Hallmark Channel
Hallmark Channel has long been accused of having a formula for its TV movies, particularly the holiday output. When the network first started its ‘Countdown to Christmas’ fifteen years ago with just a handful of films, that was more true than not. Things have changed over time, and this year the network has really been giving us a nice variety of holiday movies, a few of which now have veered into almost pure fantasy (and the recent Sugarplummed didn’t even have a romance as its central storyline). That brings us too The Santa Class, which balances a contentious relationship with the pure whimsy of the holiday.
Kimberly Sustad stars as Kate North, a woman who works at the family business but is looking for a way out so she can forge her own path in life. The business is a Santa school, started by her dad Richard, a sort of boot camp to teach aspiring Santas all the dos and don’ts of being a public representation of that Jolly Old Elf. Things take a turn when Richard’s right hand man Blaise up and quits — eventually starting his own rival Santa school — leaving Kate with an unwanted promotion, basically locking her in to the company. Twelve years later, Richard is retiring for health reasons and off to Florida, leaving the North Star Santa Academy in Kate’s hands, with some assistance from her sister Bailey (Lindsay Winch).
Over at Blaise’s school his top Santa trainer, Dan (Benjamin Ayres), is suddenly fired or as Blaise puts it is ‘consciously uncoupled’, leaving Dan scurrying for work as he has a mortgage to pay (Blaise generously included an Uber ride home as part of Dan’s compensation package since he also took back the company car). As ‘The World’s Best Santa Trainer’, according to a magazine article, Dan shows up at North Star to offer his services … and Kate knows immediately that he was fired. Kate isn’t interested despite his status because … they have a past. One date that apparently didn’t go well. But Dan ingratiates himself, for this one session at the very least, and they begin the bootcamp with their various and sundry attendees, each a very specific character. Needing a ride, Dan carpools with Kate and on the way to the academy Kate nearly hits a disoriented man crossing the road, dressed like Santa Claus complete with a white beard. Helping the man to the car — he seems to have amnesia — Kate and Dan head into the woods to see where he came from. What to their wondering eyes do they see, but a sleigh with eight not-so-tiny reindeer. Before they can register what they are seeing, the reindeer and sleigh take off, leaving their passenger behind. Kate and Dan decide to call him Nick once they get to the academy, and pass him off as just another student. Nick, of course, becomes a star pupil but he still can’t remember who he is, and has weird flashes of memories of anyone whose hand he touches — their memories, not his — and he seems to conjure up a child’s missing toy from an empty sack during a Santa try-out at the local mall. Meanwhile, Kate and Dan might be feeling a bit of a romantic spark, and Bailey is definitely having one with Santa candidate Timothy (they also share an interest in ancient European folklore), but Kate gets an offer from the mall owner to buy the North Star property to expand the mall (now you know this is a fantasy because no one is expanding any malls these days) and when Dan gets wind of the offer, it may tear apart the relationship the two have been building, as well as destroy her father’s legacy. Can Nick remember who he is in time and work some of that Santa magic?
Hallmark Channel
The Santa Class is another delightful Hallmark production that is full of holiday magic. The cast is outstanding with Sustad giving us a strong character whose life is not dictated by having or not having a man in it. She’s a savvy businessperson who knows she can’t compete with Blaise’s academy, she sees a bigger career path ahead for herself, but she’s also devoted to her family legacy. Sustad never makes Kate a damsel in distress who needs a man to rescue her, and she has some great comic timing to make Kate a really well-rounded character. Ayres also compliments her well. He’s perfectly full of himself when Dan is introduced, but is quickly deflated by his dismissal, and then has to show more confidence in himself than he has when he’s pitching his potential hiring to Kate. He does bewildered very well and also handles the comedy bits with Sustad to perfection. Sustad and Ayres make a great team. (And if you’re listening Hallmark — or reading this — I think teaming Sustad with Leah Remini in a movie would be comedic gold. Make that happen!)
Winch is also very good as sister Bailey, and resembles Sustad enough to make their sisterly relationship all the more believable. Kate, and the audience, first see Bailey as a bit of a moocher living with her sister but contributing little, but once dad retires she steps up and is almost a voice of reason for Kate, especially when it comes to the future of the North Star Academy. Her chemistry with Graeme McComb’s Timothy is palpable and it’s obvious these two will end up together by the end of the movie. McComb is very funny in his role, showing off a bit of his history geek side at the star and descending into utter terror and anxiety when he finds out what it’s really like to be a mall Santa. Just some wonderful acting here. And Trevor Lerner is fantastic as Nick. Even if he doesn’t remember who he is, he’s still one of the most perfect Santas ever portrayed on screen, from his look to his demeanor especially when he’s with the children in the mall. The way he fits in with the student Santas feels natural, and he makes us genuinely care about him when he has one of his episodes of memory flashes. Lerner could make a career out of playing Santa moving forward, he’s just that good.
Alessandra Miro is appropriately smarmy as Blaise, but he does have a brief redemption moment near the end. The actors who play the student Santas are all a hoot — Ryan Bell, Carmel Amit, Gary Jones, Tom Pickett — each with their own little quirks that make them totally unfit to be a traditional mall Santa, but Kate sees something in them to buck the norm and try something different. They all get little moments to shine and make the film all the more enjoyable.
The script by Alexandre Coscas, Russell Hainline and Joseph Kelbley nicely balances all of the story elements — family, romance, comedy, fantasy — perfectly, and the cast makes the most of every moment written for them. There is also a surprise appearance by a real Hallmark star playing a fictionalized version of himself taking the class for a part in a movie, hilariously skewering himself in the process. Director Lucie Guest keeps the story grounded in reality even with the fantastical element of an amnesiac Santa Clause, expertly guiding the cast, letting the little comic moments shine and not allowing the students to go completely over-the-top … even though they do walk a fine line. Production design, costumes, hair and make-up are all top notch, and everything combined makes The Santa Class one of Hallmark’s most enjoyable movies of the season.
The Santa Class has a run time of 1 hour 24 minutes, and is rated TV-G. The film is streaming on Peacock and On Demand.
Preview – The Santa Class
Hallmark Channel
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