The Christmas Setup

Suddenly everyone is all for making the yuletide gay. Earlier this month it was The Christmas House, Hallmark's first attempt at including a gay couple in their kitsch Americana; now it's Lifetime's The Christmas Set-up, which mostly revolves around a will-they-won't-they gay romance. While Hallmark's gay story was rather tentative, extremely shaky and reeked of tokenism, Lifetime's effort is surprisingly sweet and engaging, and not at all apologetic. As is to be expected, it's also very vanilla; yet the story manages to make that a plus, rather than an obvious avoidance of male-on-male action (which it absolutely is!). The leads (real life couple Ben Lewis and Blake Lee) are appealing and the story around Hugo's career/life balance crisis is likely to resonate with many. And then there's Fran Drescher as Hugo's mother. If nothing else, The Christmas Set-up is an opportunity to marvel at that weirdly mesmerising voice - somewhere between a screech and whine, and now with added raspiness. It's as if he's been gargling with razor blades. The Christmas Set-up is worth a look for Fran alone.

Acting is a little stiff but the story line is good. The main characters, Hugo and Patrick, are married in real life and their love for each other came through beautifully. I would recommend this movie to everyone. Good for Lifetime to show such an open minded movie with no bigotry.

I find "The Christmas Setup" sweet and romantic. The two characters are likable, and I really feel for them. Even though the plot is predictable, I enjoyed watching it.

As much as I'm not much in the holiday spirit this year. This movies pleasantly surprised me. I laughed and was in awe as Ben Lewis and his real life husband played their parts like they've never even met before. And they both stole each scene respectively. I may just watch it again for the beauty and heart that was put into making this.

Leas cheesy dialogue than your average TV movie. The story feels fresh but perhaps because (finally) it's a gay couple. I'd take even the worst film to get some better representation on screen but this film is worth the watch. Obviously it's predictable but what Christmas film isn't?