T&K's Xmas (2020) Advent Calendar: Day 21 - The Christmas Setup

 A Toast to Hallmarkent:
2020, d. Pat Mills - Lifetime

Combined, Lifetime and Hallmark have contributed 70 original 90-ish minute Christmasholiday movies to the pantheon this year.  Add in other channels and services like Netflix, the Paramount network and Asylum Studios and there are well over 100 original XHoliday movies just. this. year.  So I find it funny how often in our little Advent Calendar Toast and I find our way to the same film.  This is the third film we've doubled up on, and we had three last year as well, and then one crossover between the two years.  I think it's more that Toasty and I are drawn to similar things... especially those that seem outside the box.

The Hallmarky/Lifetime/etc formulae has been around for a good long while, but in the past decade it's significantly grown in popularity and in the past three years it has exploded into the mainstream.  Where the dedicated viewers used to be comprised of a specific middle American Christian housemom demographic, the urbanites have caught on to the goofy, repetitious charms of this holiday programming and created drinking games and watch parties out of it.  Podcasts dedicated to both embracing and laughing at them in equal measure have cropped up, and there's even conventions (cancelled this past year). But with all that increased attention has come increased scrutiny and a cry for diversity.  We have even more Black-led movies this year (the formulae of taking former child or teen actors and bringing them into this sphere has seen Sister Sister's Tamera Mowry-Housley, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's Tatyana Ali, and the Cosby Show's Keshia Knight Pulliam all have regular holiday output the past few years) and a few forays from the big two into gay-led movies (not a lot beyond the L-G in the LGTBQIAA2s realm yet), although there's still a lot of other-cultural representation left off the map.  Lifetime delivered "A Sugar & Spice Holiday", the first Asian-American (who are we kidding, they're probably Asian-Canadian) led holiday movie.  There's been a smattering of Latinx representation though the flavour is still very milky. 

So yeah, Toasty and I, I think, are drawn to the idea of things done differently.  We're a couple middle-aged (ACH! typing that was really painful), cis, white guys who live in a big city.  We're from smaller, more rural places originally so we kind of identify with all the tropes that go on in these things...but I guess the conventional viewpoint is female so that's what keeps them even mildly interesting for us.  But the formulae has become so stale, so we want to see what the formula looks like when someone doesn't fit so neatly into convetions.  Being BIPOC or LGTBQIAA2s in a Perfect Small Town should have a different perspective.  

But then the difference also has to be in who is writing these movies.  Are they representing the culture or viewpoint of the character, or is it just a casting decision to put a different face or gender into the same role you would otherwise slot a white leading lady into?

Which brings us to The Christmas Setup.  Toasty already broke down the story of this very, very well on Day 14, so I won't repeat it in such detail, but I will restate some of what Toasty said, which is that this film feels very much in the Hallmark movie mold, but from a queer perspective.  Ben Lewis' Hugo is looking for the big promotion to partner at work in New York (shot in Ottawa), and waiting for news over the holidays.  His BFF Madelyn joins him in his return to hometown Milwaukee (already different in that it's hardly the "perfect small town") to be with his mom (played by an utterly game and explosively endearing Fran Drescher) for Christmas.  Shortly after his arrival, mom has a Christmas tree delivered from Patrick (Blake Lee, Lewis' real-life husband) who Hugo had a crush on in high school.

There's all kinds of details in this setup.  Hugo has confidence issues, so the ultimatum he gives his boss is a big deal, but he regrets it immediately and worries about it constantly.  Madelyn is man-starved, and she has very specific requirements to fill.  Hugo's father passed years before, but they used to do woodworking together, so back home, Hugo gets into the shop and starts tinkering.  Hugo wasn't out in high-school and was envious that Patrick was.  Mom has her own life doing charity work around town and fighting to preserve historical buildings, like the beloved train station (even getting arrested during a protest... you just know she was being motherly and delightful to the officers who arrested her, praising them for the good job they're doing).

Patrick seems into Hugo from moment one, which seems inexplicable.  He also remembers a lot about Hugo from high-school, even though he's two years older than him, which seems implausible.  Patrick got rich from an algorithm he developed and now does charitable work trying to better Milwaukee.  He's lived the big life already and has now found his place.  It's evident that Hugo's mom talked him up to Patrick, and Patrick was primed for meeting him.

They have a couple casual dates that get a little thorny because Hugo doesn't really think he's sticking around, and Patrick seems to think he can convince him to stay.  But Hugo gets the partnership and is offered opening up a satellite office in London.  No way he's going to turn that up... or will he? (he shouldn't)  They go to a drag show (there was a drag show in Happiest Season as well, is this the Queer Holiday Romance trope?  Into it.) where Hugo sings and Patrick freaks out about getting any more involved with someone who isn't sticking around.  

Meanwhile, Hugo's brother has returned from service to basically be an exceptionally thin love interest for Madelyn.  It's a cookie cutter romance that really doesn't need to be there except to a) add a second romance plot which these things seem to need to have and b) add some sense of military thing which these things seem to need to have this year.  

Anyway, the trains station thing had some interesting aspects to it, but I'm not going to get into it too much, but it did lead to both something meaningful for Hugo and Patrick as well as providing a complication into Hugo's stay-or-go decision making. 

In the end, Hugo and Patrick decide to try a long-distance thing, thinking it's worth at least giving it a shot, although knowing it's a long shot.  Patrick is rich and unemployed, he can fly over to London whenever he wants.  It's just a matter of whether he wants to.

The Draw:
See my long preamble/men kissing.

The Formulae:
It's so formulaic.
-Big city person. Big promotion on the table. Returning home to smaller town. Finding love. Getting promotion. Decision making.
-Meet cute with high-school crush
-So much hot chocolate talk.
-Widowed mother.
-So much time at the Christmas Tree lot.
-Saving the "small town" thing that needs saving.
-Best friend character thirsty for love but mostly involved in main character's love life, only to fall in love basically in the background with another tertiary character.
-Can we put "drag show" as a new queer holiday romance formula?
-Christmas caroling.


Unformulae:
It's such a conventional third act complication in these stories... the big city girlperson gets the dream job but also has the dream love back in their old home...which decision do they make.  Most of the time it's about going for love, the big romantic gesture, sacrificing the career you worked so hard for to have an instant family and some small town job that seems fulfilling but will probably bore you less than a year into it.  It's a happy ending, sure, but if you think realistically they're never a recipe for a happily ever after.  That resentment for the career sacrificed is going to bubble up at some point, the restlessness is going to kick in.

But that formulae, I noticed last year, has changed.  There's a lot more accommodation happening, a lot more "uncertain futures" where the person is keeping their big city job and maybe working remotely or commuting or splitting time.  These are functional solutions but they are not easy ones to maintain, and I commend the people involved for recognizing that fantasy romance shouldn't triumph over career aspirations all the time.

The widowed mother is not moping around but has her own rich life she's leading. Often in these films the parent character isn't around and you never know what they're up to.  We don't exactly know what she's up to all the time here, but we do know she keeps really, really busy.  She's not just living for her boys to come home.  Love her.

The "dates" were both conventional (going for hot chocolate, caroling, romantic Christmas tree lot picnic) and unconventional (drag show, Northern Lights)

Men kissing!!!

 
True Calling?
So while at first it didn't seem like there was an actual set-up in this, turns out that yeah, mom had totally been grooming Patrick for Hugo's arrival and then arranged for the "meet-cute".  And then she would subtly manipulate situations to make sure they spent time together.  She's a good mom.

The Rewind:
This isn't a trainwreck so nothing really rewindable... oh, except looking at those yearbook photos.  I always have to wonder where all those yearbook photos in movies and TV shows come from.

The Regulars:
No regulars but I loved this cast.

Ben Lewis played the adult William (Oliver Queen's son) in Arrow in the last two seasons and he was really great.  I enjoyed him in that role (a character that he salvaged from being an annoying complication).  He was great in this too.

I really like Ellen Wong in everything I've seen her in (I loved her especially in Scott Pilgrim and GLOW), and she was fun in this but I wish her story was much richer.  Give her a lead Holiday Romance please.

Fran Drescher I've never been much of a fan of, but I need to reassess.  She was amazing in every scene in this. As Toasty said, stupendous and exuberant.  She steals every scene.

I have only seen Blake Lee in one prior role, and that's as Derek, the boyfriend of April's boyfriend in the early seasons of Parks and Recreation.  I've watched those a few times over so he's very familiar, even if Derek wasn't the biggest role.  He's quite charming here, but I'm still wondering why Patrick was so keen on Hugo.  They never really explained why he was aware of Hugo in high school.  Unless it was gaydar.

How does it Hallmark?
Better than almost every Hallmark.  Nails the formulae and does it a couple steps better.

How does it movie?
Oh, it's still a TV Holiday Romance, so it's NOT a movie movie.  Happiest Season was a movie movie, and the difference (even if this one was more enjoyable) is palpable.