Hallmark For All Seasons

“The Santa Stakeout,” starring Tamera Mowry-Housley, Paul Campbell, and Joe Pantoliano, aired on October 24, 2021 during the premiere weekend of 2021’s Countdown to Christmas on Hallmark Channel. Regular Hallmark actor Peter Benson directed (he also directed the fantastic Sweet Carolina earlier this year), while Gregg Rossen & Brian Sawyer provided the screenplay. The movie was filmed in Vancouver just a few months ago.

Of note from a location standpoint, the house where the Christmas party took place is the same house used in Just My Type and Right in Front of Me.  I LOVE that house.

And the movie poster?  It’s the third one in a row that is amazing.  Hallmark is knocking it out of the park this year.

In a nutshell

Paul Campbell playing an undercover cop against Joey Pants?  The minute I heard that, I knew this movie would be a favorite.  Add in lots of Christmas-y feels and a great, humor-filled script, and this movie was so much fun to watch!

The Plot of “The Santa Stakeout”

Tanya is a police detective who is reluctantly partnered with fellow detective Ryan to solve a recent string of heists taking place during high-profile holiday parties around town. They go undercover as newlyweds Tasha and Rupert, moving into the vacant house next to Mr. Miller, the jovial chair of the community’s Christmas committee…and the prime suspect in the case. As Tanya and Ryan partake in the neighborhood’s holiday happenings to keep up appearances and crack the case, they get swept up in Christmas. Before they know it, their cover story as a couple in love starts to become reality. 

Actors & Chemistry

This cast was perfect, but really the kudos for this movie go mainly to Campbell and Mowry-Housley, who were so well paired.  And while Mowry-Housley was playing the “straight man” to Campbell’s comedy, she did really well in developing her character to be something more than just the person that sets up the jokes for the other actor.  And this resulted in my liking BOTH Tanya and Ryan during the entire movie, versus one of the characters having to win me over.

I can’t say much more than that, other than to request that Hallmark consider making these two characters a regular thing and give them a mystery series that is just as funny as this movie.

Tropes

Our main characters do not get along at the start and end up in a fake relationship due to a misunderstanding.  Miller’s house had a front porch. We had caroling, tree shopping and decorating, and plenty of hot cocoa. Tanya wore a couple of large scarves and we had a figurative snow angel during a game of charades.

CGI showed up at some point and then Tanya and Ryan dressed up like elves for the Christmas party. At the party there was an almost kiss.  And then when we had the movie ending kiss, it began snowing.

Did I Hear/See That Right?

Did Tanya and Ryan REALLY think they’d fit in as waiters at the Christmas party when Mr. Miller was also there as Santa?  Did they think he wouldn’t recognize them?  It’s not like they were wearing masks to cover their faces.  And then they slow danced to “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.”

It made no sense for the police chief to take Tanya and Ryan off the case when they found one of the missing paintings in the back of Miller’s car and likely could have gotten the info from Miller if he was the perpetrator.

At the end of the movie when they surprised Miller at his house, those cups of eggnog were filled with something solid, not eggnog.  The liquid NEVER MOVED, no matter how much gesturing those good folks did with those mugs.

Feelgoods

Definitely had a feelgood moment when Ryan asked Tanya out while they were dancing and she didn’t even let him finish before she said yes.

And if I’m honest, the whole dang movie was a giant feelgood because Joey Pantoliano was in it.  He always plays bad guys in movies (and quite convincingly at that), so to see him as a sweet neighbor was a nice surprise.  Some people may not know that last summer he was hit by a car and suffered severe injuries, including a traumatic brain injury.  But I was so happy to see he’s still got incredible magnetism on screen.  It must have been such a delight to work with him.

General Thoughts

I took very few notes during this movie because I just wanted to sit back and enjoy it.  And enjoy it I did!  I am absolutely in love with this movie because it was not a rom-com.  It was a com-rom.  I laughed out loud many, many times watching this and love that director Peter Benson let Paul Campbell just let loose and have fun.

Re-watchability

Oh, “The Santa Stakeout” is NOT getting deleted from my DVR. Ever.  If ever I have someone over to my house that says they’ve never watched a Hallmark Christmas movie, this is the one I’m putting on to show them that they can be really fun.

The Ranking

No surprises here – “The Santa Stakeout” took the top spot.  Not only that, but in my overall Hallmark movie standings, it sits in THIRD place overall across over 250 movies. I. LOVED. THIS. MOVIE.

1. The Santa Stakeout (air date: Oct 24) – 730 pts – weighted score: 122.3 (85.8%)
2. You, Me and The Christmas Trees (air date: Oct 22) – 716 pts – weighted score: 121.3 (85.1%)
3. Crashing Through The Snow (air date: July 10) – 705 pts – weighted score: 118.1 (82.8%)
4. Boyfriends of Christmas Past (air date: Oct 23) – 673 pts – weighted score: 116.1 (81.5%)
5. It Was Always You (air date: Feb 27) – 668 pts – weighted score: 114.2 (80.1%)
6. You Had Me At Aloha (air date: June 5) – 675 pts – weighted score: 111.4 (78.1%)
7. Sweet Carolina (air date: May 15) – 648 pts – weighted score: 110.1 (77.2%)
8. Taking a Shot at Love (air date: Jan 2) – 641 pts – weighted score: 108.9 (76.4%)
9. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (air date: Mar 27) – 636 pts – weighted score: 108.5 (76.1%)
10. Right in Front of Me (air date: Apr 18) – 637 pts – weighted score: 108.0 (75.8%)
11. As Luck Would Have It (air date: Apr 10) – 638 pts – weighted score: 107.7 (75.5%)
12. Her Pen Pal (air date: June 19) – 636 pts – weighted score: 107.1 (75.1%)
13. The Baker’s Son (air date: June 13) – 637 pts – weighted score: 106.3 (74.6%)
14. Love Strikes Twice (air date: Oct 2) – 608 pts – weighted score: 105.2 (73.8%)
15. A Winter Getaway (air date: Jan 23) – 620 pts – weighted score: 104.4 (73.3%)
16. Love, For Real (air date: July 31) – 607 pts – weighted score: 103.6 (72.7%)
17. Rise and Shine, Benedict Stone (air date: Oct 1) – 595 pts – weighted score: 103.0 (72.2%)
18. Mix Up in the Mediterranean (air date: Feb 20) – 590 pts – weighted score: 102.5 (71.9%)
19. Advice to Love By (air date: Oct 16) – 599 pts – weighted score: 102.2 (71.7)
20. Two For The Win (air date: Jan 16) – 603 pts – weighted score: 101.8 (71.4%)
21. Taking the Reins (air date: Sept 28) – 574 pts – weighted score: 101.2 (71.0%)
22. Raise a Glass to Love (air date: Sept 18) – 590 pts – weighted score: 100.7 (70.7%)
23. Chasing Waterfalls (air date: Mar 20) – 570 pts – weighted score: 100.3 (70.4%)
24. Roadhouse Romance (air date: Sept 11) – 571 pts – weighted score: 100.2 (70.3%)
25. Sweet Pecan Summer (air date: ) – 576 pts – weighted score: 97.3 (68.3%)
26. Sand Dollar Cove (air date: June 26) – 557 pts – weighted score: 96.8 (67.9%)
27. Hearts Down Under (air date: Apr 24) – 547 pts – weighted score: 95.2 (66.8%)
28. Fit for a Prince (air date: Mar 6) – 546 pts – weighted score: 94.6 (66.4%)
29. A New Year’s Resolution (air date: Jan 9) – 516 pts – weighted score: 90.5 (63.5%)
30. Finding Love in Mountain View (air date: ) – 504 pts – weighted score: 89.5 (62.8%)
31. A Little Daytime Drama (air date: Aug 21) – 511 pts – weighted score: 87.7 (61.5%)
32. Baby, It’s Cold Inside (air date: May 8) – 495 pts – weighted score: 85.6 (60.0%)
33. Playing Cupid (air date: Feb 13) – 466 pts – weighted score: 82.6 (58.0%)
34. Beverly Hills Wedding (air date: Feb 6) – 431 pts – weighted score: 80.6 (56.5%)
35. Journey of my Heart (air date: ) – 450 pts – weighted score: 76.0 (53.3%)
36. Snowkissed (air date: Jan 31) – 402 pts – weighted score: 76.0 (53.3%)

To see where this movie lands in my overall rankings of Hallmark movies, visit my Hallmark Movie Rankings page!

What did you think of “The Santa Stakeout”?  Comment below and let me know!