Eight Gifts of Hanukkah

Enjoyed the movie, Really likeable and relatable characters, however, like so many Hallmark movies, they cheat us out of a satisfactory ending. It's like, "If a bear s...ts in the woods and no one sees it. Did it really happen?" So if a couple kisses at the end of the movie (and they always do) and it's not noticed and reacted to by others, who cares? After watching a movie for two hours, I think we all deserve a little satisfaction. Geez!

Let's begin with by stating the movie is only casually related to Hanukkah. It is about a guy trying to win the heart of the girl he pines for, with eight thoughtful gifts. Though the idea is not really innovative, it may still work for a romantic story. Sara(h), Inbar Lavi, is quite beautiful and accomplished and Daniel is rendered pleasant by Jake Epstein's somewhat endearing goofiness. The overall result is a show that has some substance and charm. An improvement would have been to characterize a bit more the spiritual side of the Holiday. A major one could have been to give more consistency to Sara(h) 's personality. She is purported to be a bright, sensitive young woman. How credible it is that she, receiving a series of gifts, clearly highly personal and reaching her more intimate thoughts, could even consider they would come from suitors she has just met? I guess this was done in order to create more drama. Yet, how can a viewer embrace a heroine who is wonderful and clueless at the same time? Thus said, I still liked the movie enough for a passing grade.

We've seen a few Hanukkah-themed movies over the years, and think this is the best. Yes - the bar is kind of low, but this is a Hallmark movie not Oscar night. We particularly liked the portrayal of this holiday as being for family, the children, and the history of it. You get to see the family lighting and blessing the Hanukkah candles - it was touching and felt right.

Despite producing Hannukah movie less than three years, Hallmark does a great with them. I haven't watched one that was bad and I've sat through a good hundred. And Eight Gifts of Hannukah doesn't disappoint, especially in the romance department.

As a person who loves to find packages on their doorstep, I was eagerly anticipating each and every one of Sarah's gifts. And every time, I squeed inside because they were so thoughtful and meant something, on a personal level, to the heroine.

Overall, this is a really, cute movie with a friends to lover trope with a believable reveal. I thoroughly enjoyed learning all the different traditions and foods eaten during Hannukah.

Out of all the Hallmark movies I've devoured over the past two or so years, (I've gone back and watched about a hundred 😭😅) this one is easily in my top ten.

The anonymous gift premise isn't the most common and since this is Hanukkah, the traditional activities are different from all the Christmas movies, but there is still a charity function that all the romantic interests work on.

Jake Epstein's Daniel and Inbar Lavi's Sara (spelling as per the gift cards) have great chemistry despite supposedly being just friends. I'm beginning to really appreciate Epstein who seems to bond well with his opposite whether the story is about Hanukkah or Christmas. Lavi is new to me, but I liked her almost at once.

I think the viewer knows who the sender is almost from the first gift, but it's not long in the movie before he confesses to a friend. A lot of attention is paid to his frustration that all the other male candidates are getting.