The trailer forThe Merry Gentlemenhas arrived. The upcomingNetflix Christmas movie, which stars Chad Michael Murray and Britt Robertson, follows a young woman attempting to save her family’s local performance venue The Rhythm Room by staging a Christmas-themed burlesque revue featuring shirtless beefcakes. The movie’s ensemble cast also includesGrease 2’s Maxwell Caulfield,Sabrina the Teenage Witch’s Beth Broderick,General Hospital’s Marc Anthony Samuel,Dirty Dancing(2017)’s Colt Prattes,Wizards of Waverly Place’s Maria Canals-Barrera, andThe Practice’s Marla Sokoloff.
Netflixhas nowunveiled the official trailer forThe Merry Gentlemen. It kicks off by introducing Britt Robertson’s character and what the stakes are for The Rhythm Room, which needs to earn a great deal of money before Christmas. However, her idea to stage aMagic Mike-esque burlesque show becomes slightly more complicated when she has strong chemistry with Chad Michael Murray’s lead dancer. What ensues are a variety of wacky moments where her family and friends try to push her toward her frequently shirtless co-star. See the full trailer below:
What The Merry Gentlemen Trailer Means For Netflix
The Streamer’s Christmas Movie Output Is Changing
The trailer forThe Merry Gentlemenreveals thatthe Netflix holiday movie ethos may be shifting. When the platform first started producing a slate of new holiday movies each year, they largely followed theHallmark Christmas movieformat, providing wintry romantic comedies with wholesome characters and storylines includingA Christmas Prince,Christmas Inheritance,The Princess Switch,Falling for Christmas, andA Castle for Christmas. However, in the last few years, the quantity of those movies released on the platform has taken a sharp decline.
Many of Netflix’s Christmas movies exist in an interconnected universe and feature crossover characters.
However, this year,Netflix original Christmas moviesare taking a left turn. While they still seem largely wholesome and cheery,they are seemingly embracing slightly more sexual themesin addition to featuring a copious amount of shirtless men. This is evident in the trailer forThe Merry Gentlemenas well as that of the upcoming Netflix movieHot Frosty, which follows a woman (Lacey Chabert) who accidentally uses a magic scarf to bring a beefcake snowman (Dustin Milligan) to life.
Our Take On The Merry Gentlemen Trailer
It Could Boost Netflix’s Holiday Viewership
In spite of the increased focus on shirtlessness, the trailer forThe Merry Gentlemennevertheless showcases thatthe movie is still focused on being a heartfelt romantic comedy. While this means that it may not be positioned as a replacement for theMagic Mikemovies, being both a return to form and a step outside the normal Netflix comfort zone could still very well see it become another holiday hit for the streaming platform, which already has a much more robust slate of upcoming Christmas titles than 2023.
The Merry Gentlemen
Cast
The Merry Gentlemen follows a Broadway dancer as she endeavors to rescue her parents' ailing small-town nightclub. By organizing a Christmas-themed revue, she encounters a captivating dancer, leading to unexpected connections amidst the holiday festivities.
