Danielle Solzman
Double Holiday is one of two Hallmark Channel original films to incorporate Chanukah but the reality is that this film is more Xmas than anything else.
The gist of the film is that cubicle mates Rebecca Hoffman (Carly Pope) and Chris Coulter (Kristoffer Polaha) are fighting for a promotion. They’re forced together to team up and plan the Bennett and Swanson holiday party in order to woo the foundation run by Mel Jenson. As all of this starts to begin, Rebecca has to start getting ready for the Hoffman family party for the first night of Chanukah. Chanukah soon takes a backseat. This is because of the promotion and wooing the Dorothy Jenson Foundation.
From the very moment that this film started, I knew I would have a sick feeling by the end of it. I went into it with an open mind thinking that there’s no way that they could screw this thing up. Folks, I’m sorry to say that they really screwed this film up. For starters, Chanukah is not just about the oil lasting miraculously for eight days. It’s about the fight against assimilation. To see a Jewish woman planning a holiday party (that’s just being PC because a holiday party with wreaths and trees do not a Chanukah party make) in hopes of obtaining a promotion by wooing a client tells us everything we need to know here.
The cell phone battery comparison to oil is such a cliche at this point that it’s so over done. Moreover, Double Holiday makes it seem that Chanukah is just about latkes, dreidel, and gelt. True but again, there’s much more here than the film even gets into. When Awful Chris tells Rebecca that he knows nothing of Chanukah, I find it hard to believe. You’re living in New York City! This is a city with the biggest Jewish population in America. And I’m supposed to believe that Chris is completely ignorant?!?
Musically speaking, the score is so full of Xmas songs. There is practically nothing when it comes to Chanukah music. No, the first blessing in the Chanukah blessings doesn’t count. Moreover, the film completely ignores the second blessing as well as the Shehecheyanu prayer recited only on the first night. Here’s a newsflash: you can’t even light the candles until AFTER those prayers are recited. There’s a complete absence of Maoz Tzur altogether.
If you’re looking for a Chanukah movie, skip Double Holiday and watch Full Court Miracle on Disney+ or The Hebrew Hammer. Double Holiday is a complete and utter joke because the film completely ignores the meaning of Chanukah.
DIRECTOR: Don McBrearty
SCREENWRITER: Nina Weinman
CAST: Carly Pope, Kristoffer Polaha, Laura Cilevitz, Barbara Eve Harris, Kyana Teresa, Matthew Stefiuk, Ellen David, Judah Katz, Chad Connell, Jamie Lauren Harris, Gryffin Hanvelt, Ceyon Crossfield, Paulino Nunes, Jane Luk, Jon Mclaren, Nick Allan
