A Christmas to Treasure

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.

I really wanted to like this film. But it just is not that good.

The main issue is the story, then the writing. The plot is just dumb and there are so many inconsistencies.

The actors were ok but the two main guys who are married in real life seemed to have no chemistry. The one guys hair annoyed me the entire movie. He had these flippy banks that looked so "Herbie, I want to be a dentist" I know that sounds dumb but there was very little else to focus on.

The entire premise for the story was weak. The acting would have been ok except the story had no substance.

It took me two tries to watch.

Although the plot is silly and highly implausible, the film is cute enough to watch and enjoy, but my problem was with the lack of chemistry between the two leads who are apparently married privately, there was just no passion between them.

I think that if the lead role of Austin was given to Roberto Aguire who played Ricky, there would have been more chemistry between Austin and Everett. In all the scenes Aguire and Kyle Dean Massey had together there was an undeniable chemistry between them and I just wanted for them to kiss. Sadly, Aguire just played his friend. The two of them would have made an amazing and very believable couple together on the screens.

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.

I seldom write movie reviews but I feel compelled because I think this movie gets a bad rap.

Is is a silly lightweight rom com Christmas movie with ridiculously over decorated set ala Hallmark channel Christmas movies? Yes, but that's OK, it's a real feel good Christmas movie. Even the Christmas greats like Miracle on 34th St. And White Christmas had unbelievable storylines you could see coming from a mile away. This not even close to being a classic like those movies but if you want a warm fuzzy Christmas movie where everything and everyone is cute and everything works out great in the end and has a bit of intrigue along the way then, enjoy this for what it is. I think it's significantly better that ninety percent of modern Christmas movies.