The Merry Gentlemen Review: Ridiculous And Lusty

The Merry Gentlemen Review (2024) | Leisurebyte

Director: Peter Sullivan

Date Created: 2024-11-20 13:30

Editor's Rating:
3

In this Netflix Christmas special rom-com, Ashley, a former Broadway artist, decides to save her parents’ small-town performing venue by hosting an all-male Christmas-themed revue to generate some much-needed excitement. However, when one of the performers, Luke, gets introduced to Ashley, sparks fly between the two. Will Ashley be able to save the Rhythm Room and find her happily ever after?

The movie has a runtime of 87 minutes.

The Merry Gentlemen Review

There will come a time in the near future when all the Netflix Christmas movies are going to come together to give us a harrowingly merry time. But, before that, we get The Merry Gentlemen, a Netflix film that will remind us of the good times of watching Chad Michael Murray in One Tree Hill and A Cinderella Story and when the streaming giant didn’t give us a nod to every other Christmas movie that it has concocted in its cursed brain to give us a good time.

It is always surprising to me how thoroughly predictable each of these movies is. By far, we’ve got Meet Me Next Christmas and Hot Frosty this holiday season, both insanely stale yet oddly fun for what they are. The Merry Gentlemen, thus, doesn’t disappoint and takes us on a journey of watching a bunch of half-naked men trying to save a rural performing venue. With Murray looking like a rough-around-the-edges handyman who calls Ashley “city girl” for no reason, you know you are in for a good time with this yet again.

For some reason, everyone around Ashley is obsessed with her dating. It doesn’t matter that she lost her job a few days before the holidays, thankfully she now has time to find a man! Ashley herself, although voicing her protests against people’s odd interests, is quite the dull character without many complications. She flows through the runtime without many difficult thoughts and is likeable to a certain degree. However, she does have those annoying quirks that most female characters have in similar films which can get on people’s nerves. Robertson is cute and fresh-faced as Ashley and sells the role regardless of how dull it is.

Chad Michael Murray, on the other hand, is supposed to be the mysterious and dashing country boy whom we all love to lust over. The movie knows exactly what it wants to be and keeps the three dashing men as the headliners for not only The Rhythm Room but also for The Merry Gentlemen as well. It makes us peek at Murray shirtless here and there as it slowly inches towards the performances and the film knows too well why we are here. However, that also means that there’s hardly anything else happening in the film and when we don’t lust over Murray, we are sitting there waiting to lust over him. It’s really odd.

Although the idea behind it all is tempting and thoroughly lusty, I found the movie to lack the Christmas spark. There’s nothing of note here other than the performances that truly get you going. The small twists are ridiculously predictable and don’t leave you rooting for the protagonists. Speaking of rooting, there’s hardly in spark with the characters as well, which becomes extremely obvious as the runtime moves along. However, the best thing about holiday movies is that you expect them to not be Oscar-worthy. Thankfully, the men leave your heart racing for long enough for you to hold on until they appear again, and that’s the most redeeming aspect of the film.

Final Thoughts

Half of The Merry Gentlemen doesn’t make sense, the other half features five men stripping on stage. It’s a great balance for Christmas movies, one that you would love to watch with a hot drink as the holiday spirit possesses you. Of course, getting too deep into it isn’t an option when it comes to the good times, but that’s a given for all movies of the genre!

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