Make the Yuletide Gay

This film is about a closeted gay college student who visits his parents for Christmas. Things go messy when his boyfriend pays them a surprise visit.

It's unusual to have a squeaky clean gay comedy with a festive theme. "Make the Yuletide Gay" is just that. It's so much fun to watch. Even if the budget was low, it didn't show. Every scene is decorated nicely in detail, creating a homely atmosphere that people feel immediately comfortable in. The script is funny, full of double meanings that makes me laugh hard. It also engagingly explores painful realities, making sure that it is not just a piece of forgettable popcorn flick. I enjoyed watching "Make the Yuletide Gay" a lot, and I would recommend it to others.

Due to my own not-so-good experiences with my coming-out, I'm a real sucker for feel-good coming-out movies - they never fail to bring me to some heartfelt tears of shared happiness. So with these kind of movies I'm not that critical as to whether the script, the direction or the acting is really above par. That's a good thing with this movie, for it's rather balancing on the verge.

For starters: there seem to have been made some strange and awkward choices in the editing. At many, many points the movie comes to a stand-still, when the camera lingers far too long on the face of a person after he or she has said or done something. Especially at moments when comedy is intended, it's killing: it not only effects the pace but it sucks the punch out-off every punch-line! This brings me to my next reservation: there are way too many double entendres in the script, it dangerously tilts the movie to the point of below-the-belt cheapness. Sure, I laughed at some of them (even at the beaver-joke), but it annoyed me too, this movie really didn't seem to need all that.

A last negative remark to the script: although it's a comedy, there ought to be maintained - especially in this kind of situational comedy - some sort of basic feeling of reality. Here this was put to the test way too often. Can a renowned professor walk around for a whole professional career being perpetually stoned out of his wits? Are these parents (obviously from the 60's love-generation) blind as bats, not to see that their son's room-mate Nathan is gayer than gay?! Is the switch of the neighbor-girl from love-sick goody two-shoes to an almost professional foul-mouthing fag-hag not a tiny bit too abrupt and weird??

Well, anyway, now for the good things. This is without any doubt a very sympathetic, warm and sincere movie. There is, thank god, not so much a Big Message that has to be drilled-in, it just keeps close to the real-life fears of a gay adolescent who is on the brink of revealing his true self to his family: will they accept me in this new light? Will I disappoint them? Will things change between us? The script doesn't provide a big plot - like in so many other comparable coming-of-age movies - with complicated misunderstandings, plot-shifts and all kinds of side-stories; it just sort of strolls along on it's basic theme and in this way gets a nice and quiet development.

Main characters Olav and Nathan both are given a fine and convincing portrayal by Keith Jordan resp. Adamo Ruggiero. I didn't know Ruggiero, I never saw "Degrassi", he's certainly beautiful and very cute and I thought that he grew in his role; he was supposed to be the gayish extrovert of the two boyfriends, but he proved that within that stereotype he could actually find his own nuances. But I especially liked Keith Jordan, he had this subdued way of acting that only enhanced the feeling of reality, and in his seriousness he is all the more endearing.

All in all the good things far outweighed the bad, and I vote it a heartfelt 8 out of 10!

Make the Yuletide Gay is not a great piece of art. This is not a film that will open on a ton of screens worldwide and earn millions of box office dollars. This is a small budget gay themed holiday film. If you go into it expecting anything more than a bunch of corny jokes and a formulaic plot, you'll be disappointed.

College student Gustav "Gun" Gunderson (Keith Jordan) is out and proud at school but is secretly not out to his eccentric Midwestern parents (Derek Long and Kelly Keaton). During the Christmas holidays he struggles to find the right time to finally tell his parents the truth. When his boyfriend Nathan's holiday plans fall through, Nathan (Adamo Ruggiero) surprises Gustav by showing up on the Gunderson home to spend the holidays. Comedy ensues.

This film explores familiar territory but it's a fun ride. Some of the jokes you see coming, but generally the script is quite clever. There are a few awkward transitions and the editing could have been a lot tighter. The camera particularly overplays Keaton as mom Anya Gunderson, lingering on her a few moments too long after each punch line. Often removing a few beats here and there would have made a lot of difference.

Keith Jordan does a fantastic job. Despite the fact this is a comedy and everything will probably turn out for the best, Jordan manages to make the "what if" fears seem real.

Degrassi-The Next Generation's Adamo Ruggiero seemed oddly uncomfortable in front of the camera during the early scenes. Initially I had trouble believing he and costar Jordan were in a long-term relationship. Ruggiero's acting steadily improves as the film progresses and eventually delivers a good performance, but he was obviously chosen to draw in an audience.

Make the Yuletide Gay is fun and light-hearted with a few good laughs. It won't become a mandatory Holiday viewing, but it is perfect for what it is. In other words, you get what you pay for.

Gunn has a holiday surprise for his folks and boy is it a big one!! A sweet and goofy film that has a fine message of acceptance but doesn't hit the viewer over the head with it. The male leads are endearing and attractive but this is stolen by Kelly Keaton as the mom who gets a natural high from the joy of Christmas and life in general. She and Derek Long have fun as the long married couple who accept each other as they are, she a motor mouthed dervish and he a semi clueless stoner. Hallee Hirsh is sprightly as the girl next door who is wilder than she appears and hey look its Nellie Olsen as her Mom! Speaking of Alison Arngrim she is having a ball as the randy next door neighbor who engages in veiled verbal jousting with Gunn's mom to the audience's delight.

Being gay, I'm subjected to a lot of bad gay movies. It's solidarity; we know they're bad, but we watch them anyway, out of loyalty more than anything else. This is why I'm glad to report that Make the Yuletide Gay is, well, not bad. It's not great, but when I was going in expecting another cringe-worthy gay romantic "comedy", I got a pretty decent... gay romantic comedy. The writer needs a few lessons in subtlety, given the vast number of over-the-top stereotypes and often wince-inducing double entendre in the film, but the actors take the material and make it work pretty well. As a long-time fan of Degrassi: The Next Generation, I primarily was interested in Adamo Ruggiero's movie debut, and he acquits himself nicely. His character starts off as vain and somewhat obnoxious but becomes sympathetic as the film progresses, and when Ruggiero smiles that beautiful smile of his, I can't help but love him all the more. It's a fun little film, and if you can get past some of the writing, it's worth a watch.