“Magic Mike” goes small town Christmas in this new Netflix rom-com, “The Merry Gentlemen.”
Photo Credit — IMDB
Without any doubt, or a second thought in mind, it is the absolute best time of the year! Dark by 4:30 p.m. 25 degrees outside at best, with a wind chill that makes it feel about 10. Frostbitten digits, while I work outside for my day job on the road, lying to myself that I am being hit with a tropical breeze. Mind over matter they say. Oh, and what a joy it is at the very thought of going home for the holidays in a few short weeks’ time with my chain-smoking family who not only can’t stand themselves, let alone me.
Ashley, played by Britt Robertson is doing just that. Begrudgingly, she is heading back home to small town America from being a big city showgirl in NYC after she is let go from her Rockette-style production after being aged out and recast by a perkier gal 10 years her junior.
Sounds about right in show business these days, or any workforce now that I think of it. Substantial roles for woman increasingly diminish under any platform after the age of 40, anyone with half a thinking brain knows that. There is not one clear reason on this god green earth why a woman should be making only seventy cents on the dollar next her male counterpart, and that is coming straight from a dude himself!
To her shock and dismay, the out of touch Ashley learns the hard way that her blue-collar parents are on the brink of losing their once-popular nightclub establishment because they have fallen behind on payments. Sounds like my healthcare bills folks, which is why you only really need to pay pennies on the dollar to show you are making an effort. These greedy companies have already collected their full co-pays, yet they are hungry for more. Sounds like the poor stray cats I have waiting outside my back door.
Warm welcome to the handsome blonde Luke, played by once former Hollywood It-boy Chad Michael Murray ( TV’s 7th Heaven, House of Wax) now 43 years old. After being jilted by his once true love, Luke minds his own business and leads his own wood-working construction business, keeping his head down mostly. After being approached by the former glitzy starlet to join in on a start-up male dance revue for the sole purpose of saving her family’s once public hot spot.
“The Merry Gentlemen,” now streaming on Netflix and currently in the top 10, is a fresh holiday flick that will make you grin ear to whiskered ear more than twice.
Just like the ever-popular Hallmark channel holiday movies tend to do, “The Merry Gentlemen” will no doubt jingle your bells without feeling at all cheap. Laced in crisp flannel, the tall, chiseled Chad Michael Murray will raise your body temperature, without having to put any blame on that smokey old fireplace! No powdery soot included…
So now that it is the season to rock around that spruce Christmas tree, and while you are so meticulously threading the popcorn tinsel, maybe take a chance on this “Merry Gentleman” no I don’t mean me either, I mean this more than enjoyable holiday offering, no one wants to dash through the snow with this skinny HO HO HO!
“The Merry Gentlemen,” starring Chad Michael Murray and Britt Robertson
Christopher’s “Meow” Score: “7” paws out of 10.
