Molly Parker

(On Cable TV, July 2020) Hallmark Christmas movies get a bad rep as repetitive repetitions of familiar clichés and empty platitudes, and I’m sure most would agree that we don’t need more movies repeating the premise of Groundhog Day. Maybe that explains why Pete’s Christmas ends up being a small pleasant surprise. As you may guess, the central premise is to have Christmas Day on repeat, seen from the perspective of an overlooked middle child teenager who, at least at first go, has the most terrible holiday anyone could ask for. Some vague supernatural shenanigans later, the loop begins. If you’ve seen Groundhog Day, the overall arc will feel intensely familiar: disbelief, understanding, random mischief, hedonism, then slow accretion of good actions to improve others’ lives, followed by the end of the loop. Then you combine it with the usual Christmas movie clichés—snow, food, song and family values—not to mention flat directing and low-budget production values. It shouldn’t work, but it does: even in its mechanistic repetitive fashion, Pete’s Christmas slowly builds charm and the amount of indulgence that it needs to run over a sometimes-rough script and obvious plot hooks. Zachary Gordon does turn in a fine lead performance, with Bruce Dern and Molly Parker most noticeable in supporting roles. The gradual resolution of the many issues is handled in non-chronological fashion (or at least that’s how I choose to interpret it, the alternative being a much less satisfying script), with the various characters getting a chance to explain themselves and for the protagonist to walk further along in his path to self-enlightenment. Pete’s Christmas does keep the Buddhist spiritual undertones of its inspiration, although I’m not sure if that’s by design or carryover accident. Still, as far as Christmas movies go, it combines two formulas to end up with a nice little spin. Not what we’d call a great movie, but something a bit better than average if you’re expecting just another Hallmark holiday special.