TV Review - Single All the Way

In 2020, the Hallmark Channel and Lifetime started putting out Christmas films, mainly romantic comedies, that featured same-sex couples, particularly gay men in the lead roles. Specifically, The Christmas House (2020) and The Christmas Setup (2020) were the two that those respective networks produced. Other channels and streaming services like Hulu and Paramount also got in the game with Happiest Season (2020) and Dashing in December (2020) respectively. This year, it was announced that more LGBTQ Christmas-themed films were in the pipeline, including a sequel to that Hallmark Channel film, The Christmas House 2: Deck Those Halls (2021). More films in that vein and a sequel must have meant that those films were successful. As such, Netflix has decided to jump on the bandwagon with this LGBTQ Christmas-themed film.

If you've seen any of those aforementioned films, specifically Happiest Season or The Christmas Setup, then this film will feel very, very familiar. Hallmark Channel and Lifetime pump out tons of Christmas films every year. As has been pointed out by many others, those films are very cookie-cutter and formulaic. A lot of them feel repetitive and recycled. With the introduction of gay characters instead of straight characters, one might hope that it would break those formulaic films with their derivative stories. However, such isn't the case. It feels as though writer Chad Hodge tries to subvert some of the tropes from those formulaic films, but the film doesn't quite clear all of the trappings.

Michael Urie (Ugly Betty and Partners) stars as Peter Harrison, a man whose job title isn't identified. If I had to guess, I would describe Peter as an advertising executive. He's currently overseeing an ad campaign for a shaving company, a company that most likely makes shaving cream. The campaign though seems like it's strictly for social media, specifically Instagram. He lives in Los Angeles and has lived there for about a decade. However, he's getting ready to fly to his family's home in New Hampshire to spend about two weeks there for the holidays.

He's excited and anxious to see his family. He's excited because he's been in a relationship with a handsome doctor for a few months and he wants to introduce his boyfriend to his family. He's anxious though because he's never introduced a boyfriend to his family before. He hasn't done so mainly because Peter hasn't been able to keep a boyfriend for any long period of time. He's reportedly always picked bad men or the wrong men for himself. As such, things go wrong and Peter has to break up with the handsome doctor the day before he leaves to go visit his family.

Philemon Chambers, in his feature debut, co-stars as Nick, a gay African-American who is the roommate of Peter and also his best friend. Nick reportedly moved to Los Angeles around the same time as Peter. They met each other at the gym and bonded as L.A. transplants. It's not clear where Nick came from and what he moved to L.A. for. Yet, like in The Christmas Setup, he's a potential love interest who is somehow independently wealthy but who works doing manual labor, mainly for the charity. When Peter loses the handsome doctor, he decides to ask Nick to pretend to be his boyfriend for the holiday season.

Other romantic comedies have taken this premise. In Happiest Season, the premise was the reverse of this, which was itself a kind of subversion, but that film is about homophobia, which this film isn't. Thankfully, this film avoids that, which doesn't mean homophobia doesn't exist, but it's good that family-friendly media is moving past it. Yet, Hodge's screenplay subverts what is an oft-used premise by quickly dismissing the inevitable charade or veritable lie. Refreshingly, the film progresses without people having to juggle a lie or go through the clichés of someone pretending to have a boyfriend when they don't.

Luke Macfarlane who has been doing Hallmark Channel Christmas films for the past five years also co-stars as James, a personal trainer and ski instructor. James leads the spin class for Peter's mom, Carole, played by Kathy Najimy (Hocus Pocus and Sister Act). Like in The Christmas Setup, Carole tries to play matchmaker for her son and this other random gay guy that she knows. A woman's gay son moving back home and being matched with another gay guy who is randomly introduced is also what happens in Dashing in December. Without spoiling it too much, even though this film tells you what the ending is going to be over and over, Hodge subverts the obvious direction and actually makes James a perfect match for Peter.

A good love triangle should be one where the person in the middle could go either way. A good love triangle presents two equally good options. That makes for good drama. Here, Peter could go either way. Both Nick and James are equally good choices. Unfortunately, Hodge undermines what could be a good triangle by telling you who Peter's going to choose or who he should choose. He does so through Peter's family who keeps overwhelmingly pushing one particular person over the other. Because the film keeps hitting us over the head with that particular person, it undermines the tension from a good triangle like this. Otherwise, the choice is pointless.

The film is in some ways challenging or exploring the idea of the blurry line between gay men who are best friends but who could also be lovers. Now, there have been several, independent films in queer cinema that have explored this idea too, that have explored the idea of long-time gay male friends going from platonic to romantic love. Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom (2008) and The 10 Year Plan (2015) are two examples. This has been explored in films about straight relationships like My Best Friend's Wedding (1997). Unfortunately, Hodge doesn't give us enough information about Peter and Nick's friendship or their dating lives in order to make us understand why the two of them haven't hooked up prior to this point or why either hasn't made a move on the other prior to this point. The Seminarian (2012) has two gay male friends where they talk about going from friendship to romance and the film is able to drill into why going from friendship to romance hasn't happened.

It's particularly frustrating in the case of Nick. The film doesn't paint enough of Nick's world to make us understand him fully. For example, the film points out that Nick's mother is possibly dead and he's planning to spend Christmas alone. Yet, the film never explains what happened to the rest of his family and why he's not with them. At one point, Peter suggests that Nick is his only true friend, but the idea that Nick doesn't have any other true friends feels convenient for where this film wants to go. With the exception of Nick's dog, Nick apparently has no connections or roots anywhere, which might be true but feels hollow as a character trait here. Nick is a Black man, moving into a predominantly White-person space and environment, which isn't even considered here.

Rated TV-PG.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 41 mins.

Available on Netflix.