Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story
Writers: Vanessa Marano, Danielle Morrow
Director: Dustin Rikert
Cast: Holland Roden, Matthew Daddario, Joe Pantoliano, Tracy Pollan, Caroline Aron, Steve Schirripa, Patti Murin
Holland Roden (Five Gold Rings) plays Morgan, a doctor and loud/proud member of the Bills Mafia. No, Hallmark isn't getting into organized crime movies (although I kinda want to see that?). Morgan is a huge fan of the Buffalo Bills, the football team, the one who shows the games in bars and people bump their chests in celebration of touchdowns. You know, that football team. And, while she's successful professionally, Morgan's having a hard time finding a guy who understands that scheduling a first date during prime football hours is a dealbreaker.
Enter: Gabe (Matthew Daddario, Why Women Kill), Mr. VP of Stadium Development for the Buffalo Bills. Did you know that the Bills are in the process of building a new stadium that will open for the 2026 NFL season? If you didn't before, you absolutely will now — and you will soon learn so much more about the New Highmark Stadium than you ever thought you'd learn via a Hallmark holiday movie. Gabe and Morgan have been friends for a long time; their parents are neighbors, after all. But unbeknownst to his Bills-lovin' bestie Morgan, Gabe's participating in another favorite American pastime: pining after the girl next door.
When Morgan learns that her uncle's been receiving mysterious Christmas gifts for the past 60 years, she catches that pass and sets her eyes on the endzone ... or, I don't know, some football metaphor for "she won't stop until she finds out who is behind the half-century of gifts." With Gabe by her side, surely she can ID the gift-giver in time to give her dear uncle the Christmas miracle he deserves.
Home for the Holidays: What if this movie wasn't set in Buffalo? What if it was in Anaheim, free of freezing temperatures and Morgan was completely alone in her adoration of the Bills? That's not the case. This is all Buffalo all the time, and Morgan's corner of the metropolitan area comes with a few family traditions — namely taking a family photo on the field after the last pre-Christmas game of the season.
'Twas the Night Before This Movie: The opening credits are paired with some sports radio patter that crams in about as much exposition as the opening crawl of a Star Wars movie (now that I know something about). And wow, this movie goes to great lengths to establish Gabe as Mr. VP of Stadium Development, complete with lines like, "I cannot believe you're in charge of building the stadium."
They Brought Presence: Abraham Benrubi (you know him, you love him) returns as Santa Claus, making him the Holiday Touchdown franchise's version of Nick Fury. The casting is perfect, so what are we waiting for, Hallmark? Give us a holiday romance starring Santa Claus.
Ho Ho Ho: "Don't forget: I put your favorite cheese on the counter there." This one stray line during a family dinner isn't a joke, but it made me laugh.
Exactly As Advertised: Like last year's Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story, Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story is definitely a holiday love story built around a character who is a superfan of the titular football team.
But whereas A Chiefs Love Story found a way to make the football team integral to the plot, the Bills connection here feels forced at best. The movie isn't about the Bills, nor is it about Morgan's love of the Bills, nor is it about the family traditions built around the Bills. It's about Morgan and Gabe painstakingly poring over boxes of 50-year-old receipts in an attempt to find her uncle's (played by Joe Pantoliano at his most chill) guardian angel. Even that storyline doesn't feel very inspired, as it's shockingly similar to last year's Five Gold Rings ... which also starred Holland Roden.
Since the central plot has nothing to do with the Bills, this year's Holiday Touchdown doubles down cameos. Pro football players pop up so frequently, it's like Morgan and Game are playing the Buffalo Bills version of Pokémon Go. And don't forget, there's the new stadium, which provides jobs for 4,000 trades workers in the Buffalo area! And with the Bills tie-in for every act secured, the movie returns to the holiday hunt — one that the uncle isn't particularly clamoring to see solved. Why is Morgan just now learning about this tradition, and why is she giving this search her all? I'd rather know more about that than the kind of grass used in New Highmark Stadium, y'know?
Last year's Holiday Touchdown had a lot to say about the way ritual unites families, and it felt like it was about the Chiefs. This feels like a serviceable, un-filmed Hallmark holiday script that added Bills references to turn last year's success into a franchise. If Hallmark wants to score a touchdown next year, though, they'll need to run a few more drills in the offseason (or ... something).
