The Santa Stakeout

This is a particularly good Hallmark. The male lead, Bill Campbell, is a natural comedian, and he really make this zany caper movie. The female lead, Tamera Mowry-Housley, was good too, and she had good chemistry with Campbell. There's a decent little mystery in the script as well as neighborly Christmas spirit that had genuine heart, and a rehabilitated con to tug the heartstrings. The best Hallmark holiday movie so far in 2021.

Hallmark's best funny man, Paul Campbell, is back and he delivers the goods again. Here, he plays a sort of egotistical slob of a police detective who is forced to live together with an up-and-coming new detective, played by Tamara Mowry-Housley. They rent a house in a very friendly neighborhood as they go undercover to spy on a suspected thief who plays Santa at Christmas events. Guess Campbell can't do every Hallmark movie with his frequent co-star, Kimberley Sustad, but the always good Mowry-Housley is an excellent substitute for Sustad. She takes on her role with energy and heart and seems to really be enjoying the opportunity to act with Campbell. The story is well-written and different from the usual Hallmark fare, a witty blend of charm and mystery, that keeps your interest throughout, particularly because the two leads are so much fun to watch as they develop a relationship that is ultimately very endearing. The production is top notch and the supporting cast does their best to keep us entertained. Joe Pantoliano is particularly good as the Santa suspect. This may turn out to be the best of Hallmark's Christmas movies for the new season - but it will be interesting to see if "Nine Kittens of Christmas", Sustad's long-awaited sequel to "Nine Lives of Christmas", can top it when it debuts on Thanksgiving Day. In any event, this is a good story played by some really talented and charming actors.

7/10 - this is so far the 2021 Hallmark Christmas movie to beat with a nice mixture between romance and mystery which will be sure to thrill fans of the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries offerings throughout the rest of the year.

The premise sounded really fun and have always liked the mix of Christmas and mystery (and mystery of any kind, not just murder) in film and television. Hallmark has always varied with their festive output, and 2021, in both the Countdown to Christmas and Miracles of Christmas/Hallmark Movies and Mysteries blocks, was very hit and miss. When they hit, the results were surprisingly very well done. When they missed, they missed big time.

For me, 'The Santa Stakeout' is neither one of the hits or one of the misses overall, though it is closer to the hits category. It is far from perfect and it isn't my definition of great, with a few big things that stopped it from being potentially one of the best of the festive season. But 'The Santa Stakeout' was clearly having a lot of fun with the premise, how could anybody not have fun with it, and doesn't waste it at all. Also think that it is not as cheesy as it sounds from reading the title.

A lot is good. Paul Campbell carries the film incredibly well, he has great comic timing (have not seen him show that before to the extent that he does here), he looks very relaxed and like he was enjoying himself and he doesn't overdo the egotistical aspect of the character, by the end of the film the character managed to be likeable. A lot of the playful banter between him and Tamara Mowry-Housley is very funny.

Personally found much of the story very engaging and that the mystery intrigued, don't agree that it dragged. It doesn't come over as too complicated but it isn't too overly simple either. The supporting cast are solid and deliver with gusto, with Joe Pantoliano really brightening things up in a performance on Campbell's level. It is pleasing visually and the audio doesn't overbear. The script is on the most part smart and very amusing.

Mowry-Housley is less consistent. She does have sparkling moments where she is funny and she certainly doesn't look bored, but she has a number of instances where she overplays and it comes over as forced. It also made me find it difficult to get behind her character when she was abrasive and over-bearing. She and Campbell do have chemistry and at its best it's playful and sparkling, but in their more antagonistic moments the writers go overboard and it was like they were straining too hard for laughs or something.

While the supporting characters are a colourful lot, there perhaps could have been less of them so that we could have gotten to know them more. While the story always engages and the clues are neat, the final solution was not really a surprise with it being considered strongly quite some way before the end.

Concluding, good fun and while my recommendation is not of the ecstatic kind it is not the dithering kind either. 6/10.

We loved all the actors, just not together. Paul is always funny but I didn't find him hit the mark in this movie as much. I can't believe Joe Pantiliano was in this! Movie was very slow. There were very few funny parts. If you know anything about HM murder mystery movies that you know the killer isn't always who it seems. The leads acted well but didn't seem to really connect like usual HM xmas movies do. We did like how it wasn't a typical xmas movie though.