The Christmas Setup

The Christmas Setup is at times an infectiously positive Christmas flick in the context of queer films, where you basically know from the beginning how it's all going to turn out, but you still get swept away for an hour and a half on a sweetly narrated romantic wave with the smell of mistletoe and the unmistakable vocals of Fran Drescher. It's all extremely saccharine in places, almost heartburn-inducing, and I personally found the cold open confrontation between Hugo and Patrick a little overdone. But in the end, the film warms the heart unobtrusively, and that's what counts. Last but not least, I must not forget to mention the compelling storyline about the founder of the Christmas tradition in Milwaukee. PS: "You look so skinnyyy!" (2021.01.05)