Trivia at St. Nick's
Writers: Christine Garver, Stephanie Jackson
Director: Marlo Hunter
Cast: Tammin Sursok, Brant Daugherty, Kathleen Elizabeth Monteleone, Ari Brand, Liz Keifer, Willie C. Carpenter
Tammin Sursok (Pretty Little Liars) plays Celeste, an astronomy professor at Hampstead University in Nondescript, New England. Her favorite Christmas tradition involves teaming up with the other holiday orphans left on campus, ambling into the local bar, and competing as the faculty team at St. Nick’s Christmas trivia tournament. Her band of misfits have plenty of passion but have yet to actually win — but their luck is about to change! With a two-time Jeopardy winner on their team, the Quizmas Elves are a lock for first place. You know where this is going: The champ bails on them, and Celeste is stuck trying to find a new teammate.
Brant Daugherty (Joyeux Noel) plays Max, Hampstead's new football coach, who just so happens to be in the right place at the right time re: bar trivia. Not only does his sports knowledge fill a major gap in the team's expertise, his coaching skills help bring the team together. This doesn't sit well with Celeste, even though she does love winning. The athletics department is her enemy because they get all the resources! Can she squash this one-sided beef in time to secure the victory she's sought for so long?
Home For the Holidays: As mentioned above, our setting is the fictional Hampstead University, somewhere in the American Northeast. Funnily enough, the only real Hampstead University in America is now Mississippi College. Wow, you sure do learn a lot of weird trivia while reviewing Hallmark movies!
'Twas the Night Before This Movie: The movie starts with Celeste giving her TA, Ruby (Bekah Zornosa), the hard sell re: St. Nick's trivia: "It's a tradition going back 45 years. Faculty, residents — basically anyone here for the break — goes to Nick's bar to compete in a six-game tournament and the championship game is on Christmas Eve. It's joyous, competitive, and all the questions are about Christmas!" That last claim is dubious, considering that one of the trivia questions is just about athletes named Chris, but I'll let it slide.
Also, a chef's kiss emoji to this line of dialogue, which is how Celeste greets her on-campus bestie Ashley (Kathleen Elizabeth Monteleone): "Like I always say, 'Football is everything wrong with this university.'"
They Brought Presence: Can I please hijack this review and turn it into an appreciation post for Allison McKay, credited as Octogenarian Professor? She's the incredibly stylish scene-stealer during the tense buffet scene. You can't miss her — her glasses are so iconic they could pull focus from Meryl Streep. In addition to appearing in an episode of Elsbeth and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire in 2024, McKay also had a recurring role on The Paul Lynde Show in 1972! A legend!
Ho Ho Ho: Okay, there's so much more to this movie that just the buffet scene, but this line from Celeste to Max killed me: "Excuse me, hi. You're doing the buffet line wrong."
As Advertised: God bless Hallmark for not naming this movie “Up on the Housetop” or something generic... although I would've accepted “It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Quizmas.”
In the 2024 Countdown to Christmas lineup, I believe Trivia at St. Nick's might just be the primo example of middle-of-the-road Hallmark quality. Like, when your friend who doesn't know Tyler Hynes from Benjamin Ayres thinks about Hallmark movies, this is what they imagine. The performances are more fun than true, the pace is brisk, the vibe is pleasant, and the patter is snappy. The movie is built around an off-kilter holiday tradition that everyone cares about way too much, and the stakes are about as high as a kitten heel.
The one area where the movie gets a little out ahead of its peers is in the jokes department. The opening back and forth between Celeste and her soon-to-be-rival TA is sharp and self-aware, which sets the tone of the movie well. But the movie falls a little short in the overall Christmas-iness that you want from these movies. A holiday-themed rock climbing wall? Sure, if you say so! Trivia at St. Nick's is a movie that's made to be enjoyed in half-hour chunks between moments in your holiday schedule — and that is fine! That's what we want!
