Holiday In Handcuffs

Synopsis:

Would-be painter Gertrude ‘Trudie’ Chandler loses her waitress job and boyfriend Nick on Christmas Eve, so her only shot to avoid feeling like her family’s black sheep is to replace their ideal son-in-law with even-hunkier dream prince David Martin–by kidnapping him at gunpoint and dragging him to her family’s holiday in a secluded, luxurious log cabin. Crazy lies prevent David from convincing the Chandler family that he’s not Nick, and from escaping. When he finally places a rescue call to his spoiled fiancée, David decides to play the perfect catch to make her undoing worse. Before the police rescue him, he and the family realize that they adore each other, the others all prove imperfect, and David and Trudie reassess their relationship after getting to know each other.

Quick Thoughts:

Aside from being a bit dated more like a ’90’s film and one made in 2007, this ABC Christmas TV movie is a bit… quirky! The storyline alone is a bit cuckoo, not to mention Gertrude (MJH) is tad eccentric, and oddly rather enjoyable to watch – as long as you don’t mind a bit of crazy silliness. However, despite her brother Jake’s coming out storyline to add to the family drama at the Christmas dinner table, it’s not actually a Queer film. While there’s a tender moment between Jake and Gertrude where he talks about his sexuality, the actual coming out moment at the dinner table creates a shock reaction for comedy but worse, it quickly is overshadowed when the police barge in and interrupt everything. There is a nice moment of acceptance towards the end when Jake brings his boyfriend to the his sister’s showing at the art gallery, but overall – he’s just a side story, and barely at that. (But we do get a nice glimpse of Mario Lopez’s muscular body!) Like most of the films on this list, it’s a decent watch for a fun Christmas comedy – but not a Queer Christmas film.