Movie Review :: Hallmark Channel’s Christmas on Duty

Hallmark Channel

Hallmark Channel enlists one of its popular stars along with a newbie into the military as rivals for some vague reason that has to do with a long-standing feud between their retired military fathers. Unfortunately, instead of creating any kind of sexual tension between them, the real struggle for viewers will be to stay awake.

Christmas on Duty stars Janel Parrish and Parker Young as military personnel Blair Birch and Josh Cannon, who have carried on a nonsensical feud between their fathers, Richard and Cliff, respectively, over Cliff believing Richard conspired against him getting a promotion of some sort … a situation that could have easily been rectified years ago had Cliff simply talked to Richard to find out what really happened. Because they were good friends, but this slight put a rift between them, and they piled their dislike for each other onto their kids, who dislike each other and really don’t even understand why. But every time they mention the other to their fathers, the hackles rise and that is projected onto Blair and Josh. Things only get worse when six years later Josh shows up at the base where Blair is stationed, after originally leaving for a different location (he returned to be closer to his family), and then she is gunning for a position which he perceives as his. So the rivalry continues, and it all comes to a head at Colonel Clarkin’s last Christmas party before his retirement when Blair and Josh accidentally ‘frost’ another commanding officer (they bumped into a cake which launched icing all over the man and his guest), putting Clarkin in a bad light so … he has to take out his embarrassment on them. (Really, it was an accident and everyone is making much more out of it than they should but this is the best excuse writer Alexis Siegel could come up with for ‘drama’). Clarkin decides their punishment will be to man some office — honestly, by this time it was already a struggle to remain interested — for 24 hours between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, effectively taking them away from their planned holiday with their families. Of course Josh’s father blames Blair, and Blair’s father blames Josh but surprisingly they both accept responsibility for the accident (again, it was an accident not something they did with malicious intent).

But there is a problem — a ‘snowstorm’ (if you can call it that, because you can still see grass under the thin coating of snow and the roads seem pretty dry) has closed roads leading into town and no one’s expected deliveries of toys for the kids can get through (all of these people in the community waited until Christmas Eve to have their gifts delivered?!?!). Of main importance is a model train engine for Josh’s nephew which holds some significance for him and his dad, who is deployed and won’t be home for Christmas. Unfortunately the roads north of town are closed, so how will they save Christmas? Josh asks Clarkin’s permission to leave his post and travel south of town where the ‘storm’ isn’t as bad as the roads are clear but he can’t drive the Five Ton truck. It just so happens that Blair can, so Clarkin puts them in charge of saving Christmas by picking up the needed toys for the families. And they have to be back before 0700 hours because that’s when the children will wake up and expect their toys under the tree. They get the lists and plot their course, needing to hit three locations to get the toys they need, which should be easy-peasy … without a hint or suggestion of how they are paying for the items. The first store they go to is run by a woman named Donna, who has no business running a retail store. They sent her a list of what they needed and she did nothing to help, claiming her two back operations were an issue so she could not pull the items and box them up. Instead, she made them get the toys they needed and made them clean up her ridiculously messy storage room, claiming they messed it up while trying to reach a doll that was sitting at the top of a stack of boxes (for no good reason). Then they encountered another store employee at their next location who was obviously tipsy on egg nog and had locked himself out of the store, forcing Josh to do his best Santa impression and slide down an air vent. Of course the guy had his keys the whole time, so the whole moment was designed to give them more of a time crunch and allow Blair to show some concern for Josh after the rope he was using to descend into the store went slack all of a sudden. Then they got roped into attending a Christmas party — in costume as Santa and an elf — in exchange for fuel for the truck — throwing a bone to last year’s Finding Mr. Christmas winner Ezra Moreland with a cameo appearance as the gas station owner — and then the truck breaks down in the middle of nowhere (Blair decided to take a shortcut off the highway to save time, and apparently this was an even more egregious offense to Clarkin than the cake accident). There’s also an issue with the train, which had been sold unknowingly before Josh and Blair arrived to pick it up. Unbeknownst to Josh, Blair called her father about gifting his own train model, the same exact one, without telling him it was for Josh’s nephew. Josh then gets all high and mighty with Blair as he tries to fix the truck, refusing to let her help but finally taking some assistance from his sister who called at the perfect time (she was a mechanic in the military) and determines it was just a busted hose that caused the truck to lose pressure. They make it back to the base after 7:00 AM, and Christmas is ruined because none of the kids can now have their presents, and Blair and Josh are in very hot water for their massive failure not of their own doing, with Blair running off after taking the heat so Josh would not be reprimanded and possibly separated from his family by being stationed elsewhere. Of course this only makes their fathers more upset, and the ball is in Josh’s court. Can he repair the relationship with Blair, because they actually did begin to respect and like each other, and will those kids ever get their toys? Also, what will be the fallout when Blair’s father realizes who he’s gifting his treasured train to?

Hallmark Channel

I really hate to say this but Christmas on Duty is one of Hallmark’s most contrived holiday movies ever. Sure, there is always a formula to these stories, or variations on a formula, but there really isn’t anything about this story that makes a lick of sense. Perhaps you have to be really deep into military culture to understand but the whole crux of the story, beginning with the cake accident, is just insultingly dumb. The family feud is also just a not-very-creative plot device to sow tension between the two leads so they can realize neither of them is as bad as their fathers have led them to believe (and really, the fathers don’t even know the others’ kid, it’s just the name that riles them up). The whole snowstorm that isn’t a snowstorm requires a major suspension of disbelief as well because all that we ever see is basically a light dusting. And don’t get me started on that Donna woman. If I could dislike one character in any Hallmark movie with a passion, it’s Donna. I suppose Siegel was trying for some humor with Donna’s totally unhelpful and inconsiderate behavior, but there are no laughs to be had in that scene. The Christmas party scene comes out of nowhere, and considering Josh and Blair are on a tight schedule, it also seems inconsiderate for the gas station owner to force them to perform like trained monkeys to get their gas. The story even struggles to give us any kind of romantic spark between Josh and Blair — sure, they begin to respect each other — making this the first Hallmark romance where that kiss at the end is totally unearned. It really just comes out of nowhere. A long hug to celebrate a job well done would have been more appropriate. But by the end they realize they’re in love? Nah. This really is completely contrived to give the audience what they expect from Hallmark but it just ends up insulting the fans. The plugs for USAA are a bit much too, like the actors have to do a couple of little infomercials within the story.

The only reasons to spend time with Christmas on Duty are Janel Parrish and Parker Young, even if their characters are frustratingly written. Parrish, who was a complete delight in 2024’s Sugarplummed, has the more unlikable character with Blair, and she has to work hard to keep us on her side. Blair is just written as a hard-nose unwilling to see Josh as anything but ‘the enemy’, so Parrish is tasked with softening Blair during their trip, making her a little less rigid and by the book. Still, though, there is no hint of romance, just respect to the point that we can see them being good friends by the end. It had to be a difficult role to tackle, but Parrish manages to draw us in and she even gets a chance to show off her lovely singing voice with a rendition of ‘Silent Night’ at the end. Parrish really shows that she is a Hallmark MVP, able to elevate even the most pedestrian material to something watchable. Parker Young is also very good as Josh, having a much softer side to the character and able to realize that his whole persona is just a projection from his father. He doesn’t even know why he’s supposed to hate Blair except that she has the last name of Birch. Young actually shows Josh’s growing feelings for Blair during their journey which leads to him lashing out when the truck breaks down, not because he’s angry at her but because he’s learned he really does like her and doesn’t know how to deal with those feelings since she’s shown little in reciprocation. If there’s one interesting thing Siegel did with the characters, it was to flip the typical male-female relationship and behaviors, making Josh more open to change and Blair the more strict of the two.

The performances and writing for the father characters is also an interesting dichotomy to Josh and Blair. Blair’s dad Richard actually seems to think the rift between him and Josh’s dad is nonsense even if he does get in a few digs here and there. Peter Jacobson makes Richard a bit more understanding, and he also has an emotional arc to play as this is the first Christmas since his wife has passed and he’s trying to give Blair the holiday traditions they never had when he was active military. On the other side, Scott Reeves has to play Cliff has a complete hard-nose who bristles at the mention of the Birch name, always berating Josh for having even an ounce of compassion for Blair. It’s actually a nice moment for Reeves when Young gets to unload how Josh feels about the way Cliff molded him to be this person filled with animosity toward Blair and how ridiculous it is that he’s still doing it all these years later. It’s a nice moment for him when Cliff finally gets to bury the hatchet with Richard. Aleta Myles adds some humor as Blair’s pal Zoe, whom is invited to spend Christmas with the Birches and finds herself expecting a respite from her rigid military life … which she does not get under a former military officer. She also has some nice moments with Parrish, so the movie could have used a lot more of her. Melanie Stone is fine as Josh’s sister Amanda, although at times she talked so fast that it was hard to understand her. It was nice to see Ezra Moreland pop up, even in a tiny role, doing a bit better than he did with his first starring role in 2024’s Happy Howlidays. Maybe he can take on more smaller roles to build up his acting chops and eventually headline another Hallmark movie. Antonio D. Charity wastes no opportunity to over-act in every scene he’s in with Parrish and Young, really pouring on that hard-ass drill sergeant routine just a bit more than necessary. Everything to this guy is an offense that he deals with in the most over-the-top way … but that is how he was written. And Teresa Norvick is excellent at making store owner Donna the most hated character ever in a Hallmark movie.

Christmas on Duty may be one of the more lackluster ‘Countdown to Christmas’ movies Hallmark has aired, but they were smart to cast it with two very appealing leads who knew how to make the most out of a nonsensical script. As much as I like both Parrish and Young, this is not one I’d want to watch again.

Christmas on Duty has a run time of 1 hour 23 minutes, and is rated TV-G. The film is streaming on Hallmark+.

Preview – Christmas on Duty