24 Nights - B
By Kage Alan

While four-year-old Jonathan is out shopping with his mother for Christmas gifts, she informs him that Santa is real and that he’ll always get what he wants as long as he “believes” and if he’s good. He holds her words close to his heart, even at age 24. While Jonathan’s beliefs haven’t changed, his life certainly has; both parents are now dead and he lives with his sister, Marie and her husband, Stan. He passes the time working at a local gay bookstore, hitting the clubs with co-worker James and smoking pot with another co-worker, Sara.

The one thing missing from Jonathan’s life is a man and who better to deliver one with a huge red ribbon for Christmas than Santa? With 24 shopping days to go, the jolly man in the red suit had better get a move on! Fortunately, things look up when recent young Arkansas transplant Toby walks through the door and applies for job at the bookstore. There’s one hitch, though; Toby already has a boyfriend, Keith. What’s a gay man in love supposed to do?

Jonathan isn’t the type of person to let Keith stand between him and a future husband, so he pursues Toby with reckless abandon. What unfolds is a comedy/drama about dysfunctional families, relationships, friendships and a holiday lesson about receiving what one deserves and not what one necessarily wants. For the most part, “24 Nights” works despite its low budget. The actors appear sincere in their desire to put something special on the screen and that really helps elevate the film. The only thing working against the production is its often simplistic camerawork, awkward framing and main character’s desire to constantly be stoned. Still, it’s a decent addition to the gay film genre.