The Merry Gentlemen—coming to Netflix tomorrow—is a heartwarming Christmas movie about a group of small-town neighbors who come together to save a beloved local bar… by transforming it into a strip club. Such is the bizarre, contradictory nature of this new holiday film, which combines Magic Mike eye candy with Hallmark wholesomeness. The result? A uniquely sex-less form of sexiness.
Directed by Peter Sullivan, with a screenplay by Marla Sokoloff, The Merry Gentlemen stars Brit Robertson as Ashley, a New York City “Jingle Belle” dancer (a generic stand-in for the Rockettes) who gets canned for being too old, just before the big Christmas show. She slinks back to her neglected home for the holidays, and learns her parents face eviction on the small-town performing venue that they own. Ashley hatches a plan to pay back her parents $30,000 debt: Force the local handyman (Chad Michael Murray)—a hot guy named Luke
...
Keep reading this article on DECIDER.
