Christmas 2020 Reviews: Day 16 - The Christmas House (2020)

If you Google The Christmas House, in the first page of your results, you will find several articles citing this film as "the first Hallmark LGBTQ+ Christmas movie", such as this one and this one. So why is the main couple heterosexual?

The Christmas House follows Mike Mitchell (Robert Buckley), an actor who stars on a cheesy but highly successful show called 'Handsome Justice', in which he plays an attractive, skilled lawyer. After filming wraps on the latest series of the show, Mike finds out that it's going to be cancelled, leaving him unemployed and with free time. He, along with his brother Brandon (played by Jonathan Bennett, best know as Aaron from Mean Girls) and Brandon's husband Jake, go to his parents house for Christmas. The Mitchell family used to have an annual tradition of redecorating their house into the titular 'Christmas House': where they put all their normal furniture away in storage and convert their home into a sort of Christmas museum, with every room -and every Christmas tree- having a different festive theme for all their friends and neighbours to enjoy. Mike and Brandon's parents want to revive this tradition one last time, because they are selling the house, and so they all set to work on it.

This is the main plot point, but Mike, Brandon and their parents each have their own subplots.

Mike is reunited with his crush from school, who lives next door. Her name is Andi, and she is the estate agent selling the Mitchell home. She has a ten year old son, and some unresolved romantic feelings of her own. They are the main focus of the film.

The second plot point considers their parents: the mother, Phyllis (played by Sharon Lawrence) recently retired from her job, and is struggling to find her place in the world again. She has grown resentful of her husband Bill (Treat Williams) who retired a couple of years before her, as he has made new friends and acquired new hobbies since his job ended, and she doesn't know where she belongs in it. They are selling the house because of their troubles, but want to keep this a secret from their sons.

Speaking of sons, the final plot point regards Brandon and Jake, the gay couple. They have been trying to adopt a child for a long time, and are waiting to hear back from an adoption agency about a potential agency. However, three previous attempts at adoption have fallen through (we aren't told why) and so they want to keep this a secret from Brandon's family, which is creating some tension.

Although this Hallmark film has more substance than the others I've reviewed so far this year, there's really not much to say about it. It's a nice film, but I feel like at this point my mind is melting from the overwhelming sameness of most of these made-for-television films. That sounds harsh, but this is the nicer version of that. These characters face bigger issues than "What if we don't have a Christmas market this year?" and "How can I possibly decorate all these cookies in time for Christmas Eve?" (yes, these are real central issues in chick flick Christmas films I've watched).

On the subject of chick flicks, this (technically speaking) isn't one. A chick flick is supposed to be a film with a female main character, featuring a romance plot, that is aimed towards a female audience. I would say this is more a family oriented film, rather than one aimed for women alone. Additionally, the only female characters in this film are Andi, Phyllis and Mike's agent, when the main character is Mike, with the main supporting character being Brandon. However, romance is romance in my book, so I say sod the rules and I'm going to now talk about man-on-man love.

I don't like how this was marketed as an LGBTQ+ film, because the gay couple aren't in it that much, or not as much as Mike and Andi are anyway. However, the scenes we do get with Brandon and Jake are very sweet and well done. Apparently this is the first Hallmark film to feature a kiss between two people of the same gender, which is a big moment for this Christian channel. I'm glad they've made that progress, it just feels like they still have a ways to go.

I think the adoption storyline was sweet, and while we still unfortunately live in a time where some people think two people of the same sex sharing a kiss isn't "family friendly", it's nice to see that anyone can make a family, as long as love is there.

In terms of the rest of the plot, I liked Mike and his storyline. He and Andi seemed sweet together, and I like the dynamic he had with her son, Noah (played by Mattia Castrillo). It's a very generic plot, but they all play it out well.

The final shot of these three characters together is laughably unrealistic and Hallmark cheesy though, which takes away from the authenticity of their conclusion a bit.

I did also like what we saw of Mike's show Handsome Justice, which is a ridiculous court room drama. They have fun with it, but I think they could have camped it up even more and made it sillier for a stronger comedy element.

One thing I didn't like is a Mike's agent. Well, Mike says she's his agent, but then she goes to a meeting to try and save his show, which I would think the showrunner and producers would do instead of an agent. Anyway, whenever she and Mike talk about the show possibly ending, the agent keeps saying how they need a Christmas miracle to revive it for another series. In one of the few Hallmark Channel movies to try and have some realism in their characters plights, I felt so frustrated every time I heard this. It took me out of the story, and felt so forced, like they wanted to remind you this was a Christmas film.

Because the titular giant house covered in festive ornaments and lights, inside and out, isn't a big enough clue.

I have mixed feelings about the parents storyline. I think it's realistic for people to have a crisis and wonder what the meaning of their life is after they retire, and I think it was a great idea to show this, because we're not shown that issue onscreen very often, when it's a very real one many people face. However, I did not like the Phyllis, whose arc this was. I really felt for Bill, who was a consistently lovely character. He was always there for his sons, and would do whatever Phyllis wanted, even when that hurt him, because he loved her. Phyllis acts irritated with him the entire time though, for purely selfish reasons. Additionally, when she isn't sulking in a corner for one of her sons to go and check on her, her only "happy" moments are when she is blowing a whistle and nagging at people to decorate the house in time for Christmas, which takes the fun out of it quite a bit. If it was someone like Bill going through this arc, who was uncertain of where he wanted to be in life, I think my rating for this film would be a little higher, because it's a genuinely interesting point. With Phyllis though, I had no sympathy and simply didn't care. I just wanted her to go away and work it out on her own instead of bringing everyone else down with her.

However, it was nice to see older people being represented onscreen, as in so many Christmas films, they are just the voice of reason for an often ungrateful younger character. Also, these two share more kisses than the other two couples, which is nice when films normally try to be discreet about older people wanting to have romantic lives.

Overall, this film was generally sweet, aside from my grievances with the mother and agent characters. It's not a deep, clever or unique film, but it is almost entirely without cynicism, which we need in 2020 and the two brother characters are likeable and well-acted. Something feels missing to me though. I think this film may have been stronger if the parents storyline was cut, and focused on the relationship between Mike and Brandon, growing and changing as they spend this last Christmas together in their childhood home, while they're both dealing with serious issues in their lives. For what it actually is though, it's nice and festive, and I think for a lot of people, that might be enough.

THE SCOREBOARD

Would I recommend this film? After viewing this film, I was left with an overwhelming feeling of "meh". If you want to watch it based on this review, and the fact that it marks a tiny piece of television history, do so. If you don't, don't.

Christmas quote of the film: "Hey, Jake, what do you call a Christmas tree that knows kung-fu? Spruce Lee. It's... it's a dad joke." - Bill

Film rating: 5/10