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Watch: Christmas Comes Early with Netflix's Yummy Yuletide Offerings
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 4 MIN.
It's the time of year when a plethora of holiday-themed rom-coms hit the small screen – but Netflix has upped the bar with a quartet of sultry (if straight) seasonal offerings.
UK newspaper the Daily Mail gave a rundown on the streamer's steamy titles, starting with the male dancer-infused "The Merry Gentlemen," which, the Mail noted, "has been described as 'Magic Mike meets Christmas.'"
"Starring Britt Robertson and noughties heartthrob Chad Michael Murray, the film is sure to get temperatures rising, as it follows a dancer who stages a male revue to save her parents' small-town nightclub," the writeup detailed.
In comments to the Netflix website Tudum, Robertson boiled down her initial reaction to the film: "When I read the script, I was like, 'This is my kind of Christmas movie!'" For one thing, she added, "I didn't even have to do any of the burlesque. I get to just watch a bunch of very talented dudes do it."
Plenty of gay men are sure to agree, given the chiseled physique of male lead Chad Michael Murray – who, as EDGE previously reported, is the subject of a tie-in calendar designed to keep the movie's spicy sentiments sizzling through all 12 months in the year to come.
The film's screenwriter, Marla Sokoloff, revealed in comments to The New York Times that the guys she's gifting us in the movie were almost even less wrapped up in costuming than in the finished film.
"There was a period where they were just in, like, Speedos with flashing lights on the back that said 'Naughty Santa,'" Sokoloff recalled of an early draft of the script. "We had to rein it in a bit."
Another Netflix project sure to melt hearts is "Hot Frosty," which might sound like an adult version of a certain beloved Christmas classic because it sort of is. The snowman in this case, though, is sculpted in anatomically correct detail, and when he's brought to life by the addition of a magical scarf, he streaks around town in the buff (at least until he can score some clothes... not so many, however, that his abs are obscured).
Tudum offered this description of the film: "Kathy ([Lacey] Chabert), a grieving widow, gets a new perspective on life after she meets Jack ('Schitt's Creek's' Dustin Milligan), a good-looking but oddly familiar stranger – who also strangely resembles a local ice sculpture."
Added the site: "Through his naivete, the snowman helps Kathy to laugh, feel, and love again, as the two fall for each other just in time for the holidays ... and before he melts."
Milligan told Tudum about the ice sculpture version of himself, which, he related was quite well endowed... in the hand department.
"The hand envy that I had for that snow sculpture was incredible," Milligan said.
The handsome actor found his way around that, though – as well as through some body image issues, EDGE noted in the previous article.
"The physical comedy was such a joy for me, but exposing my body on camera brings up a lot of insecurities and body-image issues I have," Milligan related in comments to People Magazine, before going on to reveal, "I had to let go in a way I've never done before and just be fully physically liberated in every single scene, which simultaneously challenged the discomfort that being so exposed brought and allowed the pure joy I was feeling shine through – I hope!"
But nothing so far has beaten the audience appeal of "Meet Me Next Christmas," the Mail noted, as "Statistics revealed on Thursday last week [Nov. 17] showed the flick had been watched a whopping 18,100,000 times and was officially crowned the number-one film globally on Netflix."
In classic rom-com form, the movie features a "race through New York City" by the film's female protagonist, Layla (Christina Milian), who is desperate "to reconnect with the love of her life" through "get[ting] her hands on the hottest ticket in town: the sold-out Pentatonix Christmas Eve Concert."
Cue the meet cute with unexpected new heartthrob Teddy (Devale Ellis) "who is big-hearted and selfless" – and willing to put on a few moves with Layla in order to win a contest, the prize for which is... you guessed it... that hot concert ticket.
You may not have to shake the box too hard to guess what's inside of this one, but getting there proves to be at least half the fun; Milian told Tudum, "There's a sense of magic, love, and anticipation that's happening through the whole movie. You just never know who they're going to run into or what's going to happen next."
But not all the gifts have been delivered quite yet. Lindsey Lohan is set to return to the streamer with a new Christmas-time rom-com titled "Our Little Secret," the Mail teased.
Tudum detailed that the movie finds Lohan's Avery "trapped in exactly the type of holiday getaway she was hoping to avoid: a week with her ex-boyfriend Logan, played by 'Pretty Little Liars' alum Ian Harding."
How? Why? That's the rub: It turns out Avery and Logan's new romantic partners are brother and sister, and they've brought the exes home to meet Mom (Kristin Chenoweth). "And all kinds of stuff breaks loose," Lohan promised.
If you just can't wait to lay your eyes on "Our Little Secret," well, you won't have to – not for long, anyway. The movie hits the streamer on Nov. 27.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.