It’s been a few years since I’ve written a movie review, beyond making a quick social media comment. This movie is worth a proper discussion.
‘Single All the Way’ is currently available on Netflix, and is the feel good Christmas movie that you shouldn’t miss.
Like many of the movies I’ve watched lately, I think it’s marketing has been woefully inadequate. Or perhaps they knew word of mouth would spread the news?
If you are anything like me, you will need a box of tissues for this movie. And maybe a friend to exclaim with.
You will cringe. You will laugh. You will cry. You will say “Awww!” quite a bit.
This is a movie representing Gay people as people living lives, not just as teens anguished about coming out. There has been a need for greater representation across the entertainment industry, for LGBTIQ+ people, as well as every other minority. Here is one movie making a dent in that need for representation, and doing it beautifully as a Gay Christmas Miracle Fairytale.
(I checked some online commentary, to see if my reaction is similar to the LGBTIQ+ community, and it seems to be. Whew!)
There are things for most people to relate to on some level, and there are wildly outlandish antics to save the movie from being too confrontingly, seriously “real”. This is a rom com romp. Fun for all the family, assuming your family is mature enough to cope with the concept of love between people. And there is so much love. Familial love, intergenerational love. Friendships. Love all around.
This is a ‘Christmas Miracle’ story. The Gays finally have their “dreams can come true” story. I think the expressions on the faces in the end scene are probably genuine, for that reason.
I won’t claim that this is Oscar-winning stuff, although the acting performances of the main characters were superb. Particularly poingnant were Michael Urie and Philemon Chambers as the main characters Peter and Nick, as well as Peter’s parents, played by Kathy Najimy and Barry Bostwick, and Peter’s new love interest played by Luke Macfarlane (loved him in Killjoys!).
Wouldn’t the world be an amazing place if everyone were as loving and mature as these characters?
Perhaps a couple of the characters were overdone: the deluded stage aunt is a little horrifying to me, but she fills out the family story of love and acceptance. The teen girls seem a bit contrived at the beginning, but get better.
The family home is decorated with signs. I totally relate to Carole, Peter’s mother, who makes and gifts these. One of the signs says:
Relax! We’re all crazy.
It’s not a competition.”
This perfectly sums up the large, closely connected family central to the story.
Mind you, this is also the mother who insists on being called “Christmas Carole” (“holiday specific Drag name”) for the month of December, and who we first meet standing next to a sign reading “Sleigh Queen”.
There are so many clever devices throughout the movie, adding depth and complexity.
The Christmas countdown calendar is one, reaching “1 day to prove you are Nice” as events are coming to a head.
The crazy aunt torturing children with a stage play for her to star in is not just a side quest, and an opportunity for Nick and Peter to show how well they work together. Listen to that dialogue!
The journey is not linear. There are sidesteps and mis-steps, making this a more believable, human story.
In places, the storyline was a little contrived and the pace of the movie was perhaps a little uneven, but the convoluted storylines and emotions involved in the various family situations all shone through to culminate in the Christmas Miracle of everyone being happy.
By the end of the movie, the title, ‘Single All The Way’ is more than a cute reference to the OTT (over the top) insanity of ‘Jingle All the Way‘. Peter and Nick have been single this whole time. Haven’t they?
Watch the Trailer for ‘Single All the Way’ here, and watch the whole movie on Netflix.
Postscript:
Were you wondering about the “why does that guy look familiar” bit? Me too!
Turns out that the singer in the pub is Kathy Najimy’s real life husband Dan Finnerty, who is a singer as well as an actor and producer.
You’re welcome!
musingsofamiddleagedmother 