We’ve known for a while that Hallmark no longer has a monopoly on the Christmas romance, but Prime Video‘s Dating Santa proves the genre has gone absolutely global. When single mom Lucía (Ana Serradilla) finds love with handsome chef Sergio (David Chocarro), she concocts a wild plan to endear him to her Christmas-obsessed daughter (Olivia Duflos): He’ll pretend to be Santa. Does Lucía’s naughty trick produce a film fun enough to wind up on our nice list?
Opening Shot: We see an adorable snowflake ornament made out of popsicle sticks. More homemade ornaments cascade down from the ceiling and we pan down to a little girl writing a letter to Santa. What is her Christmas wish? Well, I guess we have to find out… This is…Dating Santa.
The Gist: Lucía is a career-minded single mother whose dating life is non-existent. She reluctantly goes on a blind date set up by her sister Pía. The twist? She immediately falls head over heels for Sergio, the hunky chef she’s paired with. Even though they live in separate cities, the two decide to keep their romance going for a whole year. So what’s the problem? Lucía has a Christmas-obsessed daughter named Leonora who wants nothing more in life than for their family to stay a two-some forever.
Sergio surprises Lucía by taking two weeks off from work and arriving on her doorstep in a Santa hat and red chef’s coat. When Leo catches them, she freaks out. To soften the blow that Mommy has a boyfriend, she tells Leo that her boyfriend is the real Santa Claus. Sergio, to his credit, immediately tells his lady love to be honest with her daughter. So does her sister. However, things go awry when Leo tells some taunting kids her mom’s dating Santa. When a crying Leo tells her that the kids said she’s a liar and that her mom’s a liar and Santa’s not real, Lucía decides to extend the ruse… Sergio has to be Santa and the resort where he works will be the “North Pole.”
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: While a coworker quipped that its concept evokes the bachelor Santa vibe of Tim Allen’s The Santa Clause franchise, I’d argue that it felt more like a reverse Parent Trap meets a Love Actually storyline. The energy of this film felt more Richard Curtis than Hallmark and it’s family friendly fare about two adults trying to stay together by pulling one over on a kid.
Performance Worth Watching: Argentinian hottie David Chocarro is an absolute dreamboat as hot chef-turned-hot Santa Sergio. No wonder his IMDB profile reveals he’s got quite a career as a romantic lead in Spanish language flicks (including at least one other Prime Video title).
Memorable Dialogue: There’s a lot of cute lines throughout the film, but one actually made my Grinch heart giggle. When Sergio unveils a “Gingerbread House,” which is just a stone home covered in bits of cardboard, the jig is almost up when Leo tries to eat part of the staircase.
Leonora: Is this a cookie?
Lucía: No.
Sergio: No!
Lucía: No, my love, you can’t eat it and you can’t touch it. It’s like…similar to an archeological site. You respect it.
Sergio: Exactly. These cookies are over a thousand years old.
Leonora: Wow.
Lucía: Yes, they are like our protected “House of Christmas.”
But if I’m being serious, the most memorable lines come at the end when Sergio declares his love with an emotional callback: “All I know is fire can’t exist without air.”
A Holiday Tradition: This film is chockfull of familiar traditions, from elementary school pageants to tree lighting. However, the new one that took me by surprise was one in which Leonora insisted her mother decorate their car with massive plush ears, tail, and a red nose to spread the holiday spirit. The one I’m most likely to emulate? Chef Sergio’s Mexican twist on a s’more — roasted marshmallow and chocolate sauce in a tortilla.
Does the Title Make Any Sense?: Absolutely! This is as straight-forward as titles in this genre come. Lucía is literally dating Santa…or so Leonora believes.
Our Take: I’m going to be straight with you: the holiday movie genre is not usually my cup of tea. I went in to this film with full on expectations to experience a type of psychological torture reserved for inmates in POW camps. So it came as a shock when I found myself emotionally invested in Lucía and Sergio’s romance from the jump. Part of this comes down to the great, sexy performances of Ana Serradilla and David Chocarro, and part of it is thanks to a screenplay that never tries to adopt the conservative values that are usually grafted onto most holiday romances. Like, sure, film wants to see Lucía and Sergio committed to each other — and Leo — in order to give the audience catharsis. But Lucía is never shamed for conceiving her daughter during a holiday party one night stand or prioritizing her career. In fact, the only time she leaves the big city is to visit the resort town where her hot, famous chef boyfriend works.
So, yeah, I was mostly enchanted by Dating Santa. My one issue? Leonora. This child is next level annoying. Hilariously, her behavior can 100% be explained by Lucía’s inability to establish boundaries with her kid. Whatever Leo wants, little Lion gets. Including a whole Mexican resort town going out of their way to transform into the North Pole. Again, Dating Santa at least has the good sense to let multiple characters point Lucía’s faulty parenting out to her. Not in a mom-shaming way, but in a “you should tell your kid the truth about your boyfriend because this is ridiculous” way.
The whole conceit of Dating Santa should — and would — fall apart, but for the fact that I believe Sergio loves Lucía so much he’d play along and I buy Lucía’s devotion to her kid.
Our Call: Stream It! I’m as shocked as you, but in the grand pantheon of cheesy Christmas rom-coms, Dating Santa stands apart because it’s both funny and romantic. Like, Sergio and Lucía had me swooning! The dialogue got me chuckling! It’s a holiday romance that at least pokes fun at the genre’s holes, and that in and of itself is a Christmas miracle!