Lifetime
Lifetime’s ‘It’s a Wonderful Lifetime’ series of holiday films have been in the range of pretty good to as watchable as a trainwreck, so it was a real delight to partake in the latest Christmas movie, Deck the Hallways, which turned out to be a real surprise after the commercials really didn’t give much away in terms of the story.
Zoe (Naïka Toussaint), a Bay Area tech exec, returns to Chicago to visit her grandmother Agnes (Loretta Devine), who’s traded old traditions for bold new adventures — including canceling the cherished holiday party her late husband started. Missing the festive warmth of her childhood, Zoe teams up with her charming childhood crush, Jace (Jaime M. Callica), and their 5th Floor neighbors to revive the celebration. As sparks fly between Zoe and Jace, a last-minute cancellation threatens the fun, but Agnes steps up. Together, the building rallies for a joyful Christmas Eve — showing that holiday spirit, new memories, and maybe even new love are made by those bold enough to keep traditions alive.
That’s the Lifetime description of the movie, but there is so much more going on here as the story plays out almost as an anthology film. Yes, the main characters around which the story revolves are Zoe and Agnes. It turns out Agnes was supposed to go to San Francisco to spend the holiday with her granddaughter, but Zoe surprised her and found that grandma was now ‘living her best life’, having questionable parties with the other residents of the building, taking advice from a life coach, taking up aerial fabric fitness (at least it wasn’t pole dancing), and dressing provocatively to make her the ‘most desirable hot chocolate’ in the room. This is all way too much for Zoe, who expected to come home and find the old traditions started by her grandfather continuing following his death, and is determined to bring the 5th Floor Christmas party back despite her grandmother. What Zoe fails to do is ask Agnes why she’s let the tradition die with her husband, and Agnes finally has to lay it on her in a truly emotional moment. There is also the rekindled relationship between childhood friends Zoe and Jace playing out during the party planning.
Lifetime
But there are other stories in the building as well. Jace’s parents, Graham and Irene, now feeling like true empty-nesters have decided to rekindle their romance by booking a holiday trip since there is no more Christmas party, and possibly using that as a way to consider moving out of the building, which everyone agrees has lost its soul following the death of Ozzie and the end of the party. Everyone on the 5th Floor are now just neighbors instead of family, but the return of daughter Leah and son Jace to have one last holiday together before Leah moves away, puts a cramp in their style. A third story concerns couple Xander and Vaughn, who have just adopted a baby girl and are overwhelmed with the new responsibility, but things get even more complicated when Xander learns he has a nine-year-old son from a previous relationship whose mother has just passed away, so now Xander as the biological father is charged with caring for the boy. While trying to juggle the responsibilities of caring for a newborn, Xander and Vaughn now also have to deal with caring for a young boy going through the emotions of losing his mother and becoming part of a new family. And to make matters worse, Xander has been pulling double shifts to help provide for the family, and news of a promotion brings joy but more emotional impact for young Eli when he hears that the job would require them to move — something neither Vaughn or Eli really wants to do because this building is their home. While Zoe and Jace try to plan for the party, they also have to contend with the building’s super Wade, who is adamant that no party will happen under his watch. When Zoe finally understands her grandmother’s grief and how she is coping, it makes her realize that the party was not such a good idea after all and she cancels with no notice, just as everyone was beginning to feel like family again. Now it seems the 5th Floor will be torn apart if the Robinsons and Xander & Vaughn go their separate ways. Only a Christmas miracle … and maybe a rekindled romance … can save the day.
The script for Deck the Hallways, by Gregory R. Anderson from a story by Anderson and Meyer Shwarzstein, does a great job at constructing and managing all of these storylines — including another side plot in which Wade finds himself out of a job after 40 years, which also means he’s losing his apartment — keeping them all focused while making sure that all of the characters continue to interact with each other naturally. The contradiction between the younger but more reserved Zoe and her very active grandmother plays out well, and it seems obvious to everyone but Zoe that Agnes is doing all she can to fill her days with activities so she doesn’t have to deal with her grief, making the moment when she finally unloads on Zoe about why she doesn’t want to have the party all the more powerful and deeply emotional. The romance between Zoe and Jace is also handled very well as these two characters have both lived lives separately since childhood, and are only now reconnecting. Jace has obviously carried a flame for Zoe, but it takes her a little longer to catch on. The Robinsons also feel like a real couple who are finally looking ahead for themselves even if they feel they’ve lost a little spark in their own romance, ready to take any opportunity to get that flame burning again. Best of all, the script never treats Xander and Vaughn any differently than any other couple in the movie. Everyone treats them as they would any family, and everyone pulls together to help them deal with a newborn, while Zoe finds a kindred spirit in Eli, connecting with him over the loss of her own mother and how that affected her. It’s just lovely to see a gay couple treated with such respect and normalcy because, guess what … they’re just regular human beings with every day challenges like anyone else. So, a real tip of the hat to Anderson for just making everything feel so normal and relatable.
The cast is also excellent. Loretta Devine gets to have a ball in one outlandish moment after another as she lives her life, always referencing ‘my life coach says’ whenever she feels Zoe is being too conservative in her approach to life. She is obviously having fun with this role, and then she gets to really give us a gut-punch when Agnes is finally allowed the chance to pour out her true feelings. Devine is a national treasure. Toussaint is also outstanding as she must play the more reserved character, a complete contradiction to the older Agnes, always showing Zoe’s determination in bringing the party back but obviously trying to cling on to a memory just to make herself feel better. Her reactions to Devine’s antics are just perfect and the two really compliment each other with their performances.
Lifetime
Jaime M. Callica is really good as Jace. He is also a bit more reserved, perhaps because of Jace still dealing with the aftermath of a divorce, and being a successful restaurant owner with his newly opened second location. The way he looks at Zoe in any scene shows that Jace still pines for her, and Callica’s performance is almost like a puppy dog willing to do just about anything Zoe suggests just so he can spend more time with her (it’s also funny when Agnes gets in on the act and ambushes them a couple of times). Callica has a very natural chemistry with Toussaint, which makes the romantic feelings of Jace and Zoe all the more authentic. Tim Perez and Lossen Chambers also do some nice work together as Jace’s parents, Graham and Irene, an older couple still obviously in love with each other, contemplating their future even if it means moving out of the building and away from their friends. A scene of them having to sneak off to a vacant apartment, with the help of Agnes, to do some of their own rekindling and then sneaking back in past Jace and Eva goes comically awry to the point that the kids think their father is having an affair. Perez and Chambers just make the Robinsons feel like a real couple who have been together for decades.
Matty Finochio and Matthew Clarke are wonderful as Xander and Vaughn, making the characters totally down-to-earth, enjoying the excitement of a new baby … as well as the turmoil that can bring. Finochio in particular gets to shine as Xander’s son enters the equation, and the way he talks to the boy to assure him that he is welcome in his new home and that Santa will definitely not overlook him is just so sweet, filled with warmth and love. Even as the couple endures the stress of two new children in their home, as well as Xander’s long hours which causes Vaughn to begin to feel like a single parent, their relationship is as normal and average as any other couple, and both actors do such a great job of making their characters simply exist as real people just living their lives like anyone else, with all the ups and downs that come with it. Sebastian Billingsley-Rodriguez is outstanding as young Eli, bearing enough of a resemblance to Finochio to make their relationship all the more believable. He portrays Eli as a boy who is experiencing a lot of change, sometimes feeling like he doesn’t belong, perhaps feeling a sense of abandonment, breaking our hearts when he learns he may have to leave this new place he’s already called home, but he clicks so well with Zoe (thanks to the performance of Toussaint), that it allows Billingsley-Rodriguez to show Eli’s growth and connection to his two new dads. Their entire story here just shows that people are people, no matter who they love, and the way that they are all presented is just handled so matter-of-factly. It’s not meant to be ‘in your face’, it’s just ‘this is everyday life, accept it’.
I did not know what to expect from Deck the Hallways from the commercials that Lifetime ran, thinking that it was going to be a real showcase for Loretta Devine. Instead it was a sweet holiday film about friendship, chosen family, grief, love and ultimately a sense of community, something we desperately need in these terribly divided times.
Deck the Hallways has a run time of 1 hour 27 minutes, and is rated TV-PG.
Deck the Hallways Trailer
Lifetime