Set in Ashland, Ohio, “The Holiday Club” (2024) is about how Sam (Mak Shealy) met Bailey (Alexandra Swarens, who is also the writer and director) on Valentine’s Day. As they keep crossing paths, they become inseparable friends as their opposite personalities complement each other, but they are worried that if they admit their true feelings for each other, they will ruin the friendship. The gimmick of structuring the narrative around holidays is winning, but the underexplored Sam makes the film begin to lose momentum before it reaches the denouement.

Sam moved to Ashland for work and hates holidays because something bad happens to her. What happen(s)/(ed)? Maybe it was revealed, and it was a blink and miss it moment, but it is never resolved. In lesser hands, Sam would seem like a sad sack whom Bailey should steer clear of, but Shealy makes her seem muted and more of a late bloomer or suffering from depression. Shealy makes Sam seem focused and clear on what she wants for the majority of “The Holiday Club,” which is what makes her likable. Sam clearly appreciates Bailey and responds to all of Bailey’s bids for attention then reciprocates with introducing Bailey to her favorite movies. There is real chemistry between the pair followed up with actions. Also, it does not hurt that Sam is a movie lover. It was aggravating when Swarens got coy with revealing movie titles. Take a stand! She offers “Fight Club” (1999) and “When Harry Met Sally…” (1989), which is an inspiration for this film.

Sam and her wholesome, intergenerational friendship with Dan (Joseph Moreland) is so cute that a movie about them just hanging out would be awesome. Dan is introduced looking at cat photos and being unbothered that he earns as much as his younger, AFAB coworker so the green flags keep coming! In my review for “Ballad of a Small Player” (2025), I asked what it would look like if men began to occupy roles that women usually played in movies as existing for the protagonist to grow, and Dan answers that question. Though there are no details about Dan’s life, Moreland’s demeanor and presence makes his character seem more fleshed out than he is.

Bailey feels fully developed. She is cheerful, paired with Marky (Maddie Small), owns the local bakery, enjoys baking, has a group of friends that she regularly hangs out with and is generally effervescent. She is sweet without being saccharine. Marky is more interested in her screens than her thoughtful partner so it is obvious that if Sam plays her cards right, she can swoop in. Bailey’s most substantive friendship appears to be with her employee and friend, Mel (Danielle Meyer), who seems to be Bailey’s Dan, but is not individuated any further than existing like most of Bailey’s friends. Swarens struggles with fleshing out the world beyond her character. Unfortunately, the entirety of “The Holiday Club” is two women playing chicken about taking their relationship to the next level then passive aggressive when they do not.

Unless a relationship is a train wreck, this dynamic is not really interesting to anyone who is not in it, and “The Holiday Club” suffers as a result. The longer that the “will they, won’t they” cycle continues, they begin to come off as insufferable jerks to everyone around them who accepts their professions of being just friends at face value. Sam’s recently acquired girlfriend, Kayla (Cat Skugor), smells something rotten in Denmark, but Swarens refuses to show any fallout after Kayla sets Bailey up with a former client, Katie (Erin Hoodlebrink), and the “friends” are clearly more into each other than their dates. Boo hiss, tomato, tomato.  Sam begins to act like Marky around Kayla. There was also an opportunity to dig into Bailey as a more complex character when she begins to act in ways that she would not accept from other people, but it gets bypassed for keeping her perfect. Making a likable character act badly adds texture and was already happening in the story so it is a shame that Swarens did not fully explore it.

“The Holiday Club” set up two challenges: getting these two together and Sam confronting the past and changing it so she can move forward with Bailey, but the latter never happens. “The Holiday Club” simply thinks that it can be solved if Sam meets the right person and creates new memories, but it feels like kicking the can down the road. Sam lives in the dark, is not quite functional and seems miserable when she briefly goes home. The woman has issues, but Swarens keeps it superficial. Swarens seems to mistake vague sadness and angst as substitute for character.

“The Holiday Club” feels realistic considering how awkward everyone is from beginning to end. The pair seem to fall apart more as the denouement approaches, so it actually created the opposite effect of suddenly rooting against them if Shealy did not act so genuinely spooked at the prospect of Sam being hurt. For a couple of people who do not want to ruin their friendship, that friendship is just a flimsy cover story for what they and the audience really wants. The self-imposed stumbles to the finish line run the risk of spoiling it. It is too early to tell if this narrative beat is part of a trope in the lesbian holiday movie. It does not feel like a comedy because it is not funny. There are no jokes except general genialness and mirth among the characters.

“The Holiday Club” succeeds in making Ashland seem like a cool place with a small-town vibe without the small-town biases. True story or nah? Bailey and Sam are neighbors, and the exterior of their buildings echo the characters’ stories. Sam lives in a building that seems to be made of wood painted in two different types of grey meaning that she can be a bit rigid and tenebrous. Bailey’s building is brick and turquoise, an odd combination that does not sound like it would work, but it does. Like Bailey, the ground floor is open to all and displays what she loves, but as Sam gets to know her, she becomes more furtive about her needs and wants and oblivious to the landmines in her own world. Whoever chose the location was brilliant. The Ashland Theater and the Kash Co. Pourhouse seem like great venues. Ashland does not need a tourism promotional reel with Swarens around, but it does leave one question unanswered: is that real butter on the popcorn?

This genuinely cute film makes every holiday seem like a joy to celebrate and hanging out with groups of people is fun, which is its own accomplishment in this humbug time, but watch out for birthday celebrations and more quotidian fare. It would be more obvious that the characters were underwritten if the chemistry between the leads did not feel genuine. If you are willing to give a bit of grace to queer indie films, then start a new tradition suitable for Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s and watch “The Holiday Club.”