Make the Yuletide Gay on Gay Celluloid

›› Make the Yuletide Gay ‹‹

a film by Rob Williams.

2009 | 89 mins | US.

a coming out cocktail of festive laughs.

Dave says:

From writer and director Rob Williams comes this unashamedly feel-good festive romantic comedy that and in spite of some clear drawbacks, nonetheless has a lot going for it.

For this is the story of out 'n' proud college couple Nathan (Adamo Ruggiero) and Olaf 'Gunn' Gunnunderson (Keith Jordan) who say a temporary goodbye to each other to return to their respective homes for the annual Christmas season. Only when Nathan is faced with the prospect of spending the Yuletide on his own, thanks to his parents having exited stage left courtesy of a free holiday, he opts to turn the situation around by knocking unannounced on the door of his loving boyfriend.

Yet Gunn's reaction to his surprise visit is not quite as Nathan had expected, given he's soon to realize that Gunn has ditched his rainbow credentials on the drive home, in order to survive life on the home front. Yet with Gunn's downright quirky and clearly open-minded parents (Derek Long and Kelly Keaton on hilarious form) extending a more than warm welcome to their son's - roommate, surely the time has come for Gunn to finally step out of the Christmas closet, before mother dear has him paired off with his one-time sweetheart Abby (Hallee Hirsh).

With a script that's packed with more double entendres than many a Carry On film, here we find Williams' going out of his way to create a coming out cocktail of festive laughs. And by large he succeeds, thanks not only to the wondrous turns by Long as Gunn's off-the-wall father and Hirsh as girl next door turned gay boy loving Abby, but in particular by the OTT performance by Keaton who armed with some of the best one-liners in the film, literally steals the show as a mother who not only loves life and the festive season to the full, but moreover loves her son - just the way he is.

Yet at the heart of this feature is the bond between the two young men: it's one that played with a lush natural chemistry throughout, with Jordan the 'straight man' to Ruggiero's exuberant 'no need to ask' character, with the two all but delighting in the comical set-ups of the narrative, even if some of the gags at times fall on corny ground. And whilst Gates McFadden of Star Trek: The Next Generation fame is somewhat underused as Nathan's not so frosty mother, the whole production is delivered with so much charm that it cannot help but bring a smile to your face, complete as-it-is with a few words on sexual acceptance in the closing reel. Romantic, upbeat and frankly a-lotta fun; what's not to like?

Well, perhaps the fact that there was never a sequel to this film, as many would have liked. Sure, there's been talk for a long time of the two young, well now slightly older men walking down the aisle together with Yuletide bells a-ringing and happy families, or perhaps not, beside them. Yet and in spite of the best intent from one and all, a follow-up film seemingly will never be streaming its way to you for Christmas. There is however a Make The Yuletide Gay 2 novel for those interested in how the sequel would have played out and for once, I'm not saying!

›› available as part of the TLA RELEASING catalogue: November 2009 / UK.

›› revised: Saturday, 10th December, 2022.

Gay Visibility - overt | Nudity - from the waist up | Overall - file under ... 3+ stars

›› archive reference #245 - revised ‹‹

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