When “The Holiday Exchange” was announced back in April 2023, I was rather intrigued. So it was quite a disappointment when the holidays came – and the film’s released didn’t happen. Thankfully, we were treated to this queer film’s release in 2024. But was it worth waiting for? After all, it’s essentially the gay version of “The Holiday”, a classic heterosexual film. Overall this queer holiday film has issues that many have called out, but I still enjoy watching it. So let’s break down what happened.
Synopsis of “The Holiday Exchange”
Four different gay men find themselves single at the holidays. Wilde has just broken things off with his boyfriend and just sold the company he’s built over the years. Lost and needing a change of pace, he decides to jet off anywhere else; even his supportive mother is not enough to overcome his sadness and uncertainty. Meanwhile in Brilfax, England, Oliver is equally facing a lonely Christmas alone after his latest attempt at romance falls apart. Even after his friend gifts him a book from a best-selling gay writer about finding happiness while being single and gay at the holidays, he isn’t happy by himself at home.
So Wilde decides a chance of scenery is in order, and just happens to land on Oliver’s house-swap listing! After a quick chat about a swap over Christmas, both boys agree and head off to the other’s charming homes. As things tend to happen when you swap places, they each meet someone new! Wilde is trying to settle into a very cold English manor in the middle of an oncoming blizzard, Henry suddenly enters and surprises a drunken Wilde. Turns out that Henry is Oliver’s cousin, who was unaware of the house swap and was forced to stay in town due to the snowstorm. Back in L.A., Oliver is reading the book he was gifted when he realized that the writer lives in L.A. and makes the effort to attend a book signing! Julius, the gay writer, is obviously smitten with British Oliver as they quickly bond over the holidays and whether or not being gay and single is a good thing or not.
Naturally, the boys in both cities slowly get closer. Wilde and Henry connect while being snowed in at first, and later after Henry reveals that he’s an actor – the exact type of guy whom Wilde is trying to run away from! Yet there’s something there, as they spend more and more time together leading up to Christmas. Meanwhile across the pond, Julius and Oliver go one a few holiday dates where boy boys keep flirting and getting to know each other better. But as relationships go, everyone has underlying things that intervene to halt the respective budding relationships. Including the most obvious, that both relationships would require long-distance.
Yet the attraction to each other is enough that none can quite move on. So after some advice from their respective family and friends, Julius decides to give Oliver another chance while Henry makes his own last shot at romance. Of course the issues are quickly resolved and both couples enjoy a romantic Christmas together. But no one wants things to end. Thankfully Wilde has the solution, he and Henry will fly back to L.A. and all four will spend New Year’s Eve together! In the end, each guy has found a great romantic partner for the new year.
The Not-So-Good
Let’s just rip the bandaid off – “The Holiday Exchange” has issues! The most obvious flaw is that the script is poorly written and a clear ripoff of “The Holiday”. It’s not an exact copy, no. But the gist of the story is similar enough that you cannot watch this film without remembering the other. And since one is a rather successful heterosexual holiday film, that’s tough competition to try to beat.
Honestly I’m not too surprised at that though because the script is written by none other than one of the leads, Taylor Frey. And it’s his first time writing a script for a movie, in which he also plays one of the lead roles. It’s rare when anyone is able to star in their own film and not have issues; and I’m not quite sure how great an actor Frey is in general. This is not his first gay role, nor first main role. Yet Wilde’s character is essentially the same as in all of his other films: obnoxious, stubborn, and unwilling to change. I’m not quite sure whether that’s just his acting style, or if he wrote Wilde to be similar enough that he could attempt writing and acting at the same time. But I wasn’t a fan. And the sudden 180 to embrace things with Henry is forced, both in the script and in the acting.
Unfortunately though the script issue are more than just Wilde’s character. All four men are rich, or at least well off that they don’t have to worry about money. While you can certainly tell a beautiful queer holiday film with upper crust characters, it’s rather difficult for the audience to relate to. When we watch a film, we are oft either looking for an escape from our lives or envisioning ourselves as one of the characters. And that’s even without talking about the horribly cheesy lines and the unlikely overall setup that rarely works in real life.
Which leads me to the other biggest issue with this queer holiday film: the casting choices were rather poor. When we look past Frey’s questionable “acting style”, the other boys either lack the charm you expect in a holiday film or their acting chops just aren’t up to par for a leading role. Rick Cosnett looks and portrays the part of a British gay, but there are times when he delivers his lines so oddly that the small bit of charm he does have in the role is lost. Meanwhile while both Daniel Garcia and Samer Salem are utterly charming in their portrayals of Henry and Julius respectively, they come off as a bit too fresh. Lastly, all four of our male leads lacks real chemistry with their scripted romantic partners.
The Good
For all that I’ve done to seemingly bash the acting and casting choices, I actually DO like “The Holiday Exchange”! Holiday films almost follow their own rules; you can’t expect Oscar-worthy writing or acting from holiday films that are often thrown together in such short time. Can we get amazing queer holiday films despite that? Sure! But “The Holiday Exchange” is certainly NOT one of those films. But that doesn’t mean it’s bad overall. Trust me, there are some crappy queer holiday films out there – this may not be perfect across the board, but it’s still enjoyable.
Personally, I don’t mind that it’s essentially a gay remake of “The Holiday”, because the underlying story is quite romantic and fits well within the holiday film genre. They just needed to rework and perhaps recast this queer holiday film in order to take it to that next level. It’s actually quite a shame that we had to wait an entire year before this film was released, and there still are issues that should’ve been sorted out in that time instead.
