Jingle Bell Heist (2025)

I really want to force a bunch of Hallmark executives to sit down and watch Jingle Bell Heist. Conceptually, the movie is built on a similar framework to the one used in last year's The Christmas Quest (both also feature a Notorious-style kiss), but this delivers what Hallmark's attempt lacked: a bit of actual payoff in the genre department. Before you read this as too complimentary, I'll add that this is also within the ballpark of what Hallmark could achieve. It's a solid little Christmas romantic comedy with a significant number of heist elements, but I don't expect it to land on anyone's top 10 lists in either genre. Still, it's a good pick for anyone looking for a holiday romance delivering the warmth of Hallmark that doesn't need to adhere to every regulation regarding sex and language. So basically a lighthearted, PG-equivalent romantic holiday adventure.

This was directed by Michael Fimognari, who's main claim to fame is frequently serving as a cinematographer for Mike Flanagan. Fimognari also handled the cinematography here, in addition to directing, and the movie looks pretty good, particularly considering it was probably a relatively cheap production (I haven't seen any budget estimates, but based on the cast and direct-to-streaming distribution, "low" seems like a safe assumption). Where the movie stumbles is in the staging of dialogue scenes where the leads are loudly and publicly planning crimes. It's obviously not a big problem - we understand these occur in a magical reality where no one ever overhears something said right in front of them - but this is the kind of thing you expect to handled with a bit more care in heist movies. It's a reminder that you're really watching a movie with genre elements, rather than a full genre fusion.

The script, written by Abby McDonald and Amy Reed, is humorous and a large part of why the movie works. The caveat to this is that the third act breaks a few cardinal rules in the genre by introducing a character who serves as a new mastermind to the thieves and who functionally turns down the difficulty level at the last minute. It's a bizarre choice seemingly tossed in to be surprising and to set up a few twists at the end which....

Okay, here's the thing: you're not going to be surprised by either twist. The "big reveal" is telegraphed early and is ridiculously obvious, and - assuming you remember what genres you're watching - you're not going to be the least bit surprised by the last-minute change in plans. If you're a big enough fan of Hallmark (and Hallmark-adjacent) Christmas movies, that might actually be a feature. This is one of those cases where the unsurprising surprise could be interpreted as reassuring, rather than disappointing. Hell, I wouldn't be shocked if one or more of the "twists" was set up to allow the audience to feel good for catching them in advance.

However, fans of heist movies may find all this underwhelming. Despite the supposed risk of imprisonment (and more concrete personal consequences), the movie ratchets down the tension, rather than building it up. A big part of what makes the twists so obvious is you're not distracted by the suspense, because - frankly there isn't much. This isn't the kind of the movie where the heroes are arrested and sent to jail at the end. It's more focused on the question of "will they or won't they?" with every frame assuring you that the answer is, "they will."

If it weren't for the score (composed by Steve Hackman), I don't think this would work as a heist, at all. But the jazzy music maintains the sense of cool that movies of this type require. It keeps everything fun and smooths over the schism between genres. And in the end, it all ties together nice enough to work as a good time. If that sounds like something you'd be interested in, feel free to click away now, because I don't have much more to say about this movie that isn't spoiling the hell out of the plot. Not that spoilers are liable to make a huge difference - you're probably going to figure out the big stuff, anyway - but I still want to give you the choice.

Our leads are Sophie (Olivia Holt), an American living in London to get her mother the healthcare she requires, and Nick (Connor Swindells), an ex-con who was arrested for supposedly installing a security system then robbing the movie's antagonist, Sterling (Peter Serafinowicz, by far the most recognizable actor present). Sophie is currently working from (and stealing petty cash from) Sterling's department store. A trained magician, she's an excellent pick-pocket and locksmith. Nick, on the other hand, is trying to make enough money repairing computers to stay in his daughter's life - his ex left him after his arrest, and he's behind on child support.

The two team up to rob Sterling, only to discover he's robbed himself first (and not for the first time - it's eventually revealed Nick was framed). They change their target from the backroom of the store to a safe hidden in Stirling's office, but to gain access they require a MacGuffin hidden in his house. With a great deal of prompting, Nick is convinced to try seducing Stirling's wife, Cynthia (Lucy Punch). This goes... poorly, as it turns out Cynthia isn't a moron, and unlike everyone else in the universe is able to hear/see things happening around her. She quickly corners Nick and Sophie and... wants in.

She gives them the MacGuffin and upgrades their plan to one that could actually work. And Nick and Sophie begin the Christmas Eve infiltration, making their way to Sterling's office after hours. Once they're inside, Nick discovers something Sophie knew all along: the MacGuffin only gets them so far. They can't open the vault itself with a DNA match. And there's absolutely no possible way they could get Sterling's DNA. I mean, that would require him or one of his immediate family members be...

Sigh. Did I forget to mention that Sophie earlier told Nick her backstory, which involved her mother raising her alone, because her rich father refused to acknowledge her existence as a child and threatened her mother? No? Because the movie's pretty direct in establishing that, so - assuming you've seen a movie before - you know it's just a matter of time until we reveal that Sophie's doing this to take back the support her mother never received.

Only she's not really "taking" anything. The secret last-minute reveal is the actual plan isn't to take anything out of the vault, but to place the valuables Sterling stole from his store inside, then lure him and the police to the office, implicating him in both the recent robbery and the one he pinned on Nick a few years earlier. All of this was Cynthia's idea, incidentally - she gave them the location and access to the stolen goods and planned all the details, promising to set them up for life if they pulled it off. The end of the movie implies she was as good as her word - Sterling's arrested, Nick and Sophie get together, and all the good guys get together for dinner a year later, when Sophie's mom is out of the hospital.

In addition to being a bit anticlimactic to have Cynthia show up as a last minute mastermind, it also undermines some of the more interesting themes around class the movie had been building. Until then, this was really a story of the underprivileged taking back what the rich had effectively stolen from them. Sophie's introduction establishes her as a sort of Robin Hood, and even when she's ostensibly stealing for herself, it's really to save and take care of her mother. But while Cynthia has legitimate grievances of her own (she is, after all, being exploited and at least emotionally abused by her manipulative husband), she's still coded as wealthy and aristocratic. For her to step in and effectively save the protagonists shifts the narrative to one where a benevolent rich woman teams up with and generously rewards the good guys. The whole ending has a "not all rich people are bad vibe" that comes across as unnecessarily conciliatory. While there's certainly precedent for stories about wealthy individuals helping those in need at the holidays, the fact she's a peripheral character for the bulk of the runtime makes the whole thing feel like a copout. This was shaping up to offer a statement about those in power but shied away at the last minute.

That's not the biggest deal in terms of the experience of watching this. Jingle Bell Heist is funny, sweet, and just all around entertaining. At the same time, the movie's fear of villainizing the rich, coupled with some genre faux pas, place a cap on just how good it is. This one's enjoyable but not quite exceptional. But if you like the idea of a Christmas heist romcom and don't want to rewatch Fitzwilly, you could do a lot worse than this.