For many people, a familiar pastime in the weeks leading up to major winter holidays is gathering with family members and watching holiday movies, be they in a theater or on television. During the month of December, as has become tradition, the Falls Free Press will reprise “The 12 Films of Christmas,” focusing on new holiday movies for the year 2022—a year that can still do with plenty of peace and joy. We will review each film, whether naughty or nice, and let you know where to watch.
Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus have plenty to do on Christmas Eve, but what about the week leading up to the big day? Surely they couldn’t be too busy. What about running a week-long Christmas event Santa training camp? Directed by 90s TV teen witch Melissa Joan Hart, Lifetime’s Santa Bootcamp follows this exact scenario as Rita Morena plays Belle– a loving yet gruff drill sergeant of a Christmas trainer with possibly even more specials, CDs, and awards than Moreno herself– finding the hidden talent in a small group of Christmas go-getters who stumble into her class.
Not to be confused with HBO Max’s documentary Santa Camp, Santa Bootcamp introduces small town event planner Emily Strauss (Emily Kinney from The Walking Dead) who gets an expensive client looking for an elaborate corporate Christmas party in the park with the perfect Santa Claus, not unlike Edmund Gwenn’s portrayal in Miracle on 34th Street. To find the best Santa for the job, Emily turns to Belle for assistance, only to get pulled into the camp herself, alongside the company’s chef, Aiden (Justin Gaston). By participating in the Christmas cheer enhancement program, Emily discovers not only what is missing from her big shot corporate party, but also the reasons she doesn’t care about the holiday season– other than to make extra money, as well as learn to love.
While Bootcamp includes tropes from the Hallmark & Lifetime holiday movie writers’ guide, it feels more like Lifetime movies of the past, before the homogenization of made-for-television holiday films, when viewers could be more surprised by the magic of these films instead of playing film character bingo. A side story about Emily’s deaf mother allows her to comfort a child while playing Mrs. Claus, which also provides the audience a new outlook from the point-of-view of both the hearing impaired, as well as CODA (children of deaf adults).
In discussing the holiday with this child, she explains that adults can sometimes forget what Christmas means to children and others who are always in the spirit, often putting up barriers like corporate meetings. As the barrage of holiday films on these networks roll out before Thanksgiving, all under the banner of “holiday cheer” and “countdown to Christmas,” it feels as if the television networks have fallen into the same hole Emily talks about, choosing constant films with the same stories over actual childlike wonder. Thankfully, between the script and Hart’s direction, Santa Bootcamp is far from lacking wonder. Although never specifically said throughout, Belle and her husband Chris (played by John Schuck), truly are Mr and Mrs. Santa Claus, ending the film by flying off into the sky in their classic car.
Although it may not be the best Christmas movie in the last decade–or even the best Lifetime film this year– Santa Bootcamp is a fun love story that reminds us to have fun during the holiday season, as well as have sympathy for the few remaining mall Santas working this season.
Santa Bootcamp is available to watch on Lifetime.
