Five Star Christmas Review: Holiday Hijinks Provide For A Perfect Family Film

Churning out handfuls of original holiday movies over the past decade, Hallmark has made itself a well-known staple in the Christmas movie genre.

Being holiday royalty keeps viewers loyally locked into their screens for the duration of the season, and actors all too willing to dive into the usually heavily avoided network made for TV movie genre, but it also comes with its share of obstacles. Luckily, Five Star Christmas manages to avoid almost all of those obstacles. 

Delivering Christmas movies is synonymous with delivering something syrupy sweet, chocked full of nostalgia and comfort. Most importantly, it’s akin to signing an invisible contract that promises a happy ending for everyone involved — any deviation from these solidified fault lines guarantees massive uproar. 

Therefore, these formulaic, alls-well-that-ends-well structured films depend not on their endings but the journeys that are taken to be deemed successful. 

No Christmas movie provides a more endearing and downright enjoyable journey for its audience than Five Star Christmas.

Written by Alfonso H. Moreno, Five Star Christmas provides a rollercoaster ride of family hijinks, schemes, and delightful surprises, with an all-star comedic ensemble that hits all the right notes at exactly the right times.

No one does that more than Bethany Joy Lenz, who plays protagonist Lucy Ralston. Lenz, as always, brings the screen to life with true vivacity; she has the utmost dedication to any role she plays — in some cases, seeming almost too good for the material she’s been given. 

The rest of the cast falls right in line behind Lenz, with Victor Webster acting as the perfectly charming love interest Jake Finlay.

There’s not much to his character. Webster certainly isn’t doing the heavy lifting for this film, but the chemistry between him and Lenz is off the charts, and the two feel unbelievably at ease with one another.

Their chemistry, while partially due to talent, is also thanks to a solid script that feels lived in.

Lucy and Jake are allowed time to get to know each other in ways that feel easy and real, filled with plenty of laughs and fumbles instead of the usual heavy-hitting dramatics of typical TV holiday romance. 

The concept is generally preposterous — introducing a wild premise about a family desperate to save their home after their father secretly turns it into a bed and breakfast without the children’s knowledge. 

Things become especially absurd when the dad (Robert Wisdon) is revealed to have children whose careers directly could have helped the success of his Inn, but his desire for surprise was stronger than allowing his IT son or marketing mogul daughter to help him out. 

Nevertheless, the ludicrousy slides right by in exchange for a slew of genuinely hilarious shenanigans that emerge as the family attempts to lie about the state of their Inn when a few unexpected guests, including famous reviewer Bea Turner, show up to stay the night.

One of those guests is romantic interest Jake, who — shocking to absolutely no one watching — ends up being the critic undercover. 

It’s all very harebrained and deceitful in the most endearing and delightful of ways, but also provides legitimate stakes for the characters and their livelihoods, instead of just focusing on an inner conflict between the two romantic leads.

If the Ralsters can’t convince Jake — sorry, “Bea Turner” — their Inn is worth a decent review, their childhood home could be lost forever. And while there’s not a single person watching this film who actually thinks that will happen, it’s still refreshing to see characters dealing with issues that extend beyond Hallmark’s typical one-note romantic entanglements.

In fact, Lucy and Jake’s love story is on the back burner for the majority of the film, making more leeway for all the members of the family to overcome individual obstacles. 

That’s right; Five Star Christmas is considerate enough to give substantial subplots to all it’s characters, making them more than just sounding boards for protagonist Lucy. There’s a surprise pregnancy for brother Will, a journey of self-discovery through cooking for sister Amber, and a lovely tale of late in life romance for widowed father Ted.

These added shades of complexity for the secondary characters not only make the Ralster family more authentic but makes the movie itself far more interesting than it would be otherwise. 

As with any Hallmark movie, there are a few given detriments that seem to never be avoided, and those criticisms are still valid in Five Star Christmas.

The film is far too straight, and far too white, to go unnoticed — especially when there is more than enough space for any of those shortcomings to be course-corrected.

Hallmark’s other family-centered film of 2020, The Christmas House, does just that by being the first of the network to showcase a gay couple in one of their holiday films. It also casts a WOC as their romantic female lead, and for a network not known for its diversity, those decisions mark a significant stride in the right direction. 

Five Star Christmas does have an Indigenous woman within the cast — a feat well worth mentioning — with Barbara Patrick playing sister in law Suzanne, but the film still may have benefitted from a slightly more diverse cast, and possibly allowed little sister Amber to come home with a brand new girlfriend. 

Shortcomings aside, Five Star Christmas still cements itself as one of the best Hallmark holiday films of 2020, and one of the only films to sidestep almost any glaring alterations due to new COVID-19 restrictions.

Joy Lenz once again proves she is the true underrated Queen of the Christmas movie genre.  She, along with the rest of the stellar cast and marvellous director Christie Will Wolf, prove holiday magic can come alive any time, no matter the circumstances. 

All you need is a little stardust.

Random Thoughts:

• It’s cute Lucy and Jake connect over such a disgusting thing — sassafras candy canes. 
• Lenz gets to show off her singing chops in this film, and we are all better off for it. 
• Webster’s hideous serenade of “Blue Christmas” is incredibly charming, and works much better for the story than any attempt at autotune could. 
• The grandparents being the main source of comic relief is a nice change of pace for a film of this genre.
• This film actually recognizes a relationship between the two main characters would result in long-distance, possibly creating difficulty for them — something Hallmark usually conveniently surpasses in exchange for a cut and dry happy ending.
• Shoutout to Target for sponsoring this film, and providing some of the most beautiful decorations I’ve ever seen in a Christmas film.

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Five Star Christmas airs throughout the holiday season on Hallmark Channel. 

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