A lot of people know the story of Elvis Presley, right? A small town white boy learns how to sing like the black people around him then he makes it big. With Baz Luhrmann’s new movie, Elvis, we hear the tale from Elvis’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker.

As Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks) lies dying in a hospital room in 1997, he thinks back on how he met the King of Rock n’ Roll, Elvis Presley (Austin Butler), and how they effected each other’s lives.

I know that seems like a very short description of the movie but anything beyond that would just be a biography on Elvis’s life. The movie takes us from the time Parker meets Elvis in Louisiana in 1954 (with some flashbacks to Elvis as a child) through to the death of Elvis in 1977 and the death of Parker himself in 1997. Through that time we see the ups and the downs. The highs of Elvis loving performing in front of people to the downs of Elvis buckling under the pressure of everyone depending on him to continue making tons of money. They even include Parker filling Elvis with all sorts of drugs to make sure he could perform every single night. It was a sad, lonely life.

it’s no surprise that most people who have watched Elvis loved it. The movie was both written and directed by Baz Luhrmann, the man who famously brought us such brilliant movies as William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (you know, the one with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes), Moulin Rouge!, and The Great Gatsby. Luhrmann is a master of flashy, stylish movies with amazing musical scores. If you have seen any of his previous works, you will see the same themes and styles here. Thankfully, Elvis Presley’s life, once he starts to get famous, is nothing but flashy and stylish. The glitter and gold of Las Vegas, chunky jewelry as far as the eye can see, and so many bedazzled outfits, you won’t be sure where a rhinestone doesn’t belong!

What I appreciate the most in this version of Elvis’s life story is that we get to see the parallels between the songs that Elvis has heard from various black people in his life and the songs that he himself released. A lot of the Elvis songs that we are all familiar with are songs that black people had recorded but weren’t able to get onto the radio due to the color of their skin. Now I’m not sure that Elvis was as accepted by the black community as he was in the movie - it would have been nice to have seen at least a few people be upset that a white boy made millions of dollars off of their songs - but it was nice to see that credit was given in some way. The movie will absolutely show Arthur Crudup (played by Gary Clark Jr. in the movie) singing “That’s All Right” then overlay it with Elvis recording that same exact song and becoming famous with it. And this happens multiple times in the movie with multiple different people.

With that said, I do think everyone should watch Elvis. It is a good movie. Butler and Hanks to a superb job as Elvis and Parker. The soundtrack is phenomenal, both the Elvis songs (which is part Butler’s voice and part actual Elvis) and the original songs that were thrown into various scenes. it may not be a completely truthful movie as it is intended to be from the point of view of the person that took the most advantage of the man but, from what I have read, the Presley family all approved of this movie and the way everyone was portrayed. That is good enough for me.

Judging by these two movies that Netflix released for the Christmas season, Netflix’s stance for 2020 is “Christmas movies that don’t actually have anything to do with Christmas.” I wouldn’t be particularly surprised if Holidate was inspired by that song by The Waitresses. That’s how important Christmas here. Weird for a Christmas movie. Anyway…

Sloan (Emma Roberts) is a young woman who is basically tortured by her family every holiday due to her frequently single status. Jackson (Luke Bracey) is tired of spending holidays with women he feels the need to impress. The two of them come up with a scheme to be each other’s dates for every holiday. Her family can stop trying to set her up with men and he can be himself. It’s a perfect arrangement!

Before I start picking this apart, I want to say that I didn’t hate the movie. Emma Roberts is kinda cute as Sloan. Jessica Capshaw plays Sloan’s sister, Abby, and she is also a bit of a delight. While it would have been nice to sit with the characters for a bit longer than one day every few months, the core idea of two people promising to always be each other’s date isn’t terrible. It’s like a backup plan. “Hey, if I don’t have a date for Memorial Day, go to this picnic with me.”

With that said, there are some holes here. We literally only see these two interact on or slightly before each holiday. And I mean every holiday. If there is a party associated with a holiday, they are celebrating it. We see them at New Year’s Eve, Valentine’s Day (though they hadn’t made their promise yet), St.Patrick’s Day, Easter, Cinco De Mayo, Fourth of July, Labor Day (which doubles as Sloan’s brother’s wedding and they actually bring separate dates), Halloween, Thanksgiving, and…well, almost Christmas. It’s difficult to imagine them really forming a good relationship when they are only talking like 10 times a year. Especially when they spend a good portion of those holidays fairly drunk.

I also don’t understand why Sloan’s family is so interested in her love life. According to the story Sloan tells Patrick at New Year’s, she had recently broken up with her boyfriend that had cheated on her. At the beginning of the movie, it’s Christmas and her mom is harassing her about being single. WTF Lady. Give her some space.

There’s also a lot of gender stereotypes going on. Sloan will say something like “Men are emotionally distant”; Jackson will reply with “Well, women are clingy!” and they will have that conversation multiple times with different stereotypes. Neither of them are that stupid.

Oh, I almost forgot about Kristin Chenoweth’s role. She plays Sloan’s Aunt Susan. She is the one that gives Sloan the idea of the “holidate” as she always brings a different man to each holiday gathering. However, instead of just being a man she can hang out with, she brings a guy she can drape herself all over. I’m tired of seeing “slut” characters in movies. Susan could have easily brought a different man to every holiday and behaved herself like an adult instead of literally twerking in the lap of someone half her age. I don’t know who thought her character was a good idea.

Finally, the movie is kinda raunchy. That’s fine and it has its place, I’m not sure that this is the place though. As I said, Aunt Susan is literally sleeping with every man she brings to the gatherings and she’s not quiet about it. She straight up tells Sloan gritty details about her sexual encounters. If you are averse to cursing, let me warn you that Sloan curses like a sailor. (I have no problem with it but some people might.) To the point that she eventually stops herself from dropping the F-bomb because children are near. There’s a lot of drinking and a little bit of pot smoking too. I don’t think it’s anything super terrible but it might turn some people off.

As a whole, I enjoyed Holidate. I didn’t cringe away from anything. None of the characters were unbearably annoying. But it also wasn’t a great movie. I think I might have liked it better if we saw Sloan and Jackson talking a bit more in between the holidays or even a few days before some of the holidays to see them figuring out their plans. As it is, there is actually a moment where Jackson FaceTimes Sloan and she says “This isn’t a holiday, Why are you calling me?” If I was giving this a rating, it would probably be like a 3 out of 5. Watchable but not memorable.