Queerly Ever After is a bi-monthly column where I take a look at LGBT+ films that gave their characters a romantic happily-ever-after. There will be spoilers.
And he’s back, so soon after I covered another of his films, Rob Williams is gracing this column again. This time around I’m covering one of Williams’ holiday films, Make The Yuletide Gay. Olaf ‘Gunn’ Gunnunderson (Keith Jordan)—yes that really is the main character’s name, imagine shouting that out in bed, actually, given the fetishization of guns in American culture I’m sure there are a few men who love to shout “oh gun” while making the beast with two backs—is a college senior in a long-term relationship with fellow senior Nathan Stanford (Adamo Ruggiero).
During the winter holiday, Gunn returns home (somewhere in the Midwest, given the references to the Green Bay Packers, probably Wisconsin) from college to visit his parents Anya (Kelly Keaton) and Sven (Derek Long). While at school Gunn is out, and even works on the “Gay Student Council,” at home with his parents he is still in the closet. To keep up his “straight” ruse at home, he eschews his normal wardrobe in favor of drab, baggy clothes and messy hair. His ability to stay in the closet is thrown into turmoil when his boyfriend Nathan, abandoned by his rich but emotionally distant parents, shows up to surprise him.
Just Friends
Nathan, immediately realizing that Gunn is not out to his parents, agrees to help with his charade and pretend to be just a friend. Of course, going back into the closet causes turmoil in their relationship, especially as Gunn’s parents keep pushing him to find a nice girl. The “nice girl” who Anya keeps pushing on Gunn is their next door neighbor, and Gunn’s high school girlfriend, Abby (Hallee Hirsh). Luckily for Gunn and Nathan, Abby immediately guesses the two are a couple and becomes a confidante while they deal with Gunn’s parents.
Gunn’s parents for their part are comically dense, Sven lives in a perpetual state of high and Anya is a goofball. Nathan finds it hard to understand why Gunn has not come out to them yet. Gunn explains that while his parents seem like liberal, accepting people, he has seen too many other young gay who have come out to their seemingly-liberal parents only to be cut off or worse, and he’s afraid of the same happening to him. I have to give the film credit here, Gunn’s reasoning for staying in the closet actually makes sense. I actually think that this movie succeeds in a lot of places where 2018’s Love, Simon fails and I will discuss that further when I eventually cover Love, Simon.
Eventually, Gunn realizes he can no longer live in the closet and comes out to his parents, letting them know that Nathan is not just his friend, but the love of his life. Luckily for Gunn, his parents happily accept him, letting him know they had actually suspected that since his sophomore year of high school. They even had a bet going, but they weren’t going to push him to come out until he was ready.
Good Old Fluff
Is this the most deep, provocative movie you’re going to watch? No, of course not. It’s a light, fluffy holiday movie that makes you happy, which is exactly what you want when watching this kind of film. To its credit, this movie is all about puns and euphemisms. Every other line in this film is another pun, and I for one, thoroughly appreciated that.
Rob Williams actually wrote a sequel to this film in book form. The sequel follows Gunn and Nathan as they plan a big Christmas wedding. There is no word on whether Williams plans on adapting the book into a movie but if Netflix’s A Christmas Prince can get a sequel, and even a third, then I am all for Nathan and Gunn getting to walk down the aisle and onto our screens again.
Make The Yuletide Gay came out on DVD on November 10, 2009 in the US. For all other release dates, see here.
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