'Seasons of Love' Isn't Ripped From the Headlines

Another Christmas, another slate of Lifetime Original movies, often ripped right out of the headlines and covered with a veneer of tinsel and basic cable magic. But even after being disappointed by holiday TV movies in the past, I would like to support more female filmmakers, so I think I'll probably go for the holiday musical romance Seasons of Love , which was directed by Princess Monique, one of the few black female television directors with a big release this winter. Is Seasons of Love a true story? Not exactly. But in lieu of a real-life storyline, Seasons of Love has cast actual professional musicians like Gladys Knight and Method Man to lend some authenticity to its musical background and instead has whole-heartedly embraced all of the embarrassing, corny cliches we love to indulge when it comes to the holidays.

Rapper Method Man, credited here as Cliff Smith, is playing the stock untrustworthy record exec, but as a longtime producer and a founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan, he knows what he's doing behind a soundboard. And if Gladys Knight is here playing the mother of lead character, I'd be shocked if they don't get her to sing a few Christmas carols over the credits.

But from the rest of its plot, it sounds like Seasons of Love is following the classic holiday movie playbook, rather than any source material, true or otherwise. That's probably a good thing, given that the network's recent attempts at adapting famous life stories — from Aaliyah to Brittany Murphy — have been embarrassingly flat and clumsily executed. One of the producers promised on Instagram that their film would be different.

That's a hopeful sign. Plus, it's premiering before Thanksgiving, which means it'll likely be shown at least a few more times this holiday season. So even if you don't like Seasons of Love at first, by the time you're on your third viewing, you'll find yourself giving in. There's also a celebrity producer who's supposedly "starring" in the film, in this case Taraji P. Henson, though her appearance doesn't exactly seem to be a lead role.

Add in a remarkably quiet release (not a lot of aggressive advertising for this film) and you have a real guilty pleasure brewing here — one doesn't make a mess of recent history.

Images: Courtesy of Lifetime (2)