A young woman’s plans to propose to her girlfriend while at her family’s annual holiday party are upended when she discovers her partner hasn’t yet come out to her conservative parents.
Credits: TheMovieDb.
Film Cast:
- Abby: Kristen Stewart
- Harper: Mackenzie Davis
- Sloane: Alison Brie
- Riley Johnson: Aubrey Plaza
- John: Dan Levy
- Jane: Mary Holland
- Ted: Victor Garber
- Tipper: Mary Steenburgen
- Harry Levin: Ana Gasteyer
- Connor: Jake McDorman
- Eric: Burl Moseley
- Carolyn McCoy: Sarayu Blue
- Kelly: Caroline Harris
- Ashley: Jenny Gulley
- Levi: Dominique Allen Lawson
- Trudy: Michelle Buteau
- Angry Homeowner Lady: Carla Gallo
- Mall Security Ed: Timothy Simons
- Mall Security Crystal: Lauren Lapkus
- Em. K. Ultra: Jinkx Monsoon
- Miss L’Teau: BenDeLaCreme
- Magnus: Anis N’Dobe
- Matilda: Asiyih N’Dobe
- Barista: Sean Michael Weber
- Striking Woman Jeweler: Sarab Kamoo
- Colleen the Hostess: Chelsea Banglesdorf
- Fancy Restaurant Waitress: Liron Blumenthal
- Todd, Bearded Guy: Daryn Kahn
- Guard Eugene: Matt Newell
- Book Buyer: Dave Maulbeck
- Hand Holder Man: Don Hewitt Jr.
- Huge Man: Christopher Jon Gombos
- Caroler: Daina Griffith
- Caroler: Daniel Krell
- Caroler: Dominique Briggs
- Caroler: Jonathan Berry
- Christmas Party Guest (uncredited): Gina Jun
Film Crew:
- Executive Producer: Wyck Godfrey
- Supervising Sound Editor: Matt Temple
- Story: Clea DuVall
- Producer: Marty Bowen
- Key Grip: Keith Seymour
- First Assistant Director: Kim H. Winther
- Unit Production Manager: Jonathan McCoy
- Production Sound Mixer: George Simpson
- Stunt Coordinator: Doug Coleman
- Stunts: Helena Barrett
- Casting: Rich Delia
- Sound Effects Editor: Frédéric Dubois
- Director of Photography: John Guleserian
- Key Makeup Artist: Kimberly Amacker
- Stunts: Kelly Richardson
- Assistant Location Manager: Chris Ruppenthal
- Key Costumer: Darcie Buterbaugh
- Local Casting: Donna M. Belajac
- Foley Mixer: Randy Wilson
- Visual Effects Producer: Brice Liesveld
- Visual Effects Supervisor: James Pastorius
- Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Deb Adair
- Foley Artist: Stefan Fraticelli
- Still Photographer: Lacey Terrell
- Digital Intermediate Producer: Loan Phan
- Assistant Editor: Cynthia E. Thornton
- Production Design: Theresa Guleserian
- Mix Technician: Phil Lee
- Stunts: Ian Mclaughlin
- Screenplay: Mary Holland
- Editor: Melissa Bretherton
- Makeup Department Head: Stacey Panepinto
- Music Supervisor: Season Kent
- Music Editor: Erica Weis
- Producer: Isaac Klausner
- Boom Operator: Anthony Cargioli
- Unit Production Manager: Richard E. Chapla Jr.
- Casting Associate: Adam Richards
- Orchestrator: Amie Doherty
- Costume Supervisor: Karen Bellamy
- ADR Voice Casting: Fabiana Arrastia
- Digital Colorist: Natasha Leonnet
- Unit Publicist: Rachael M. Roth
- Construction Coordinator: Buster Pile
- Foley Artist: Jason Charbonneau
- Electrician: Denair Isaac
- First Assistant Director: Darin Rivetti
- Stunts: Anthony Mecca
- “B” Camera Operator: Rich Schutte
- Transportation Coordinator: Frank Conforti
- Key Hair Stylist: Tina Fabulic
- Set Designer: Kate Dougherty
- Scoring Mixer: Damon Tedesco
- Supervising Sound Editor: Kathryn Madsen
- Producer’s Assistant: Avital Siegel
- Production Sound Mixer: Christopher Strollo
- Utility Sound: Jason Jouver
- On Set Dresser: Matthew McCloskey
- Dolly Grip: Jason Kirker
- Grip: Don Yockey
- Grip: Doug Cronin
- Hairstylist: Alta Marie Bialon
- Transportation Co-Captain: Terence Mahoney
- Video Assist Operator: Doug Stanczak
- Second Assistant Director: Alyssa Batchelor
- Location Manager: Eric Dilucente
- Assistant Chief Lighting Technician: Jon D. Morrison
- Dialogue Editor: Paul Hammond
- First Assistant Editor: Mark Perzely
- VFX Artist: H Haden Hammond
- First Assistant Camera: Deb Peterson
- Stunts: Ashley Pynn
- Stunts: Heidi Germaine Schnappauf
- Musician: Hal Rosenfeld
- Chief Lighting Technician: Armando Ballesteros
- Foley Mixer: Ron Mellegers
- Production Accountant: Cabernet Murray
- Graphic Designer: Brad Towell
- First Assistant “B” Camera: Amanda Rotzler
- Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Alexandra Fehrman
- Set Decoration: Shanna Worsham
- Hair Department Head: April Schuller
- Costume Design: Kathleen Felix-Hager
- Production Assistant: Eric Rasmussen
- Camera Operator: Michael Craven
- Production Assistant: Balint Oltvai
- Assistant Property Master: Angela Donatelli
- Executive Producer’s Assistant: Chelsea Banglesdorf
- Art Direction: Maggie Srmayan
- Stunts: Emmanuel Savary
- Co-Producer: Jaclyn Huntling Swatt
- Property Master: Rob Fiks
- Script Supervisor: Sooze Buliavac
- Second Assistant Camera: Yev Shrayber
- Second Assistant “B” Camera: Dan Sotak
- Digital Imaging Technician: Curtis Abbott
- Costumer: Tori Musial
- Costumer: Gina Lamonica
- Costumer: Lindsey Waltonbaugh
- Costumer: Olivia Becker
- Electrician: Tom Morrison
- Electrician: Dakota Hadix
- Dolly Grip: Greg Edwards
- Grip: Taylor Flick
- Grip: Joe Seifert
- Special Effects Coordinator: Ray Tasillo
- Key Special Effects: Jacob Hays
- Assistant Location Manager: Bethany Dilucente
- Production Coordinator: Billy Cole
- Assistant Production Coordinator: Amber Robson
- Production Secretary: James Croal Jackson
- First Assistant Accountant: Giela Fredman
- Second Assistant Accountant: Nathan Matt
- Payroll Accountant: Nicole Basile
- Construction Coordinator: Jonathan Pitcher
- Art Department Coordinator: John Finnell
- Leadman: Justin Pellisero
- Second Second Assistant Director: Jonathan Medeiros
- Producer’s Assistant: Jake Salcudean
- Production Assistant: Nathaniel Fitzgerald
- Production Assistant: Kailee Greb
- Production Assistant: Dylan McCully
- Production Assistant: Alexis Owen-Guenther
- Production Assistant: Isaac Shuppas
- Production Assistant: Mark Gazica
- Production Assistant: Jim Kateluzos
- Production Assistant: Nathaniel Peters
- Production Assistant: Adam Shahen
- Production Assistant: Kamari Somers
- Production Assistant: Stephanie Tolksdorf
- Casting Assistant: Erin Rose Kelly
- Extras Casting: Chelsea Peterson
- Extras Casting: Chuck Peterson
- Craft Service: Ginny Minuto
- Craft Service: Miranda Wodzinski
- Set Medic: Dustin Derosa
- Transportation Captain: Jonathan Pishko
- Post Production Assistant: Dylan Martin
- Foley Mixer: Brad Bakelmun
- Additional Music: Ellie Cumming
- Music Coordinator: Natalie Goldstein
- Musician: Alyssa Park
- Musician: Shalini Vijayan
- Musician: Luke Maurer
- Musician: Tim Loo
- Visual Effects Production Manager: Liz Flush
- VFX Artist: Kevin Konitsch
- VFX Artist: Luke Ewing
- VFX Artist: Henry Borrasso
- VFX Artist: Tim Turner
Movie Reviews:
- Kamurai: Great watch, would watch again, and do recommend.
There is a huge advantage in knowing as little as possible about a movie before watching it: mostly it removes expectations, and allows little surprises to delight you through the movie.
I watched it because it was a Kristen Stewart movie, but was happily surprised to see Clea Duvall involved, and continually delighted to see familiar faces appear: Mary Holland, Alison Brie, and Aubrey Plaza especially.
I’m honestly not familiar with “a lot” of “coming out of the closet, but not quite yet” stories, but I have seen a lot of “secrets for the holidays”, and “don’t tell my family x”, and this is very interesting that it uses that concept to knock the wind out of the sails of the story so early.
While the majority of the story is basically abuse humor, it’s delivered in a way that manages to both garner sympathy for Abbie and be charmingly amusing.
If the movie has a real downside, then it’s that it tries to do (almost) too many things, but manages to pull it off. Yeah, I pretty much hate Harper, but that’s by design, and she’s a victim as much as a villain. The shift in stories as things all start to resolve is the “worst” part of it, but ultimately makes for a satisfying ending.
- Peter McGinn: I was surprised by how much I liked this Hulu Christmas offering, since you can get jaded at the number of holiday romantic movies the various sources crank out every year. The movie seems to combine several sub genres here, the familiar gay coming out, dysfunctional holiday family, even bordering in romantic triangle territory.
Martin Levy’s son does him proud, as Dan Levy was a real scene stealer here. I quickly decided the more of him, the better. The chemistry between the two leads wasn’t quite evident to me and I am not sure why. I saw more chemistry between Harper and Abby’s ex-girlfriend Riley, actually. Also, I think an opportunity was lost in the perpetually frowning two kids. They should have been allowed a bit more personality I think. (And what is up with all the gender neutral names for many of the female characters here? Harper, Tipper, Sloan, Riley, Harry, Kelly and Ashley. Weird.
Mary Steenburgen does her usual competent job playing the wife and matriarch, though I felt they let her fade a little into the background until she asserts herself near the end.
So while this movie won’t enter my cycle of Christmas movies to watch annually, I enjoyed it just fine (tinged with the shadow of regret that it wouldn’t have taken much more to be very good). The writers do not have many film credits, so I hope they continue to write and improve. I won’t change the channel if I run across it in the future.