The Santa Class

I added this 2024 Christmas movie to my Christmas movie marathon without ever having heard about it. Well, truth be told, from the movie's cover, then I wasn't really harboring much of any grand expectations to the movie. Yeah, I know, don't judge a book by its cover.

However, I have to admit that writers Alexandre Coscas, Joseph Kelbley and Russell Hainline really surprised me with the script and storyline that they put together for director Lucie Guest to bring to the screen. It was a refreshing script that didn't dive into the standard tropes of sappy Christmas movies all the way. Sure, there were sappy Christmas movie elements here and there, but in overall, it was actually a good change of pace in terms of Christmas movie storytelling. So thumbs up to the writers for that accomplishment.

I was not familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, and that is actually something I do enjoy when I sit down to watch a movie. And I will say that the acting performances in "The Santa Class" were good.

The character gallery in the movie was nicely written. I definitely enjoyed the offbeat and quirky characters that were training for Santa duty.

If you enjoy Christmas movies and want something that offers more than just your average copy/paste Hallmark sappy Christmas movie formula, then you definitely should take 84 minutes to sit down and watch this movie. I was genuinely and wholeheartedly entertained.

My rating of director Lucie Guest's 2024 movie "The Santa Class" lands on a six out of ten stars.

While there might be a few loose ends hanging in this plot which don't make sense, you can easily forget them. The movie is ridiculously strange and funny, including the includsion of the "real" Santa Claus, who shows up with retrograde amnesia.

A student who mostly talks through a hand puppet? LOL Shades of Billy Crystal on SOAP from decades ago. (And played by Gary Jones from Stargate SG-1 ... great to see him again).

Paul Campbell playing ... HIMSELF! LOL An actor preparing for a Christmas movie role. I can't count the number of Christmas movies he's been in, but it's a lot.

The Santa obstacle course is the bizzare construct of a warped mind, just the kind of mind you want for a writer who's going to give you something different.

And Trever Lerner gives us one of the best Santas in the long history of Christmas movies.

Throw in a little antithetical romance and you have a complete movie. :-)

This is great fun and could well turn into an every year watch.

I loved this movie! Kimberly Sustad is one of my favorite Hallmark actors and I watch all of her movies. She was fantastic in this, and as always handled comedy and deep emotions very well. Her chemistry with Benjamin Ayres was wonderful and very believable. He was hilarious! He is usually more subdued in his roles, so this was a nice departure for him and he handled the comedy well.

Paul Campbell's role was priceless! The entire cast was great and the man who played Santa was perfect.

I'm sure there were flaws in the movie, but I never noticed because I was enjoying the movie so much! I will definitely watch The Santa Class again!

This was a fun and unique premise for a hallmark holiday movie and I loved the chemistry between Kimberley Sustad (Kate) and Benjamin Ayres (Dan).

Kate inherits her dad's Santa school, The North Star, when he retires. Their biggest competition is a corporate Santa School, Saint Nicholas, that has moved into town, but in order to cut costs they fire their best Santa trainer, Dan, who comes to work for The North Star Santa School. Dan and Kate went in one date prior to working together...and now they have quite a challenge with the misfits in this session of the school and hoping to win the Santa Cup.

On the way to meet their new class of Santas, Kate and Dan meet the real Santa on the side of the road...only Santa seems to have amnesia. They bring "Nick" back to the school hoping to help restore his memory.

They end up with the most unconventional group of Santa's to enter into the Christmas Cup...skinny Santa, cool Santa, hippy Santa, woman Santa, ventriloquist Santa...and well...the real Santa.

The humor in this was great. It was creative, magical and fun...not to mention romantic with just the right amount of Christmas. I think Christmas and romantic fans will enjoy this one.

Every now and then Hallmark comes up with a really unique idea for their Christmas movies and here is an excellent one. Kimberley Sustad and Benjamin Ayres play Kate and Don, who have been antagonistic with each other for years after a failed "date," but join forces to save Kate's family Santa school. The first half hour of this movie is hilarious. Sustad's wonderful talents for sharp and witty comedy are on full display and who knew Ayres could be so funny - he's always good, but here he is exceptional. In the second half hour, you meet the ragtag Santa school students, and what a bunch they are. All funny, with their idiosyncrasies, including the real Santa who has lost his memory (played expertly and endearingly by Trevor Lerner), an old Grandpa (played nicely by Tom Pickett), a woman-Santa-wannabe (the always good Carmel Amit, willing to forego her attractiveness in this part), and a man who expresses himself through a hand puppet ! No kidding- but it's hilarious. And then the surprise - there's a very talented Hallmark regular playing himself in a very tongue-in-cheek performance as he goes to the school to research how to play Santa. We are sure he's not this self-absorbed in real life, but you can't tell that from some of the looks he gets from Sustad, his frequent co-star and co-writer in other Hallmark films. All of the other students are well played and funny. Plus, Allesandro Miro shows up with a funny performance as Blaise, the school's major competitor. This is all extremely well written and nicely directed by Lucie Guest with expensive looking sets.

But, many kudos have to go out to the casting director who engaged these marvelous performers for this movie. They all look like they really enjoyed playing these parts and, together, led by the terrific Sustad and Ayres, they carry it off to perfection. As an added bonus, the scenes between Kate and the real Santa during the last 30 minutes are touching and wonderfully played by Sustad and Lerner, with a gift given at the end of the film that is very special. A little Christmas "magic", lots of Santas, lots of fun, and lots of sentiment. The best of Hallmark's 2024 new season.