T&K's XMas (2022) Advent Calendar: Day 13 - Hot Mess Holiday

 2021, d. Jaffar Mahmood - Crave

I don't even recall how I came across Hot Mess Holiday.  I think I was looking up Titus Burgess on the Imdibs where I saw this listed in his acting credits and made note of it for the Advent Calendar based on name alone.  I didn't read any further about it.  So I didn't know that the titular holiday was Diwali, nor did I know this was an MTV Studios production.  I'm not saying that either of those would have changed my mind about watching it... quite the contrary. Had I known that I probably would have watched it sooner.  

At 70 minutes it's almost more of a "special" than a movie, and it's opening five minutes presents us with our leads in a way that both introduces us to them but also implies familiarity.  Somewhere I read that it was "based on the hit web series" (or something to that effect) but in looking for said "web series" all I could find was stars Melanie Chandra and Surina Jindal's Surina and Mel, a self-financed series "pilot" that I couldn't actually find a copy of online to watch.

The movie opens with "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" playing over (stock?) aerial footage of Chicago, which would feel very Hallmarkie if not for the fact that it's Christina Aguilera's version of the song which means $ that Hallmarkies just don't spend.  But it's 10 seconds of the song before a record scratch and smash cut to the Indo-American Center where a Diwali market (is market the right term, as it seems a part of the celebration? I admit my ignorance and apologize for it) is happening and where our lead characters (and a few of our peripheral players) collide.  We meet Melanie (pronounced May-lah-nee, thanks) and her best friend Surina, the former who is so excited her fiancee Rishi is about to return after a month-long business trip, and the latter who is sad about it since she was happy to have her friend back full time for a month.  They run into a judgmental auntie before meeting up with posh, super-rich Sheila (Punam Patel, I Love That For You) who seems oblivious about her own culture (Melanie helpfully explains Diwali to Sheila...and, well, me - "the festival of lights? It's where you buy something precious as a token to the goddess Lakshmi." "Honey, you had me at 'buy something'.")  

When Rishi shows up it's clear something's amiss and it all comes out during a very public dandiya stick dance.  Rishi admits to being in love with someone else and having an affair and Melanie attacks him with sticks, which obviously is recorded and goes viral.  She becomes "Stick Girl" among the masses.  Obviously the public break-up reaches her woke boss who forces her into a leave of absence.  So she connects with Surina and their friend Sanjay who's been pining after Melanie forever (Mel is oblivious, but Surina is not).  Surina goads Mel into a "weekend social banger extravaganza", starting with Sheila's party.  There Melanie chats with Kal Penn (bartending, "to prep for a role") and Titus Burgess (not prepping for a role) before meeting a handsome Aussie who is in the midst of a big blood diamond exchange.  But the exchange goes bad and Melanie and friends get embroiled in a missing diamond plot.

It's a bizarre turn I wasn't expecting 20 minutes in, as I was expecting, given the set-up, more of a Hallmarkie parody, but it's not a bad surprise.  The energy of the film really picks up and it provides a vehicle for exploring Mel and Surina's friendship, especially since Mel has arranged a meet-up with Rishi amidst all of this, and Surina does not approve.  Meanwhile Sheila takes Sanjay under her wing to teach him confidence.  It's sort of a Date Night/Game Night/bazillion other comedies plot where average people get entwined in increasingly bizarre/dangerous comedic situations but here it's centred around the friendship of first generation Indo-Americans during the holiday season.  

The actual "crime" plot is thin and pointedly unrealistic, but it works just fine as a comedy vehicle, especially since Shiela's ex-husband is the crime boss at the head of this all (played by Chris Greer, You're the Worst).  The relationship between Mel and Surina is the driving force  and Chandra and Jindal's real life friendship obviously the backbone of their on-screen friendship.  The love between them is palpable.  They're a very fun, very attractive pair, that I immediately wanted to spend more time with (thus searching out Surina & Mel and being disappointed not finding much).  Sheila, though, is the not-so-secret weapon of the production, an absolute joke machine... the extremes of her very wealthy life lead to the most unexpected things coming out of her mouth, a mix of privilege and obliviousness.

Through it all, the production roams the streets of Chicago, which by comparison makes it more expensive looking than 99% of the other holiday movie productions.  The city is decorated with lights and festive adornments, so even though it's not a Christmas production, it still feels very festive, both in Xmas and Diwali decor. Director Mahmood is a single-camera sitcom veteran, so he nails every comedic beat,  and he effectively steps out of sitcom mode into a larger, more adventuresome production. 

It's not perfect, but I quite loved it, and I want more of this gang of players.