Magical Santas, meet-cutes and dueling Donna Kelce roles: Hallmark’s best holiday movies

A revolution is happening in the Hallmark Channel’s Countdown to Christmas universe.

Yes, there are still plenty of magical Santa Claus sightings and people with perfect hair despite wearing winter hats in the snow (if they’re wearing hats at all), but things are changing.

Lead actors kiss before the final five minutes of the movie! Scripts wink at the ridiculous plots that have become cliche! Longtime Hallmark Christmas movie actors make cameos in other films! The NFL has partnered with the network (OK, we can attribute that to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s romance)! Not every song is a rendition of “Jingle Bells”! There is more than one Hanukkah-themed movie!

With the holidays looming, we watched dozens of hours of Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas slate to pick the most notable releases this season. Which Donna Kelce cameo reigns supreme and which movies are worth watching while lounging in your favorite holiday PJs? We have answers. (Though I’ll save my conspiracy theory about the connection between Hallmark Channel’s rise in popularity and matching family jammies until next year).

Spoiler alert: Each movie has a happy ending and everyone’s in love — but you probably already knew that.

Best use of the magic of Christmas

“Santa Tell Me” might be the quintessential movie of this year’s crop. It has holiday magic, multiple meet-cutes, an enemies-to-lovers relationship, an ambitious main character making a name for herself returning to her roots. And there’s a sad backstory about her parents. Could it be any more fitting for Countdown to Christmas?

Olivia (Erin Krakow) has a chance to have her own interior design show, but her new producer, the bossy Chris (Daniel Lissing), who is in charge of a “Love Island”-esque show called “Model Home,” changes plans and has Olivia restore her childhood home on a tight budget instead. Once she’s there, she finds a magic letter from Santa. It answers a query from long ago, when as a precocious child — one who presumably watched too many holiday romance movies — she asked the name of her true love, which the magic letter reveals to be Nick.

And just like that, she meets three different guys named Nick and she has to pick the right one by Christmas or lose her true love forever.

Airing on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 19, 25, 30 and Jan. 5 and 17. Streaming on Hallmark+.

Best chance for Donna Kelce’s Emmy campaign

Donna Kelce’s sons, Travis (of Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs fame) and Jason (a retired Philadelphia Eagle), have starred in dozens of commercials, but Mama Kelce gets more lines in two Hallmark films.

Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story” is the superior watch. It stars Hunter King as a woman in a family of die-hard Chiefs fans whose magic hat is responsible for multiple Super Bowl wins (take that, Patrick Mahomes). Tyler Hynes co-stars as a team marketing exec. Kelce works at the barbecue joint owned by the heroine’s grandparents. Though I’m a Ravens fan whose championship dreams were crushed by the Chiefs last year, this was a fun watch with lots of NFL cameos, but it will trigger Raiders and Broncos fans.

The Philly-centric “Christmas on Call” follows a doctor (Sara Canning) who’s new in town and falls in love with an Eagles-loving EMT (Ser’Darius Blain), but even the cheesesteaks “whiz wit” that Kelce slings in the movie can’t spice up this offering.

“Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story” debuts an extended cut Dec. 20 and reairs Dec. 25, 31 and Jan. 18 on the Hallmark Channel. Streaming on Hallmark+.

“Christmas on Call” airs on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 18, 25 and Jan. 4.

Most meta Hallmark movie

When the plots of Hallmark Christmas movies have become so ubiquitous that they’re punchlines and there’s a plot generator, it’s nice to see the channel play along, as it does in “Sugarplummed.”

When overworked lawyer and mom Emily (Maggie Lawson) wishes for a perfect Christmas, Sugarplum (Janel Parrish), the beloved “Harmony Home Network” holiday movie character, comes to her aid. Sugarplum even tries to have the rules from her town of Perfection apply to the real world. For example, rule No. 47 says, “When a big city girl meets a small town bachelor over the holidays, they’re guaranteed to fall in love and get married.”

Another nod goes to “The Santa Class,” which features Hallmark regular Paul Campbell as a minor character playing a fictional version of himself to hilarious results. He enrolls in classes at a struggling Santa school (the movie’s main plot) as he considers taking the role of Santa in an upcoming Hallmark Christmas movie.

“Sugarplummed” airs on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 21, 25, 30 and Jan. 3. Streaming on Hallmark+.

“The Santa Class” airs on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 18, 21, 27 and Jan. 4.

Best fake dating trope

In “Holiday Mismatch,” Kath (Caroline Rhea) and Barbara (Beth Broderick) clash on the Chamber of Commerce Christmas committee. It’s an “Odd Couple”-type scenario, where Barb, a recently retired accountant and control freak, joins the committee as a volunteer and is aghast at Kath’s touchy-feely vibes and disorganization. However, both are overbearing mothers and set up dating profiles for their respective kids, Lauren (Maxine Denis) and Shane (Jon McLaren), who agree to go on a date to get their moms to stop meddling in their personal lives.

Lauren and Shane decide to fake date to keep their moms off their backs, but when Kath and Barbara realize who their kids are seeing, they join forces to break them up.

“‘Twas the Date Before Christmas” is borderline on the fake dating trope. In order to keep her family from canceling their Christmas Olympics, Jessie (Amy Groening) brings a date (Robert Buckley) she met on an app. While it’s their first date, she lies to her freakishly competitive family about it, saying they’ve been together for a minute.

“Holiday Mismatch” airs on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 19, 26 and Jan. 4.

“‘Twas the Date Before Christmas” airs on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 24 and Jan. 3.

Most likely to get ‘Die Hard’ fans to watch a Hallmark Christmas movie

Rachel Skarsten, left, and Corey Sevier in “The Christmas Charade.” (Hallmark Media/TNS)

There will be no exclamations of “Yippee-ki-yay” and you know what because this is still Hallmark, but the network has stepped up its action/adventure offerings.

“The Christmas Quest,” starring perennial faves Kristoffer Polaha and Lacey Chabert as divorced academics who trudge through Iceland deciphering clues in search of treasure centered around the folklore of the 13 prank-pulling Yule Lads, is a fit for fans of “Indiana Jones.” It even references the boulder scene and has the animated traveling-across-the-map graphics.

If you prefer a holiday heist, “The Christmas Charade” pairs up a grumpy FBI agent (Cory Sevier) with a quiet librarian (Rachel Skarsten) after a blind date mix-up leads to a fake dating partnership chasing down art and jewel thieves. There is an entertaining let’s-turn-the-librarian-into-an-undercover-agent montage.

Both have big gala scenes, because can you really have an action-adventure movie without a formal Christmas Eve event? For both, be prepared to overlook major plot holes and just enjoy the ride.

“The Christmas Quest” is streaming on Hallmark+.

“The Christmas Charade” airs on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 18, 24 and Jan. 4.

Most entertaining meet-the-parents culture clash

Many movies have mined comedy gold about the hilarious/traumatic experience of blending families, with scenes so cringe they’re funny.

In “Christmas With the Singhs,” ER doctor Asha (Anuja Joshi) is working on Christmas when high school crush Jake (Benjamin Hollingsworth) walks in. They fall in love, he proposes (but makes the misstep of not asking for her father’s permission) and they head to their hometown for a parental showdown between her extended Indian family and his divorced white parents. She’s also been taming the spice of Indian recipes by adding ketchup.

This film may hold the record for the earliest kiss in a Hallmark Christmas movie, with our leads locking lips 12 minutes in.

“To Have and to Holiday” follows the whirlwind engagement of Celeste (Madeleine Arthur) and Jason (Robert Bazzocchi). Her father (Eric Close) is the pastor in town and he will only agree to marry them if they pass his marriage boot camp. Among the challenges: he makes them navigate an obstacle course while a blindfolded Celeste drives a golf cart, leaving the viewer wondering how his boot camp can possibly be insured.

“Christmas With the Singhs” airs on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 19 and 25.

“To Have and to Holiday” airs on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 20.

Most competitive spirit

Brant Daugherty, left, and Tammin Sursok play unlikely contest teammates in “Trivia at St. Nick’s.” (Hallmark Media/TNS)

So many movies have a ridiculous number of holiday competitions. Who has time to plan these multi-day adventures? Idea for next year: A film about competing competition organizers who fall in love.

“Jingle Bell Run” pairs an egocentric retired hockey player (Andrew Walker) with an introverted teacher (Ashley Williams) for a holiday-themed reality TV competition where teams figure out clues, complete challenges and travel across the country “Amazing Race” style. The interesting concept and Walker playing against type compensate for some clunky dialogue setting up the premise and the resolution.

Winning “Trivia at St. Nick’s” doesn’t get you fame and fortune, but it does come with bragging rights. Tammin Sursok stars as an astronomy professor who butts heads with Brant Daugherty, a football coach who cuts in the faculty buffet line but also has to join her trivia team. It’s worth putting on in the background if you’re tasked with being a Christmas trivia quizmaster.

“Jingle Bell Run” airs on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 20, 25 and Jan. 4. Streaming on Hallmark+.

“Trivia at St. Nick’s” airs on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 26 and 31.

More than an obligatory nod to other cultures and traditions

Jay (Daren Kagasoff) and Tory (Stacey Farber) meet cute over a box of Hanukkah candles in “Hanukkah on the Rocks.” (Steven Ackerman/Hallmark Media/TNS)

In “Hanukkah on the Rocks,” a Chicago lawyer (Stacy Farber) loses her job and fills in at a local bar, which is described as a dive but has gourmet food, fancy drinks and nary a Pabst Blue Ribbon tallboy in sight. She plans a bunch of Hanukkah events, such as speed dating, that somehow come together via Instagram in hours. (Beating the algorithm is the unsung holiday miracle in this one.)

The film’s meet-cute happens while fighting over the city’s last box of special Hanukkah candles, but it’s her love interest’s grandfather and resident barfly Sam, played by Marc Summers, known to many as the former host of Nickelodeon’s game show “Double Dare,” who steals the movie. I want an entire spinoff series with Sam set in the bar.

Hallmark’s other Hanukkah offering, “Leah’s Perfect Gift,” focuses too much on a Jewish woman trying to fit in while celebrating her first Christmas with her boyfriend’s uber-uptight parents. Leah, and viewers, deserve better.

“Hanukkah on the Rocks” airs on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 22, 26 and 31.

“Leah’s Perfect Gift” airs on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 19, 24, 28 and Jan. 3.

Most deserving of a lump of coal

Yes, the network is named after a greeting card empire, but scenes that are blatant commercials are inexcusably and awkwardly shoehorned into the script of “Deck the Walls.”

It features a big-city interior designer returning to her hometown for the first time since her parents’ death to help her brother and his best friend flip their grandparents’ home into a charity project for a local family that has given so much to the community. So far that hits on multiple Hallmark holiday movie themes, right?

What doesn’t is the hokey scene set in a Homegoods store where apparently small children with big designer dreams practice elaborate tablescaping. (I was only shocked that a “Live, laugh, love” throw pillow didn’t magically come to life to start delivering Christmas wishes — at least that would have been mildly entertaining.) And did I mention that’s only one of the egregious product placements with accompanying dialogue in this film?

Honestly, you’re going to be inundated with enough Balsam Hill commercials for luxury fake trees and Weather Tech ads for car floor mats just by watching the channel that further product placement isn’t necessary.

“Deck the Walls” airs on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 21, 27, 30 and Jan. 5.

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