Hallmark is poised to make history with The Holiday Sitter, the network’s first-ever holiday comedy starring a gay couple. After advocating inclusion as part of The Christmas house 1 and 2 Family cast Jonathan Bennett gets the lead role as a bachelor who learns he might be ready to settle down. is The Holiday Sitter the start of a bold new trend for Hallmark? Or is it… nope, there’s no other option here. It’s the start of a bold new trend, no matter what.
The essentials: Jonathan Bennett plays Sam Dalton, a proud bachelor who works as a wealth manager for high-end clients? Basically, rich people hire him to keep track of their spending and talk them out of buying things like yachts and tigers. Sam is ready to spend Christmas alone in Hawaii – and then he gets an offer he can’t refuse, even if he really would like to. Sam’s sister Kathleen (Chelsea Hobbs) and her husband Nate (Matthew James Dowden) have to travel when the baby they are adopting arrives earlier than expected. Who can take care of Kathleen and Nate’s two children, Miles (Everett Andes) and Dania (Mila Morgan)? Who could have plans so close to Christmas? Sam, that’s who!
Sam postpones his Hawaiian vacation and heads to the suburbs, where he meets Jason DeVito (George Krissa), Kathleen’s handsome single gay neighbor. Kathleen has neglected to mention Jason because she knows how committed her brother is and that Jason is in the process of adopting a child. With Jason’s help, Sam will learn how to shoot like the greats of all time… and maybe learn that this family thing isn’t so scary after all…
Which movies will it remind you of?: There is a little Three Wise Men and a Baby In Here, another of this year’s surprisingly original Hallmark films. And while The Holiday Sitter has all the appeal and charm of our favorite Hallmark vacation comedies, it truly offers something completely unique.
Notable performance: This is George Krissa’s second Hallmark film after a supporting role in Mays Road trip romance, and hopefully it’s just the beginning of a successful partnership. He really has a stoic charm that makes him seem both mature and mysterious at the same time — but he also has the smile of a Hallmark romance lead. Hallmark needs to start building its list of queer leads, and we’re hoping Krissa finds love in a movie of his own next year.
Memorable dialogue: When Sam finds out the vegan pancake shop is closed, shattering Dania’s breakfast dreams, he says to Jason, “Apparently it’s vegan pancakes or deep sighs of disappointment followed by a face I usually only see right before someone comes with.” breaking up with me.”
A holiday tradition: Sam’s nephew Miles gets a role in the annual Christmas play, The Life and Times of Santa Claus; there is the usual Christmas market (but no tree lights, at least that’s what we see); and we’re getting a new tradition in the form of a Christmas Lights Walk. There you walk around and look at the Christmas lights.
Two lovebirds: As mentioned above, you can definitely combine this with Three Wise Men and a Baby, another standout Hallmark entry from this year about men learning how to care for a child. You can also wait and pair until Friday December 16th The Holiday Sitter with Lifetime’s gay romantic Christmas film, A Christmas to sweetheart (with real-life spouses Taylor Frey and Kyle Dean Massey).
Does the title make sense?: Yes, it does. I find The Holiday Sitter is slightly better than The cottage sitter, that’s a mouthful. And it’s better than The Christmas sitterwhat – say it out loud and try not to sound like Randy Quaid Christmas holidays while emptying the septic tank of his RV.
Our opinion: I mean – it’s great. It’s not the most original Hallmark film of the year, nor the funniest, nor does it have the most star power — but it does The Holiday Sitter is great at all the things it took to be great. Because — to get the serious stuff out of the way above — America needs to see queer couples in vacation movies, Candace.
As I said The Christmas House in 2020, the inclusion of queer people (which should include more than just cis, white, gay men, btw) in family content like vacation movies helps the “gay agenda” tremendously — the “gay agenda” we want… to persist. If you’re from the South or the Midwest or just the rural parts of a state, chances are your mom and dad aren’t watching Were hereGrandma isn’t watching strange eyeYour somehow even more religious aunts and uncles won’t be watching Drag Race – but she Everyone Watch Hallmark vacation movies. And if they’re watching The Holiday Sitteryou will see that it is possible for two men to fall in love while baking pancakes, decorating stockings and singing “Silent Night”.
So yes, on this level The Holiday Sitter absolutely does the job. But I want to talk about two particular achievements that make this film stand out. First, there’s the Jonathan Bennett of everything. trademark has a a lot of fans’ favorite male lead, but Bennett is a new breed of lead. He appears to be the first leading actor to receive top billings in his films due to his exposure outside of the Hallmark channel. It’s the kind of star power that, to my knowledge, is only wielded by the women of the network (Lacey Chabert, Tamera Mowry-Housley, Jodie Sweetin, Holly Robinson Peete).
I really love that for Bennett because he’s absolutely on the same level as all these Hallmark heavy hitters. Watch him in The Holiday Sitter, I noticed how this script and role really played to its comedic strengths. There’s an exaggerated, worried bug-eyed look Bennett gives that reminds me so much of Lucille Ball. Bennett isn’t afraid to look silly, fall into a Christmas tree, or be stunned by a stove. He’s already a pro in this mood and it’s exciting to see where he goes next year and beyond.
The other big success: This is a story that would only be possible with a gay couple. They didn’t just take an existing script and change “Samantha” to “Sam” – or, I mean, when they did, they went in and reworked every page. The Holiday Sitter is a Christmas film about the incredibly unique bond between gay men and their nieces and nephews – family members who have long stood up for children because of the hurdles gay couples or gay men face when adopting. And the conversation between Sam and his sister towards the end of the film that explains why he was always scared of having a family? No spoilers, but it’s a miracle to see a shared lived experience finally reflected on screen for so many members of the Hallmark audience.
And on top of that, it’s just a funny movie. What a gift.
Our appeal: Stream it. Hallmark put on the gay clothes, y’all.