Oy to Joy

Hallmark’s Hanukkah based holiday movies of recent years have been some of their better ones, so I was cautiously looking forward to this one. The title seemed a little iffy but I do like Jake Epstein in most everything, and I thought he had really good chemistry with Brooke D’Orsay, his co-lead. Overall this was a pretty standard enemies to lovers plot, although both were so nice and family and faith oriented that I use the term “enemies” with a huge grain of salt. It was very sweet, if a little too good to be true. But you know what? It’s Christmas.

Nikki and Jake were childhood friends who at some point became rivals during their high school years. It all probably had it’s beginnings in their opposing personality traits. Nikki being structured, organized, and serious, and Jake being free-wheeling, unfocused, and fun. In a flashback scene we see Nikki getting up to sing “Joy to the World” in front of the whole school. She hits a bad note, her voice breaks, and she runs off the stage in embarrassment only to see Jake backstage smirking at her. The whole experience was so devastating to her that she quit singing in public despite her love of music. She is now the “choir director” of her father’s Episcopalian Church. I put that in quotes because the choir consists of 4 kids one of whom quits mid-movie. This is apparently her only job because she is in her mid-thirties and seems like she is still living at home, although I may be wrong about that. This struck me as pretty sad though it does not seem to be an issue and no mention is made of it. Jake, on the other hand is a singer/songwriter in New York City and has enjoyed moderate success though he has yet to get his big break with an actual record deal. His dad is the rabbi at the temple across the street from Nikki’s church and their families are close. When the pipes burst at the temple, and Jake’s grandmother injures herself in a resulting fall, it brings Jake home to take her place as the temple’s choir director. Not using quotes because his choir has 5 teens in it.

Needless to say (a phrase often used when talking about Hallmark movies), The two single thirty-somethings continue their rivalry while simultaneously falling in love. The tipping point is kind of sweet. Nikki and Jake make a wager that if Nikki’s family loses a bowling match to Jake’s family, Nikki will have to get up and sing in front of the whole bowling alley. On the verge of winning the bet, Jake purposely throws a gutter ball to lose the match when he sees how horrified and sick Nikki becomes at the prospect of singing publicly. When one of Nikki’s 4 choir members quits the choir because under her direction, the choir is no fun (poor Nikki! Again, so lame) the two choirs are merged under their dual direction for a big concert on Christmas Eve (which also happens to be the last day of Hanukkah) at Father Paul’s church. The joint effort will be raising money for Rabbi Levi’s broken pipes. To kick off the extravaganza, Nikki and Jake will sing the fateful “Joy to the World”. And Nikki is fine with that because Jake will be there by her side and supporting her. Won’t he? I mean surely he will not be called away back to New York for a big career break on that very day! Will he?!

Needless to say, we have a flirty baking scene complete with flour throwing, in which Nikki’s gentile gingerbread cookies recipe gets mixed up with Jake’s Jewish rugelach cookies recipe and they are delicious. The symbolism reflects the whole movie’s message which is peace, love and acceptance between the two religions and amongst people everywhere, despite their underlying differences. Yes, it was very cheesy, but it is tough times these days and I welcomed the message wholeheartedly. I won’t comment how accurate and faithful certain things in this movie were to Jewish customs and culture because I am not qualified to do so. But I did detect a few Jewish stereotypes, and I had to cringe when the Jewish part of the congregation had to listen and smile to a song which celebrates baby Jesus as the king of the world. To be fair, the Hanukkah song written by Jake was really beautiful. It was a very sweet comfort movie. And thanks to these Hallmark movies I can now spell Hanukkah without looking it up.