Hometown Holiday (2018) is advertised on Netflix with two guys gazing shyly at each other. The plot synopsis tells me that it's based on a Harlequin romance, and a turnaround of the usual Christmas romcom plot: instead of a driven Big City woman finding love with a small-town guy, it's a driven Big City guy finding love with a small town woman.
But maybe the two guys gazing shyly at each other form a homoromantic subplot. And according to IMDB, one of the stars is....ulp...Joseph Cannata.
Excuse me, I need a moment,
IMDB Photos reveals more intel. The two guys gazing shyly are Kevin McGarry and Bradley Hamilton. Kiroh Peterkin gets married to Rebecca Lamarch. There are two sisters. I'm completely confused. I'll have to go through a scene-by-scene to determine if there's a gay subplot or subtext.
Scene 1: Winter in the country. Frosty, snow covered roads. A Hunky Singer named Wes Gently (Kevin McGarry, left, but with longer hair and a cowboy scruff) is practicing a song about lost love and "time to try again." Holy foreshadowing, Batman! His kid records him. Must be a dead wife back there somewhere.
Scene 2: New Year's Eve. An elegant party full of beautiful people. Racial diversity. No gay couples that I can see. . Two sisters, Blond and Brunette, complain that the holidays are almost over (I usually say Thank God!). They've both just broken up with boyfriends -- too boring, too old (31!), and they're running a business, Forever Flowers.
Scene 3: Labor Day. A lot of closeups of flowers, and an aerial shot of Los Angeles. Driven Agent (Bradley Hamilton, left) walks into a glass-and-steel building and watches Hunky Singer from Scene 1 on his computer. Turns out that he was just an ordinary rancher singing a song to his dead wife, when his kid recorded him and uploaded the video to the internet, and it became a smash hit. Driven Agent is going to offer him "the full deal": records, endorsements, talk shows. Based on one song?
So the guys gazing are Driven Agent and Hunky Singer
Wes Gently happens to live in the same (unnamed) town as Driven Agent's pregnant sister, so he'll combine a visit with a contract offer.
So the guys gazing are Driven Agent from the Big City and small-town Hunky Singer. But if they find love with each other, who will the sisters hook up with?
Scene 4: The iconic small town. While Blonde sits on the porch, Brunette throws out her lying, good-for-nothing, cheating airplane pilot boyfriend -- a shirtless Joseph Cannata! Sigh!
Ok, that's all the Big City guys for Brunette! They're all lying, cheating scumbags. Only small town guys from here on! So she's getting Driven Agent from the Big City -- no, wait, that's her brother.
Scene 5: The sisters arranging the flowers for a country wedding held in a barn. Closeups of wheat fields and cows as Driven Agent approaches the Small Town. He greets Brunette and her husband Darryl (Stephen Huszar, sigh). "I've come to visit my wonderful sister and her perfect husband."
Darryl grins at him. Are they sharing a moment?
They invite him to a wedding -- he doesn't know the bride or the groom, but who cares? Hunky Singer will be there. This clears up the mystery of Kiroh Peterkin -- he's the groom in the wedding they all go to.
"But you can't wear a suit to a country wedding," Darryl says. "Here, come up to the bedroom, and you can borrow my second-cleanest lumberjack shirt." They don't take their shirts off on camera, but still, it's a homoerotic moment.
Driven Agent's girlfriend calls. Ok, he's got a girlfriend back home, so he doesn't get anybody.
No need to continue the scene by scene. I'll just go through on fast-forward to see if there are any gay subtexts amid the heterosexual shenanigans.
Minute 17: Driven Agent approaches Hunky Singer about the contract. He's not interested. Shucks, he'd have to leave his small town and move to the...shudder...Big City! A girl comes up and flirts with Driven Agent. I guess he'll hook up after all.
Minute 40: Driven Agent has to pretend to be small-town for some reason, so Darryl gives him some tips: take off your hat when you enter a house, say "yes ma'am," and never complain about anything except Big Cities. He tests him with the job of chopping wood, and says "You're starting to grow on me." Another homoerotic moment!
They go into the Christmas party. Darryl touches Driven Agent's chest and puts his arm around him. But you're married to his sister! Drama!
Who Hooks Up with Whom: Hunky Singer gets Blonde (and signs the contract). Driven Agent gets Brunette (wait -- that's his pregnant sister. Another brunette woman lookalike must have appeared out of nowhere). He decides to stay in the country with her...and his actual sisters..and Darryl. A subtext where you least expect it.
Love your blog! I’m a big movie fan, too. It’s funny and witty and goes beyond minor plot descriptions and talks about actors and how scenes are set up. Thanks for writing these articles.
ReplyDelete