Christmas with the Singhs
Writers: Patricia Isaac, Emily Ting
Director: Panta Mosleh
Cast: Anuja Joshi, Benjamin Hollingsworth, Manoj Sood, Michele Scarabelli, Nimet Kanji, Greg Rogers
Every year, Hallmark releases dozens of holiday movies — and Pop Heist staffer Brett White has seen them all. All Heistmas long, Brett checks out what Hallmark has to offer, analyzing each movie's setting (Home for the Holidays); calling out the most heavy-handed exposition ('Twas the Night Before This Movie); praising any LOL moments (Ho Ho Ho); singling out the scene-stealer (They Brought Presence!); and deciding if the title matches the story (Exactly as Advertised). To top it all off, each movie is judged on six quintessential Hallmark qualities to determine once and for all if this Hallmark Christmas movie hits or misses the (Hall)mark. Read more Hallmark Hit-or-Miss reviews here.
Anuja Joshi (The Resident) plays Asha, an emergency room nurse who's on call for the holidays — a bummer that works out in her favor when her high school classmate, Jake (Virgin River's Benjamin Hollingsworth), comes in with a banged up wrist. Even though these two were on opposite ends of the social spectrum back in the day, they hit it off as adults and — in a shocking move for a Hallmark movie — they kiss almost immediately! Where will this movie go next?!
Cut to: one year later! Asha and Jake are recreating their first date — and then Jake pops the question. Asha immediately says "yes," and then wonders how her dad (Snowpiercer's Manoj Sood) took it when Jake asked for permission. Which he didn't. Oops?
Surely this won't be that big a deal. After all, Asha's family — specifically her dad — love Christmas. Surely they'll be distracted by all the decorations and traditions and the fact that Jake proposed to patriarch Samuel's only daughter without so much as a heads up won't be an issue. Jake, my dude, you are wrong.
Home For the Holidays: The movie starts out in Chicago, which we know because Jake is a sports reporter — as a basketball player puts it, "one of the good ones!" — for the Chicago Outlook. Both Asha and Jake come from the nearby suburb of Ashford, which doesn't exist IRL. (There is a subdivision of Westmont, Illinois, named Ashford, and it's only a half hour drive from Chicago. So … let's just go with that!) Ashford has tons of holiday traditions, from an annual Christmas pageant and festival run by Jake's mom (Michele Scarabelli) to a home decorating competition, which is won every year by Asha's dad.
'Twas the Night Before This Movie: You know you're watching a Hallmark movie if every phone call begins with totally unprompted backstory: "Merry Christmas, Dad. Oh Dad — I heard that congratulations are in order for winning the Ashford decorating contest again this year."
They Brought Presence: Forget Asha and Jake! I'd watch a Hallmark movie starring their parents, easily. Manoj Sood and Nimet Kanji radiate warmth, even if Samuel's warmth is a tad scorching at times. And the lingering chemistry between Type A Molly and Jake's grumbly dad (Greg Rogers) provides the movie with its only will-they-won't-they tension.
Ho Ho Ho: God bless Molly for trying. She tells Asha that her favorite movie is Eat Pray Love and, just, honey.
As Advertised: I would be offended if the movie were titled anything else!
In a Countdown to Christmas lineup that feels 10% whiter and 10% straighter than previous years, Christmas with the Singhs represents Hallmark's continuing efforts to show that families of all kinds are absolutely nuts for the holidays. And the movie doesn't shy away from these differences, either. The movie is built around them, be they the differences between the popular kids and the nerds, the fussy and the grumpy, boomers and millennials, Hindu and Christian, and Indian American and white. Every pair of characters has something culturally setting one apart from the other, and the movie does a great job of stealthily weaving all those threads together.
Christmas with the Singhs also feels slightly more innovative because the plot is a tad more ambitious than the usual formula. We're fully in Meet the Parents or Christmas Vacation territory here, just looking at the number of different holiday wringers the Singhs put Jake through. That means the movie never lags and always keeps you guessing. And when the movie hits with the drama? It hits hard. I've seen a lot of teary monologues in Hallmark holiday movies in my day, but I don't think I've ever seen tears realer than these tears.
Ultimately, Christmas with the Singhs feels more like a movie than a Hallmark movie, and that's kinda the highest praise you can give to a Hallmark movie of the modern era. Sure, it would've been nice to have a few more jokes, a little more small-town coziness, the usual Hallmark flourishes. But if the goal is to keep proving that Hallmark is for everyone, because we are all equally ridiculous about the holidays, then this is a success.
