The Netflix LGBT section has a reputation for being a bit bland. And mostly, this is true. However, hidden in amongst the blandness there are some absolute gems of true what the fuck. I watched Ana and Vitoria and Holy Camp! through Netflix and they both baffled me. With A New York Christmas Wedding, Netflix has gone beyond merely hosting WLW films that shouldn’t exist to producing their own. This movie is insane!
A New York Christmas Wedding begins with a flashback showing a teenage Jenny falling out with her best friend, Gabby. This event, plus the deaths of her parents all happened around the Christmas season. This makes grown-up Jenny wary of the holiday. Following a disastrous dinner with her fiance’s mother, Jenny meets a friendly but mysterious homosexual who turns out to be an angel. Jenny goes home to her fiance that night but wakes up in an alternate reality. In this alternate reality, she and Gabby never fell out. Instead, they’re a couple. Also, both Gabby and Jenny’s father are alive. Jenny realizes she’s much happier in this alternate world with Gabby though her friendly, homosexual angel reminds her that none of this is real.
A New York Christmas Wedding has a distinctly rushed and first draft feel to it. None of the story comes together yet the film barrels on regardless. Did the creators think making this religious queer romance would get them shut down? Or perhaps they worried a homophobic god would smite them. Other than genuine fear of persecution, I don’t know how this script made it to the production phase nor why the production feels so haphazard. Netflix films don’t have the highest budgets but this is the cheapest looking one I’ve seen.
The script is the worst element. There’s no subtly to this writing at all. Jenny suffers a lot of loss in the film. However, it’s all handled so poorly as to make me laugh rather than cry. Conversations are expository and moments of emotional intelligence or revelation are deeply contrived. Every character in the film consistently fails to see the point of view of other characters. This is where 95% of the conflict comes from. It also makes all of the characters not very likable. This eye-roll worth dialogue compounds with eye-roll worthy performances to create a potent combo of incompetence.
Chris Noth, most known for playing Mr. Big on Sex and the City executive produced and co-starred in this. I don’t know what’s going on in his life or career that made this a project he put his own money into but thanks, I guess? Noth’s character is a Catholic Priest who is briefly conflicted about homosexuality and then very positive about it. He gives a pro-gay sermon and then surprise marries Jenny and Gabby in the Catholic Church. Thanks for officiating this gay, Catholic wedding, Mr. Big. I’m still confused about why you’re here.
Seriously, who is the audience for this movie supposed to be? I want to be in favour of a queer positive Christian movie but I’m surprised there’s a market for it. I also don’t think A New York Christmas Wedding helps its case. Beyond being a bad film, it’s not as G-rated as religious films usually are. There are a lot of curse words and a brief lesbian sex scene set to the soundtrack of O, Christmas Tree. Is that something anyone wanted to see? It is a shame that A New York Christmas Wedding sucks because its version of Christianity is one that I find positive and progressive. I don’t think this film helps its cause, though. It’s too easy to write it off as being bad and unchristian not just because of the homosexuality, but the naughty language and sex as well.
Jenny’s helpful gay angel deserves an entire review about his deal. So much insanity stems from his character. The fact that he can send people into alternate universes is the most normal thing about him. Near the end, the angel reveals he’s actually Gabby’s stillborn child from a teenage pregnancy. Gosh, what a glow-up. From being a still-born fetus to being a flamboyant gay angel with the ability to manipulate reality. At the end of the film, he sends Jenny back in time. Jenny makes different decisions which in turns means Gabby doesn’t have sex to conceive the stillborn gay angel. But don’t worry, he’s now a Christmas tree decoration! What a character arc!
Because it’s the only on in the category, A New York Christmas Wedding is the best pro-Christian, pro-lesbian film I’ve ever seen. It’s also bad and most importantly, baffling and insane. So much is going on in the movie in terms of plot as well as beliefs that are often considered contradictory. Neither on a plot, technical nor a thematic level does the film work at all. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. If this film was more competent, it would be much less enjoyable. I had a blast and a half watching this film. I haven’t seen another WLW film quite like it.
Overall rating: 3.6/10
Other WLW films in similar genres
Holiday movies
Alternate realities and time travel
I was excited to watch what I thought would be a sweet, cheesy LGBTQ+ rom com so it felt like a slap in the face when there was death, suicide, stillborn babies turned angels and alternate realities. Firstly, who wouldn’t want to go back to a world where their dad and best friend/crush were still alive? Secondly, why have the main character choose between a seemingly nice, alive husband, and her dead first love she must go back in time for? And why does the alternate reality seem to blame Jenny for Gabby and her dad’s death by implying they would both be alive if she reacted calmly in that phone conversation? Besides, teenage girls can fight and make up. Why couldn’t we have seen the girls drift apart, have them meet in the SAME reality where they are BOTH ACTUALLY ALIVE and realise their true feelings for each other? Whilst it was great the movie showed a Black Latina lead and addressed the difficulties of being queer and Catholic, the plot failed by trying to do too much and lost the sweet christmas warmth I was hoping for.