On SINGLE ALL THE WAY

 This new holiday movie has something I never thought I'd see in a holiday movie. Two openly gay actors play openly gay men on a ski date and they kiss. THAT was a major moment for me. Netflix has this romantic comedy. It's called SINGLE ALL THE WAY. This feature is like a pot of warm fondue at a holiday party. It's tasty holiday cheese. 

Peter lives in West Hollywood and works in a marketing branch of the entertainment industry. His best friend and roommate, Nick, has a side gig as a handyman. He's an author who made a good amount of money on a best-selling children's book. It's the Christmas season and Peter thinks he's in a wonderful relationship with an eye-candy cardiologist. Wrong. That relationship winds up being the equivalent of getting coal in your Christmas stocking. Peter is anxious to be with his family in New Hampshire for the holidays. He doesn't want to go alone. If he's alone, his big overly caffeinated and LGBTQ-loving family will try to fix him up with a possible boyfriend. He asks his roommate, Nick, to join him. Nick does. Nick used to spend Christmas with his mother, but she passed away. 

Peter and Nick go to New Hampshire. Peter's family is a big bunch of matchmakers. His mom sets him up on a blind date with a drop-dead gorgeous gym instructor who's also a ski instructor. However, some relatives sense that Peter is really in love with Nick and doesn't realize it. This is a romantic comedy, so those relatives are, of course, correct.

A lot of gay male romance stories seem to imply that love is for the young, slim and muscular. In real gay life, that's wrong. I knew a guy in my apartment building who was handsome and built like a super-hero. When it came to romance, he always went for guys built like Kevin James on the sitcom, THE KING OF QUEENS. In the first half-hour of SINGLE ALL THE WAY, I admit that I did get that "Oh, great. Another gay story with single handsome men looking for love and finding it in other equally handsome single gay men" feeling. But SINGLE ALL THE WAY has a charm and warmth that kept me interested even though I knew where the story was going. Michael Urie is very good as Peter. He perfectly gives off that upscale, too-fabulous West Hollywood vibe that masks a desire to just do ordinary things like go see a movie with your dad. Nick, the roommate/best friend/handyman is played by the absolutely adorable Philemon Chambers. Peter's entire family loves Nick. The little ones loved the children's book he wrote. Script-wise, I wish we learned more about Nick's family. Also, I felt that it would've been novel to flip things around -- have the big Black, LGBTQ-loving family trying to hook a gay member up with a boyfriend for the holidays and have the white guy as the welcomed, visiting roommate. Kathy Najimy stars as Peter's matchmaking mother. Barry Bostwick, who secured a place in pop culture history as Brad onscreen in THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975), stars as Peter's lovable and handsome silver bear of a dad. (What about a gay rom-com with a hot older single guy, someone who looks like Bostwick, finding love at Christmastime?) Luke Macfarlane is mighty fine as the blind date gym instructor/skier who also sees that Peter is in love with Nick but doesn't realize it.

The MVP (Most Valuable Player) of SINGLE ALL THE WAY is Jennifer Coolidge as Peter's over-the-top Aunt Sandy. She's an actress/playwright/director who has written the town's Christmas pageant play. Her nativity play is called JESUS H. CHRIST! As Aunt Sandy says, "All the world's a stage -- and most of us are desperately under-rehearsed." Here's a trailer for SINGLE ALL THE WAY.

I must admit that the final scenes made me very sentimental. This sweet, little pastime on Netflix runs 1 hour and 35 minutes. And another thing -- seeing Jennifer Coolidge in SINGLE ALL THE WAY made me wonder why we haven't seen her as Miss Hannigan in a production of ANNIE.