Netflix is becoming an ever-diversified streaming service with a number of highly successful films and series featuring minorities, and the LGBTQ+ community is starting to see some serious representation on the platform. Michael Urie stars in the Netflix queer holiday rom-com Single All The Way, the first of such film for the streamer. Urie has now opened up and explained why he wanted his new feature to be just like other romantic Christmas films.
Netflix seems to be following in Hulu’s footsteps, as the latter came out with Happiest Season last holiday season, an uber successful queer rom-com. Unlike the Kristen Stewart led film, though, Single All The Way apparently does not feature a coming out story, typical of a lot of mainstream gay romance films.
In an interview with Today, Single All The Way star Michael Urie says that viewers can get pretty much the same feeling as most other Christmas rom-coms, the only difference being the protagonist is a gay man. Said Urie,
The only difference between this movie and all other Christmas rom-coms is the fact that the protagonist is queer. And I'm really proud of that fact. I think that it holds up. It is super queer and is super Christmassy.
In the same interview, Michael Urie says he wanted Single All The Way to be all about the joy of the holiday season and avoid featuring a traumatic family life or coming out story. Instead, we can see a narrative similar to other rom-coms with the fake dating trope. Urie added,
There is no coming-out storyline. There’s not any kind of trauma that is permeating throughout the movie. It is a movie about joy, career joy, and about a family that loves their son so much. They don’t want to see him single and they’ll go to extremes to get him coupled.
While coming out stories are indeed important and it’s awesome to see them represented on screen, it’s also important to recognize that queer people can have healthy and “normal” experiences in love as well. It seems like Single All The Way features a gay couple without stressing the fact that the lead couple is gay, which is a really easy way to showcase a societal acceptance in the film.
From what Michael Urie says, Single All The Way showcases an accepting family life as they wish for their son to find love and his character is comfortable bringing a man home to meet his whole family. This makes a lot of sense, as the aunt of Urie's protagonist is played by Jennifer Coolidge, who has been seen as a beloved queer icon for decades even though she is, in fact, straight.
Single All The Way dropped on Netflix just a few days ago (specifically on December 2), and it is available to view as your next big rom-com holiday watch – which you should totally do because it sounds like it has some serious Christmas magic along with a pretty positive feel.
