REVIEW: Oh What Fun It is To Watch Netflix’s Single All The Way
Netflix is already knee deep in their new Holiday movie releases, and their next one, Single All the Way, may be the best Holiday movie to be released by the streaming platform this season. Single All the Way follows social media content creator, Peter (Michael Urie), who has never been lucky with love. Always picking the wrong guy, Peter finds himself once again heading home alone over the Holidays. As he prepares for his Holiday trip, Peter convinces his best friend, and roommate, Nick (Philemon Chambers) to join him, in hopes his family won’t continue to badger him about his dating life. However, once home, Peter finds himself questioning a number of big things, including where he belongs and who he really loves, which could end up changing his life forever.
Single All the Way is everything I was looking for in a Holiday movie. Holiday spirit, check. Cheesiness, check. Left me feeling good, check. Sure, the story has been played out before in a variety of different Holiday movies, and the story is extremely predictable, but the story has a great light-hearted feel to it. It doesn’t take itself too serious. Writer Chad Hodge and director Michael Mayer manage to find a good balance of cheesiness without creating annoying characters or unnecessary plot pieces. Sometimes with Holiday movies, you find yourself hating a certain character or wondering why the creators opted to include that mundane scene, but that is not the case in this one. The characters are fantastic, in an over the top way, but not exasperating.
Urie and Chambers lead the cast as Peter and Nick and are the perfect leading pair for this movie. Their chemistry with each other will have you rooting for Peter and Nick from the very first second you see them on screen together. The duo is joined in the movie by Jennifer Robertson (Lisa), Kathy Najimy (Carole), Luke Macfarlane (James), and Jennifer Coolidge (Aunt Sandy), who are all great in their own right. The group plays so well off Urie and Chambers, together and separately, that you will immediately feel part of the family when all is said and done.
Holiday movies are supposed to leave you feeling good this Holiday season and Single All the Way does just that. Is it the best movie to be released this year? No, but it sure is entertaining. If you are looking for a movie to help you get into the Holiday spirit, I highly recommend checking this movie out. You will not be disappointed.
Holiday Movie Grade: A