‘Tis the season to deck the halls, make ourselves a cup of hot cocoa, and cuddle up by the fire while watching classic Christmas films!
Well… I’m actually trying to stay cool and not get sunburn while getting ready for the Christmas BBQ – while singing Christmas carols in jandals… ? This holiday season will be my second Christmas down here in New Zealand, but I am still not sure I can adapt from the classic winter season I grew up. But I digress… let’s talk about one thing that we all can agree with: Christmas films!
There are so many Christmas Classics to rewatch, Hallmark pops out a ton of new movies each year, and now even Netflix has hopped on the seasonal movie bandwagon. But the one thing missing from majority of these mainstream feel good movies? LGBT+ representation. We are still resigned to independent or smaller production movies that don’t usually go beyond our community.
Thankfully, we DO have a handful of Queer Christmas films – YAY! But as I say, just because a movie has a queer identity doesn’t mean that it’s a good film. There’s a handful of queer holiday films that I watch regularly – and a few that I will be rewatching only because I need to write a review. But all of the 5 films below are of the former rather than the later, they are films that I include in my annual Christmas movie marathons and watch regularly to get into a festive spirit!
So grab yourself a cup of hot cocoa and check out the list of my 5 favorite queer holiday films below – and stay tuned as I post my actual review of each film weekly as we get closer to Christmas!
5 Queer Christmas Film Reviews for 2019
Three stories of gay men finding connections: a married couple takes in a teenage relative who was kicked out when his parents discovered that he was gay; roommates are forced to share a bed for a week; two men are looking for a quick hookup.
I love this holiday film because every gay man can relate to at least one of the characters, possibly more. It’s really embraces the holiday season, the positive and the negative, yet still ends on a note of good cheer.
Watch “Shared Rooms” on Amazon and Prime Video.
The holidays get overly festive as Olaf “Gunn” Gunnunderson (Keith Jordan), an out-and-proud gay college student, crawls back into the closet to survive the holidays with his parents. But when his boyfriend, Nathan (Adamo Ruggiero), shows up at their doorstep unannounced, Gunn must put on a charade to keep the relationship a secret. With pressure mounting from all sides, will Gunn come out before the truth does?
The comedy in this holiday film is quite hysterical at times and thanks to Olaf’s mother’s “fondness” for the holidays & decorating, there is no shortage of Christmas! It is a perfect romantic “Hallmark-esque” comedy made better because it features two gay male lovers.
Watch “Make The Yuletide Gay” on Amazon, Prime Video, and Dekkoo.
5.0
Christmas is approaching, and Paul’s adopted sister Alana (Apolonia Davalos) is coming home for the holidays. This won’t be just a regular family celebration, as she’s recently engaged and the weekend will be spent planning her June wedding with her best friends Roy (Roger Stewart) and Vicki (Annie Kerins). Problem is that Roy is Paul’s ex-boyfriend, and the two young men haven’t seen each other since their very messy breakup. Nervous about seeing his ex again, Roy talks his good friend Gavin (Jason T. Gaffney) into joining him for the weekend, and pretending to be his new boyfriend. When Paul (Rico Aragon) and Gavin meet, sparks of attraction fly, but Gavin thinks Roy’s still hung up on Paul. This charming romantic comedy is a funny look at family bonds, misunderstandings and the “perfect wedding
The Christmas atmosphere of this film is a bit different from what you’d expect for a holiday film, partly because it takes place in warm, sunny Florida rather than a snowy winter wonderland. But this story is quite touching and heartfelt without the holiday cheer, and what it’s one of my favourites.
Watch “The Perfect Wedding” on Amazon and Prime Video.
Scrooge & Marley is a modern variation on Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Recounted from a gay sensibility with heart, comedy & music, the magic of Dickens’ timeless tale of a man’s redemption comes alive from a fresh perspective.
This twist on the classic carol is a pleasing addition to the Christmas film genre. Naturally, they have to take a handful of deviations from the traditional story to make it work, but the end result is just as positive as the classic story of Scrooge.
Watch “Scrooge & Marley” on Amazon and Prime Video.
2.0
3.0
A magic Christmas ornament turns two men’s lives upside down when homophobic Tony (Nathaniel Marston) starts preferring men two weeks before his wedding and his gay co-worker Steve (Tom Archdeacon) finds himself blossoming into a ladies’ man.
While you could remove all of the holiday elements and this film’s plot would still stand up on its own, there is no doubt that this film is part of the holiday oeuvre. You could even argue that it’s quite “Hallmark-ish” merely because a decent story is simple set during the holiday season. Yet there are elements of this film that make it quite enjoyable to watch.
Watch “Walk A Mile In My Pradas” on Amazon and Prime Video.
But wait – there’s one more Queer Christmas Film!
There’s another queer film that takes place during the holidays that I cannot ignore. Even though it’s not ABOUT Christmas, most of the story takes place around the Christmas holidays – “December 24, 9 pm EST” to be specific!
Head over HERE and find out which film this might be!
