Danielle Panabaker Wins It All in “Christmas Joy”

“Wait, full stop. Crystal Falls has a cookie crawl and a gingerbread competition?” That gently amused question from Joy Holbrook (Danielle Panabaker) goes a long way toward setting the tone for Christmas Joy, the latest original holiday movie from Hallmark Channel.

Christmas Joy follows the Hallmark holiday movie template (don’t forget your bingo cards!), but with just enough deviation and a healthy dollop of leading lady charm to keep it from being formulaic.

Panabaker plays Joy, a workaholic brand researcher (she runs consumer focus groups and other marketing research projects) who lives in Washington, D.C. She loves her work and, as we see in the opening scenes, she’s good at it. While establishing her professional life, Joy is shown looking beyond the “brick and mortar is dead” consensus to how her client, Weatherton’s department store, is bucking the trend and drawing customers through tradition and customer service. 

Sorry, didn’t mean to get all business-y there, but I’m a little excited that 1. Joy isn’t yet another baker or chef or event planner and 2. we see her being good at her work in a specific way. The fact that she understands the Weatherton brand is important later in the movie.

Speaking of branding, Balsam Hill gets not only a brand name close up but their Christmas trees, garland, and ornaments get glamor shots during the climactic final minutes of the movie. I’m not even mad: the decorations are gorgeous and go a long way toward making Christmas Joy look expensive. (No, I’m not being paid to say that or link to their site. I wish I could afford one of their trees, though.)

Back to the story. As Joy wraps up her latest focus group for Weatherton’s, she gets a call from her Aunt Ruby’s best friend telling her that Ruby fell and hurt her ankle while trying to get down Christmas decorations for the annual cookie crawl. Joy is up for a promotion and trying to put in her best work, but she quickly arranges with her boss to work remotely and makes the five-hour drive to fictional Crystal Falls, North Carolina.

The setting here is something of a mystery. I appreciate that we’re not in “generic New England” or “the Pacific Northwest” again, but why North Carolina? And why is it constantly snowing? One of my best friends lives in Charlotte, North Carolina and was stumped as to which part of the state would have snow every day in December. We later find out the Crystal Falls is “commuting distance” from Charlotte, so…? We get zero Southern traditions or other influences throughout the movie. It really could have been set in “generic New England”; at least the snow would have made more sense. 

Once she arrives in preternaturally snowy Crystal Falls, Joy goes straight to the hospital to see Ruby who is lamenting the timing of this injury. You see, the cookie crawl is just a week away and she hasn’t even started preparing! Enter Ben (Matt Long), hottie hospital administrator (another unique profession!) and son of Ruby’s bestie. He and Joy are passing acquaintances; he was already in college when she moved in with Ruby at age 15 following her mother’s death, but he did take her to a movie once. 

Ben is clean cut, has a stable job, and hits the “loves and respects his mother but isn’t a mama’s boy” sweet spot. It turns out he’s also co-chaired the cookie crawl with Ruby for the past four years, all of which have been award-winning efforts. Ruby really wants to win the Golden Wreath for the fifth year in a row, but how can she when she’s stuck in a hospital bed? 

Unsurprisingly, Joy volunteers to take over preparations. By herself. She doesn’t need any help from Ben, thank you very much. This is expressed sweetly, but firmly. And, it turns out, erroneously. The cookie crawl involves decorating the house according to a theme and baking about 7 million holiday treats. Joy finally admits she needs help and calls Ben who happily resumes co-chair responsibilities.

As they work together, they become closer and sparks begin to fly. Ben is clearly feeling it more strongly than Joy at first, and he’s also clearly conflicted. You see, Ben has an ex-wife, a “woman from the big city” whose preferred lifestyle didn’t mesh with Ben’s smalltown ways. Still feeling the sting of that ill-matched relationship, he’s reluctant to admit or pursue feelings for Joy. They share a moment while decorating, but he pulls back and she lets him.

We don’t actually get much from Joy about her feelings for Ben. She’s attracted to him, but her mind is occupied with her aunt, memories of her mother, work responsibilities, the cookie crawl, judging the gingerbread competition after the original judge dropped out because her baby came a week early, and getting back to D.C. in time for the company’s Christmas gala. The woman has a lot on her plate without a conflicted suitor adding to the load!

Once we have the setup, the rest of the story is fairly generic, elevated by Panabaker. Her acting is effortless and natural. Even when faced with the cheese inherent in Hallmark movies, she breezes right past it with a wink and a bit of gentle humor, like the quote that opened this review. Panabaker plays Joy as unaffected, sweet, the girl next door, but also very bright and creative. In a little side plot, she impresses the sponsor of the gingerbread contest with a new blind voting system, neatly reminding us that she’s good at her day job. That’s a good bit of writing and acting. 

After the gingerbread competition, Joy and Ben take a quick minute to acknowledge The Moment and the awkwardness between them, then Joy heads back to D.C. to the company gala. Ben realizes that his feelings for Joy are the real deal and decides to surprise her at the gala. He drives five hours, in a tux, only to have crushing doubts assault him upon arrival. Not only are the waiters the only other people wearing tuxes, Ben sees Joy being confident and enjoying herself at the gala and decides she’s another “city woman” and therefore not for him. She sees him briefly before he turns tail and runs.

I don’t have a lot of sympathy for Ben here. Yes, his marriage fell apart because he and his ex-wife wanted different lifestyles. This is definitely an emotional barrier for him. Unfortunately, the scene plays out as petulance and childishness. Not helped at all by Ben ignoring Joy’s calls for the next couple of days. If he had taken her call or bothered to speak with her at the gala, she could have told him that she’d just quit her job and decided to move back to Crystal Falls. She’s still ambitious but realizes that she wants to be closer to family and, it’s implied, to Ben. 

We still have the cookie crawl to find our happily ever after, though. Ruby loves the theme and the house really is beautiful, thanks in no small part to the forest of Balsam Hill product placement Christmas trees and other greenery. 

I was expecting a romantic resolution, but not a professional one. During the cookie crawl, which does earn Aunt Ruby her fifth Golden Wreath, Joy is surprised by Mrs. Weatherton, owner of Weatherton’s department store. She has family in nearby Charlotte and decided to experience the cookie crawl Joy mentioned to her earlier. She also came to offer Joy a leadership position in Weatherton’s new, in-house market research department at the new company HQ in Charlotte. Voila! A promotion and Joy can commute from Crystal Falls. 

Still savoring her professional win, Joy turns to see Ben arriving. They share a look, then, without speaking, head outside to talk. This is one of the most elegant scenes I remember from a Hallmark movie and, again, I think it works because Panabaker makes acting look effortless. Their reconciliation is sweet and chaste and yet another win for Joy. 

Christmas Joy premieres Saturday, November 3 at 9/8c on Hallmark Channel. Check out our 2018 Holiday Movie Guide for the scoop on 60+ original holiday movies premiering this season!