Un Noël à chérir

So, in the spirit of holidays, let's say the pros first. The movie looks cute, the set is good enough, and all the main male characters are handsome to look at (at least 4 of them). The story (some sort of scavenger hunt) sounds good on paper, and I can see why they went for that. There are a few solid characters, those being Everett, Ricky, Tipper (all main characters) and Rochelle (the real-estate seller). They were either well-written or just funny.

However, almost everything else I can think of was bad. The story, despite being cute, was just dull and boring. We didn't care for this dead old lady, which would be different had they started the movie with that "15 years ago" gig. There was almost no humor, and it felt like the movie lasted 3 hours. As others pointed out, there was not a lot of chemistry between the two male leads, which is a pity as they are a couple in the real life, so it was just either bad acting or script. I cannot figure out why in 2022 when literally thousands of movies exist, they still have annoying characters that act like children, such as Austin. The way he acted towards Everret was just plain lame. Like, get over it. Also, I was 3 "influensers" away from turning off the movie after like 2 minutes - they said those buzz words so many times I wanted this to become some sort of slasher movie. My god, it started so pretentios it hurt.

The movie is obviously inspired by the much better "The Christmas Setup", also made by a real-life gay couple. I suggest that you watch that before this one, and if you have some free time left, yeah, give this one a chance.

There's a common misconception that the barrage of gay Christmas movies in recent years is an attempt to cater to - or rather cash in on - a gay audience. It's not. In fact, the gay audience isn't even a consideration. These movies are targeted exclusively at a very specific female audience: women who get off on gay romance. Google "M/M romance" and you'll see that this is a booming area of written "gay" fiction too. This of course explains why the gay characters in these movies are barely even recognisable as gay, even if they're often played by out gay actors. The romance is strictly anodyne. It never goes beyond cute looks, a little hand-holding and one or two extremely chaste kisses. There's never any allusion to actual sex. The relationships are always 100% heteronormative, with aspirations of marriage and a suburban life together as responsible consumers. In other words, nothing to challenge anyone, least of all the *nice* women who consume this stuff. Some might say that gay romance as a commodity for straights counts as progress of sorts. But that kind of ignores how cynical, exploitative and borderline offensive this outwardly saccharine, but inwardly nasty little genre actually is.

Oof. Easily the worst of the holiday LGBTQ+ movies I've watched the last couple of years. Storyline was so-so, which can usually be overcome by good chemistry and good characters, but all of the side characters were grating (okay, mostly Tipper and the mom and dad). The main couple has as much chemistry as a rock, and was the straight couple all over each other constantly to make sure the viewers didn't forget straight people exist? It was off-putting.

I think maybe there was just too much going on. Having the six "main" characters spread everyone a little too thin-we really could have used more time with just Everett and Austin. That might have helped develop the relationship and chemistry between them.

Probably not going to be part of my regular holiday rotation.

Over the last few years, it has been very cheering to see LGBTQ people represented in Christmas movies on TV and elsewhere. While one can cynically say that producers are now seeing another 10% of the market to whom they can advertise, it signals a general acceptance in loving, familial circumstances (well, if you're Christian). The number of these films is getting pretty substantial, and originality is not an expected commodity; some are good, some less so. This one is on the lower end of that scale. While not as saccharine or cloying as it could be, the plot is very contrived and artificial. The gay romance is sweet but the situation that surrounds it is hardly believable and a bit silly. That the lovers are actually a married couple in life certainly adds to the chemistry between them, but the rest of the plot is forgettable.

A Christmas To Treasure (2022) -

The whole plot was all a bit daft and an extreme story to start with, but it wasn't un-cute. It just seemed like something that might have been written for teenagers, like a 'Hardy Boys' or a 'Sweet Valley High' holiday special, although there wasn't that much Christmas involved.

I couldn't really connect with Austin played by Taylor Frey, he was such a d!ck. And his reason for falling out with Everett all those years previously was something that he should have got over years ago. I think that was what put me off him right from the start. He'd be one of those guys that I would avoid in a club, because I could just tell that he loved the drama too much and hung on to grudges way too long, which only embittered him and stopped him from moving on in his own life.

Considering that the two leading men were married in real life, I struggled to buy Austin's attraction to Everett and I felt that Everett could do a lot better. Like Ricky for instance, who was lovely. I probably would have put him with Everett instead and had Austin as the ex boyfriend obstacle to overcome. I did like the nostalgic element of their relationship though, because that young love thing was something that I personally missed out on.

They were generally all good actors and the production was good too, but it still seemed to somehow lack something. The treasure hunting storyline has not been an overused vehicle in these films, but as I've said, it did feel quite young adult instead of actual adult.

And that emotional connection that the characters are alleged to have toward their adoptive parent/guardian and of being childhood friends was not something I could understand, because I can barely remember the people I met last week. I hope that there really are cases out there of people making a difference for others. Based on 'Queer Eye' (2018) there have been at least a few, but I haven't been fortunate enough to have been touched by any Angel yet. Perhaps that's part of what makes me so jaded towards these films, that and the fact that finding love seems like an elusive thing that everyone else is pretending to have found just to make me want it more, which certainly seemed true here.

Those were the elements of this film that seemed too perfect and as such it didn't have that rough, life can be hard sometimes, but your someone is out there somewhere vibe to it that makes me believe I might not die alone after all.

As with so many of these films, the last minute rush, "We need money to save the old place", Christmas Eve Party was a huge stretch to believe as well. My plans for Christmas are set well in advance and Lord help anyone who tries to get me to change them last minute, but please do try.

I suppose that overall I wouldn't say never to seeing this one again, but I'd be more inclined to watch 'Bros' (2022) or 'In From The Side' (2023) as a preferred gay romance with Christmas thrown in storyline instead.

5.85/10.