he has to take work to the ranch because he needs to finish this deal. And it takes a while—I would say two-thirds of the film—before we realize that his promotion, the project and selling the ranch are all interlinked. So, that goes to show you how good the writing is. #sarcasm
And Wyatt is so invested in selling the ranch because he's paying for it, he's paying the taxes. And obviously, it's not making any money. So, his idea is to basically get it off his mother's hands and sell it to his client.
He goes about convincing his mother in such a terrible fashion. He basically, at the first dinner that he's there, shoves this portfolio of numbers at her. And on the opposite side is Heath, who loves this ranch, he has a magical connection to it from his childhood. And he's obviously really invested in taking care of the horses, taking care of the ranch, taking care of Deb. He does not want to let it go. He also doesn't know how invested Wyatt is in this ranch because he doesn't know about the financial situation. So, Heath basically spends his entire time pushing back against this idea of selling the ranch.
And then there's Wyatt, well, it's his ranch, so he can do whatever he wants. Wyatt is looking at Heath as the ranch employee. Deb is looking at Heath as her son, maybe future son in law. And Heath is just wrapped up in the whole ranch situation. And, among all this, we are supposed to be invested in a love story. Suffice to say it does not go well.
This was so hard to watch, because Wyatt is the worst character ever. I hated this guy. Like, every time he seemed to take a turn where you would end up liking him, he would just do something really horrible. He is a nasty creature.
Ron: There's nothing good about Wyatt. There's no redeeming quality about this man. He is so self-absorbed; he does not see anybody else's point of view. And he's very ‘white savior’. Like, my dude, do you think about the words that come out of your mouth before you speak them?
Mon: And he attacks everyone! So, there’s this dinner scene, which is basically Wyatt’s way of making a special evening for Heath, and somehow Wyatt is the one who ruins it completely.
Ron: That is a complete and utter disaster. And it's all Wyatt’s fault. After that scene, I was like, everybody should wash their hands off this man. Even Deb is disappointed in her son.
Mon: But somehow, the very next scene sees Blake consoling Wyatt, and somehow it's all about Wyatt’s man-pain and not about all the horrible things he just said to the three most important people in his life. I'm just like, what? What is with this writing?
Ron: I have no idea. We’ve got to talk about the fact that Heath is originally from Colombia. There's kind of a weird imbalance because he's also an employee, and Wyatt kind of seems to imply that he can do stuff for Heath to make his life easier. And I'm just like, you do realize that sounds a little bit weird, right? You can give him a job, so he can continue working for you? Aren't you trying to have a relationship? What? It's just that entire scene was so yeurgh.
Mon: One thing I’ll say is, I'm glad Heath stood up for himself. But it's all underdone by the fact that we have to have a happy ending at the end, and it just doesn't work. This entire film was cringe.
Ron: I don't know what they were planning to do with this. They weren’t even trying. Okay, the setting is a bit strange. Why does the family have to have a ranch? I don't get it. It is just so weird because Heath is living on the ranch, but he doesn't have enough space for a Christmas tree and then the water stops working at one point and he has to go and have a shower in the in the main house. I'm just like, this is very upstairs, downstairs. And that's never addressed. So that makes it very uncomfortable for me.
But then his Colombian background is kind of brought in a couple of times but not very much. And, of course, his father ran off with a younger woman. Because let's just throw stereotypes in there for no reason. And why does Heath like Wyatt at all? They have a few conversations which are okay, but there's nothing nice about Wyatt. He's constantly throwing his weight around. He's constantly being condescending. There's nothing nice about him.
Mon: His first interaction with his mom when he arrives; he complains about every single thing. Oh my god! I'm surprised that his mother didn't actually hit him. And she's this long-suffering woman.
Ron: It's the only in that dinner scene later on, where she really looks disappointed, but I'm not sure why she hadn’t thrown him out of the house a long time ago. He's not nice.
Mon: The problem with this film is the structure. We start off with the fact that he's just freshly off a breakup. We also see that he has a lot of work to do. But then we're thrown immediately into, he wants to sell the ranch. But none of that is connected. Structurally, the film doesn't make sense.
Ron: We see him actually working on his whatever he's doing once. And I'm like, all this while, what were you doing? Weren’t you supposed to be bringing work home or something? So yeah, it was really confusing to watch and then, much later on when you see that everything's connected, why didn’t you tell us that sooner?
Mon: Again, the setup for the actual premise is completely hidden, so we're not invested. If you're going to make the character nasty or mean or Scrooge-like, then there has to be a reason why you expect us to be invested in him. And it would make sense if you see him looking at these property taxes and being like, oh my god, how am I gonna do this? And pushing to get more work and a senior position, knowing that, yes, I'll get more money so that I can keep this going. You know if you have that connection, you can sympathize and empathize with this character. Because the ranch is all he has and it’s connected to his father. But we don't get that.
Ron: We know from the beginning that Wyatt hasn’t come home for Christmas in ages. But you only learn why that is much later on. And it’s some kind of sappy reason about why he couldn't live up to his father's expectations, even though his father's been dead for 15 years or something. And I’m just like, what?
Mon: This is a problem with a lot of writing. They forget that there are real reasons why people can't be home for Christmas. Like they have jobs, they work in retail, they work in whatever. They need to finish a project, so you can't do it. That's a realistic but unfortunate reality. Had they included that in, it would have made Wyatt a more sympathetic character, but they don't do any of that.
Ron: I don't even know what Wyatt’s job is! What does he do?
Mon: I agree with you. I didn't get it either.
Ron: I don't get it. He has clients. Okay, what?
Mon: I feel like the creative brief for this film was: we want two gay guys in cowboy hats dancing in one scene. And they made the entire movie around that.
Ron: The same problem that we had with The Christmas Setup, we're having the same problem with Dashing in December. What is the connection between Wyatt and Heath? Literally the only thing they have in common is that they’re both gay. That's it, nothing else!
Mon: There's this scene, right, where Heath’s like, oh you're gay? And Wyatt already knows he’s gay, that means Deb told Wyatt about Heath, but she didn't tell Heath about Wyatt. Which doesn't make sense to me, because isn’t that playing favorites?
Ron: And also, we learn later on that she was trying to set them up. So then why, would you not tell him? Why would you want to spring that on him?
Mon: And that also means that Deb doesn’t talk about Wyatt when he's away. Heath’s been here for at least a few years now. How have they not talking about him and his previous relationships? The guy apparently has a revolving door of relationships.
Ron: It's only after they start getting together that Heath finds out about all these endless relationships and he doesn't want to be just another person in that. Why is all this information coming so much later? Look at the time span. It's what, one week, maybe less? And we’re supposed to believe that these two have fallen in love and they want to be together forever? Like, dude, you literally have no other options in this place. That's why you like this guy.
Mon: I agree with you.
Ron: There are all these weird stereotypes that keep coming in. Like, of course the poor person of color will not have had any relationships, even though he's been out for a while. In the 21st century, how are we seeing this?
Mon: Yeah, I was really disappointed in this. It was structurally a mess. I didn't care about many of the characters, I definitely hated Wyatt, who is our protagonist, and it played out in this series of tropes and disconnected events. It just didn't work for me.
Ron: In the beginning, why do they keep saying the years so specifically?
Mon: Right? I noticed that as well. Every other dialogue was like ‘he's been gone five years’, ‘he joined three years ago’, so and so died 15 years ago’. What is this? History?
Ron: There were so many years thrown at us? I was like, how many years has Wyatt not been here? How many years has he been working with them? When did Deb go see him? I don't know! Way too much information. Nobody needs to know all this. It literally felt like, when you're writing your first draft, you end up being very specific and then after that, you revise it and stuff and realise that nobody needs to know this information. It's like that that stage was missed.
Mon: Calling it the first draft feels authentic, because that's exactly how this film felt.
Ron: There were certain scenes that felt like they’d made alternate versions. And I don't know why it felt to me but it really did. Especially that scene after the dinner with the projector, and Blake is telling Wyatt that everything is going to be okay. This feels very much like they shot something else which didn't work so they put this in because they’d already shot it. And it really just me out of the experience of watching the movie. And then in the end for Heath to be with Wyatt is just so stupid.
Mon: Everybody gets their little romantic happy ending. But I felt this was a bad choice. At one point, Wyatt even tells his mother that Heath can do better than him. But Heath doesn't. I just don't understand.
Ron: We are told that apparently there aren’t many gay people in this particular area. But that doesn't mean that there are no gay people anywhere else. If Heath really wants to have a relationship with somebody then he can go somewhere else. His only choice shouldn't have to be Wyatt. I think that's my main problem with the two films that we're talking about today. It's like the gay characters literally have no other choice but each other. And that feels tokenistic.
We were talking about this in our previous episode about new Christmas films that we've been catching up with. And we had the same problem with The Christmas House, where the gay couple over there, who were at least a bit more settled, and actually fit, were the only gay characters. But is with happy season which he lost his spot. Whereas with The Happiest Season, which we’d also spoken about in the previous episode, you got a feeling that there were other gay people around, that there was a gay community. We saw the gay bar that they went to. Whereas with The Christmas Setup, they talk about it, but we never see it. So, it feels very much like they don't have a choice, but that's not how these romantic stories should go. The whole point is for you to see that there are lots of people around in the world, and you find the one among those people. In a straight story, that's what would happen. But these stories, they don't give us that choice and that's really not fair.
Mon: What bothers me is that if you're going to say that in this small town, there are no other gay people, there's not much choice, then this being a Christmas movie, the Christmas miracle shouldn't be that these two people are now settling for each other. It should be that they’ve finally found each other. And that means you need to make them both likable, which you did not.
Ron: What kind of name is Heath for a Colombian? It’s literally like they couldn't think of any name so they just came up with whatever they wanted. It really feels like this movie was phoned in.
Mon: That's a really good way of putting it. It does feel like this movie was phoned in.
Ron: But also, I find it really funny that with Tyrese Gibson, Fran Drescher, Andie Macdowell, all the people we watched growing up, are now the parents of these protagonists!
Mon: I guess that tells you something.
Ron: I was really hoping for something fun.
Mon: That's the key ingredient that is missing from these films, the fun factor. It's not enjoyable. Because you're so wrapped up in everything that's wrong with these people because they are not great people.
Ron: And it's drama for drama sake.
Mon: You're so right.
Ron: I don't want to be too negative in the sense that, at least we're getting queer content. But come on, we can do so much better than this. Three out of the four Christmas films that we've spoken about over the last two episodes have had couples who are newish, hoping to have a life together, and all them feel toxic.
Mon: Well said, you’re right. And that worries me because is that the case of all romantic films? You and I, not being experts in the romance category, makes me worry that this is the norm and you and I just don't know it.
Ron: Eww. I really hope not. What kind of message is that sending out? I'm hoping that this is just the beginning, and next year we're going to get all sorts of queer films that will be much more holistic and joyful and actually magical and not like these.
Mon: Here’s hoping.
Read the transcript for Part 2 here.