Le festival des pères Noël

Kudos to Hallmark for making a different type of Christmas movie. I'm so tired of the same old plot lines "saving the inn" "saving the family farm" the Royal this, the Royal that... Hallmark movies have become so boring and predictable and I find myself watching less and less with each passing year which is very sad because Christmas is my favorite holiday and watching a good movie always puts me in such a festive mood!! This movie was actually really cute, I loved the friendship between the three girls and how they interacted with each other. It's so awesome when you have a few true friends who you can rely on, have tons of fun with and just be there for each other through life's ups and downs. The movie was upbeat, cute and different - a job well done to all involved in the project!

This movie reminds me a little of a movie from last year on a rival network called Destined at Christmas. The premise revolves around a man and woman who meet and become attracted to each other but then get separated. The rest of the movie is trying to bring them back together. Meanwhile, Jordin's two friends do a little better connecting with guys.

One of the nice features of this movie is that the activities are not exactly all the usual Christmas activities. They are set around the Santa Summit which basically flows through taverns and restaurants. You know where the story is going but not the exact details. There are no great highs or lows or big surprises.

The acting is decent. The dialogue is good. The central couple spend little time actually together which for me is a drawback. Please don't do a sequel.

Side note regarding Parental Guidance on this site: I don't know what possessed me to look, but someone has voted Severe to every category there. This is Hallmark. I can't imagine there is ever anything Severe in their Christmas movies, although someone trying to be political might do so in one category if there were alphabet themes.

I'm an unapologetic fan of Hallmark movies, but it really is refreshing when they try something different. That's not easy to do after churning out hundreds of movies, especially when their "cookie cutter" formula has been so lucrative. And yet the "Santa Summit" is unlike any other Hallmark Christmas movie I've seen and deserves a couple of stars for that alone. I didn't catch the name of the city in which the Santa Summit supposedly takes place, but my son and his girlfriend have dressed up for and participated in San Francisco's "SantaCon", reputedly the biggest Santa themed pub crawl in the country. Apparently, it's a lot of fun, as this movie often was.

I'm not the biggest fan of Hunter King (Jordin), and I wasn't really sold on the match between her and Virgin River's Benjamin Hollingsworth (Liam), but they're rarely on screen together given that most of the movie is them looking for each other (imagine "Serendipity" crammed into one night). And this was, in many ways, more a celebration of friendship (between the three teachers) and brotherly love (between Liam and Mac). There was also a nod to the vanishing emphasis on teaching music and art at school.

I have long felt that Amy Groening, who plays sexy nerd Ava, should be given a lead role in a Hallmark movie. She's just too good and too cute to just be a sidekick, as she has been in probably a dozen Hallmark movies. A well written movie starring her as a sweet teacher, or a beautiful scientist, or a passionate lawyer would likely be well received. Stephanie Sy was also effective playing Stella, a more surly character, who was understandably resentful after she was forced out of her beloved job as a music teacher.

But this was far from a perfect movie. Liam repeatedly confronts, accosts, and touches women in Santa suits mistakenly believing they might be the woman he had a life changing 5 minute chat with while wearing their fake beards. That's not OK.

Neither was the music. Although one horrific singer was intended to be horrible, so that Stella would seem better, I wasn't thrilled with Stella either. Or the DJ. Or Freddie. Karaoke may be entertaining for some people when they're drinking in a bar with friends and cheering on those friends. Bar patrons are invariably happy to lower their standards after enjoying some alcohol, but it's a far different experience when you're home alone and sober.

I was also annoyed by the way the three teachers treated their reindeer costumed surrey bike pedaler. He only charged $4.00 (despite having 3 passengers) but they literally refused to pay him. And when they meet him later, he doesn't say a word about not being paid, seems invested in their drama, and gives them another ride. I hate it when service people get stiffed.

Those complaints aside, I mostly enjoyed the movie. It was probably a 6 star movie on my scale (I grade Hallmark on a curve) but I added a star because I really appreciated Hallmark's attempt to try something new.

This may be my second favorite Hallmark holiday romance of 2023 behind the Heidelberg Christmas. Hunter King, Amy Groening, and Stephanie Sy play the three best friends and grade school teachers Jordin, Ava, and Stella. Each of the three is battling their own demons when Jordin convinces them to go with her to the annual Santa Summit event. (I have always wanted to be a fly on the wall during one of those. It looks like a tremendous amount of fun.) Jordin has seen on social media that her ex is dating again, Ava is afraid to tell someone she loves them, and Stella is uninspired teaching English instead of her beloved music due to budget cuts in their school district. Right away at the summit Jordin looses her wallet and meets Liam...the two have an instant connection but get separated before exchanging names or numbers at an even where everyone is dressed like Santa.

Stella meets the cheerful Freddie played by Rodrigo Beilfuss. Freddie keeps cropping up, much to the disgruntled and grumpy Stella's dismay and he keeps trying to drag the Christmas spirit out of her. Meanwhile, all three girls end up talking to a pedal cab driver dressed like Dasher. Ava talks herself into and out of confessing her love and everyone is looking for Jordin's mystery man as they go through all the Santa Summit events like line-dancing, sledding, karaoke, gingerbread house competitions, etc.

I love Benjamin Hollingsworth and have really enjoyed his reformed? Character on Virgin River. He plays Liam who is trying to find his mystery girl, and spend time with his brother by trying to get him to loosen up and put down work for a break.

I loved the supportive friends through this film and I really enjoyed the crazy fun of the Santa Summit. The combo of those two and the romances make this a recommendation from me to romantics, fans of Christmas, grade-school teachers like my mom and fans of Hallmark holiday romances.

When I heard Hunter King and Stephanie Sy were making a movie together, I was looking forward to it.

I knew there would be an element of zaniness. There was that and more.

The main story of a guy and girl who meet and hit it off, only to lose each other without getting names has been done...recently, but in this case there were so many adventures along the way they almost have to remind you. Everybody is wearing a Santa suit, so identities get mixed up throughout. The girls get together with their pal played by sweet Amy Groening for an evening of dancing and drinking and merriment, and each finds her own misadventure.

It's a little slow to start, but it gets going eventually. It's fullof surprises and builds to a satisfying conclusion.

Grumps probably won't like it, but it's worth a watch.