push and pull
by Douglas Messerli
Michael J. Murray (screenplay), Pat Mills
(director) The Christmas Setup / 2020
As
you see in my discussion above, plot is the most important element of these
Christmas tales. Everything is in the details of how the season helps to save
them from making the wrong decisions, and the push and pull of these minor
diversions—we know from the beginning that everything will work out—are what
keep us watching. As one commentator observed: These holiday movies are sort of
like “porn, without the sex.” I guess, I’d add that those back and forth
movements of the story replace sex. Nonetheless, I’ll try in describing the
Lifetime’s network The Christmas Setup in a more abbreviated manner.
In
some ways that’s easy in this work simply because the two handsome leads, real
life gay married men, Ben Lewis and Blake Lee, playing Hugo and Patrick, are
high school friends. Indeed, Hugo had a secret crush on Patrick back then. So
when the now lawyer returns home to Milwaukee with his friend Madelyn (Ellen
Wong) in tow, Hugo’s mother, Kate (Fran Dresher) sets-up a seemingly accidental
meeting with Patrick, who’s just completed from a successful phase of his life
in Silicon Valley. Note: in this genre, evidently it’s important that one if
not both of the leading men (and women) have money since it immediately removes
all other possible obstacles that might stand in the way of love.
Much of the film is even spent on how to find the ways to sustain their
relationship, given their careers. And, as in all of these films, there are
doubts and tribulations, in this case Hugo’s friend Maddie playing the advisor.
As
always, finally, there is a last hurdle to be jumped, in this case in the form
of a major promotion for Hugo if only he moves away to London.
Of
course, he makes a last moment decision, announcing to the entire train station
that he loves Patrick and isn’t about to leave him. In this film, they even
kiss twice. And unlike almost any Christmas story before it, writer Michael J.
Murray includes a scene featuring a drag queen, Canadian performer Lucinda
Miu. Moreover, even the character’s return home meant something to me this time
around, since Milwaukee was for a short while my hometown.
Los Angeles, December 24, 2020
Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog and
World Cinema Review (December 2020).
No comments:
Post a Comment