The Santa Summit

Is this a real event somewhere? Everyone wears a Santa suit and wanders around bars and nightspots all over a city, but in the middle of the day?

Anyway, after a meet cute where a guy finds a dropped pocketbook and returns it, he and the girl feel like they've made a connection. Then in a crowded dance floor they get separated.

The guy and his brother spend the rest of the movie on a Hero's Journey quest to find her, coming frustratingly close over and over again.

In the meantime, we get cute or meaningful slice of life scenes to build the characters.

It's not one of the cookie cutter plots, which is a must, and it's quite watchable.

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.

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!

Jordin (Hunter King) is feeling the holiday blues and drags her fellow teacher friends to the city's Santa Summit where everybody dresses up as Santa Claus. Jordin encounters appealing home builder Liam (Benjamin Hollingsworth). They are perfect together, but lose each other in the crowd of Santas. The girls follow the Santa tour as they struggle for love.

It's only a Hallmark movie, but the premise is very cute. I like the two friends' love troubles. I would like a bigger effort from Jordin to look for her Santa. She should wear a sign that says Looking for Pine Tree Tattoo. Also I would like a schedule describing the Santa crawl. That would give the movie individual chapters for structure. Mostly, I like all these characters and this feels like a fun time with friends.

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.