The Merry Gentlemen (A crazy love Tale)
To save her parents' small town performing venue, a former big city dancer decides to stage an all-male Christmas-themed review. So just as the synopsis states, this follows Britt Robertson as a dancer who comes home to help save her family's bar and has the revelation that having male strippers will be the key to their financial turnaround.
This also stars Chad Michael Murray, Marla Sokolov, Michael Gross, Maria Canals Barrera, and Maxwell Caulfield, who I was most excited to see.
When the movie opens, Britt Robertson is getting ready for her Christmas review. And supposedly this is a big deal. The show is sold to us like it's a major production.
But what we get, it's limp and lackluster. So the believability of her being some sort of big city professional dancer is completely shot right from the start.
Robertson and Chad Michael Murray end up having a lot of cute chemistry, bantering with each other and presenting each other and then us with a lot of awkward but fun charm. We can tell they're going to be a couple right from the start. I mean, there's nothing that's not predictable or obvious within the story.
There's nothing deep that's going on with this storytelling, giving us situations that create only the smallest amount of conflict, but keeping the entire movie lighthearted and easy to watch. This is only 87 minutes, so it's short, and it probably isn't something that's going to just keep you riveted to your chair.
As a casual watch, this held my interest, with the most engaging portions coming when Robertson and Murray were sharing the screen. Their energy and dynamic, it's endearing, but their relationship, it's also rushed. I mean, it comes about quickly, especially for the emotional tension that's thrust on us towards the end.
And I say thrust because it's not earned. I mean, I want them to be a couple and get together. But in the few short days we see them together, the entirety of their romance is just not believable.
And then, as if on holiday rom-com cue, we get the requisite and inevitable conflict that arises, making a character have to face a choice that we all already know the answer to. Now the filming of this, it's sufficient and fine, looking like the plethora of other holiday rom-coms that you'd find on Netflix or Hallmark. They're polished and clean, set in a comfy small town where everyone gets along and there's zero drama.
Outside, of course, for the family business that's fallen behind on their bills, thus the impetus for this entire story. But if you go into this hoping for a lot of hunky dancing, you only get a bit. The guys chosen to dance, they're ripped and toned, but their dance moves, they do leave a lot to be desired.
This isn't Magic Mike. This is more Hocus Pocus Henry, who learned his skill through some sort of book. For what it is, though, it's sufficient, and it's exactly in line with everything else within the movie.
The acting is fun, with the actors doing what they can with the lackluster material the story provides. But the dialogue, it's generic, and thanks to low-level predictable tension, the production, it's not memorable or unique in any way. It's also not funny, not even eliciting mild chuckles from the pratfalls or the sarcastic quips. The charisma between Robertson and Murray, it worked, creating a relationship I wanted to see come to fruition.
But it's also rushed, so the ensuing relationship doesn't come across as believable. And if you need something on in the background, this can fit the bill. But if you're looking for a decent holiday-themed romance or comedy, this isn't one that you're going to want to jump on.