Every year, Hallmark expands on their already extensive holiday offerings by increasingly embracing more than just the traditional Christmas story, and Leah’s Perfect Gift is a wonderful example of this. The rom-com stars Nobody Wants This‘s Emily Arlook as a Jewish woman about to celebrate her first Christmas with her boyfriend, Spinning Out‘s Evan Roderick, and his family. This movie showcases both Hanukkah and Christmas in a way that feels sensitive and new, especially for Hallmark, but is that enough to make Leah’s Perfect Gift worth watching?
The Gist: Leah Goldberg (Emily Arlook) is a Jewish woman working as a successful app developer in New York City. She has been dating Graham Westwood (Evan Roderick), a Christian software designer, for almost a year now, and they decide that now is the perfect time to take the next step in their relationship. While Graham has met Leah’s family and even celebrated some of Hanukkah with them, Leah still hasn’t met any of Graham’s relatives. When Leah hits it off with Graham’s younger sister, Maddie (Sidney Quesnelle), upon their first meeting, he invites Leah to spend Christmas with all of the Westwoods at their Connecticut home.
Leah is thrilled to celebrate her first Christmas, a holiday she has always admired from afar. She knows the movies, she has researched the traditions, and she even has an ugly sweater. But all of that prep seems to be for naught upon finally meeting Graham’s WASPy parents for the first time to find them much less warm than her own welcoming and boisterous folks. While Graham’s dad, Mitchell (Christopher Shyer), makes some sort of effort to talk to Leah by repeatedly pitching her terrible app ideas, Graham’s mom, Barbara (Barbara Niven) is a whole other story.
Barbara dotes on Graham (her “Grahamlin”) and treats Leah like an outsider. From the way she dresses to how she opens gifts or builds a snowman, Leah just can’t seem to do anything right in Barbara’s (do not call her Barb) eyes, putting a major damper on what was supposed to be a perfect first Christmas. To make matters even more complicated, Leah thinks Graham might propose to her on Christmas, making her question if she really wants to be a part of this family that doesn’t seem to want or have a place for her in it.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Leah’s Perfect Gift felt like a strange amalgamation of Jordan Peele’s 2017 psychological horror film Get Out with the 2024 rom-com series Nobody Wants This (which, ironically, Emily Arlook also appears in!), but it’s all Hallmarkified and taking place during the holiday season.
Performance Worth Watching: Emily Arlook carries the film as Leah. She delivers an effortlessly natural and charming performance, with plenty of moments that are genuinely emotionally affecting. Thanks to her winning performance, we’re on Leah’s side from the start.
Memorable Dialogue: “You know it’s funny, Ebenezer Scrooge always makes goose sound like it would be so rich and delicious, but really it’s quite lean, with its own distinct odor.” Mitchell is actually pretty funny throughout this movie, even when he wasn’t trying to be. He’s like an uptight version of Phil Dunphy.
A Holiday Tradition: The Goldberg family celebrates a warm, latke-filled Hanukkah every year, while the Westwood family is chock-full of their own traditions, from gingerbread decorating competitions to everyone getting to open one gift each on Christmas Eve, and anything else that might be on their jam-packed Christmastime itinerary.
Does the Title Make Any Sense?: Maybe? Sort of? Barbara wants everything to be perfect all the time so maybe Leah’s gift was the realization that it’s okay to be perfectly flawed. Or maybe Leah’s perfect gift really was that cool terrarium ornament (if Babs doesn’t want it, I’ll gladly take it, that was cool).
Our Take: There’s a lot to like about Leah’s Perfect Gift. First of all, I appreciate that the movie is an homage to both Christmas and Hanukkah and that it respects both religions’ holiday celebrations. Neither religion is ever made to feel alien or like it’s the butt of a joke. Rather, it’s the people themselves who can feel alien or alienating, as Leah feels like an outsider to the Westwoods, and Barbara’s obsessively planned, jam-packed Christmas celebrations are anything but inclusive. Emily Arlook was so likable as Leah, making it easy to root for her from the beginning.
Perhaps that, however, is part of the movie’s only major problem. Leah was so wonderful that I kept wanting her to just run away from the Westwoods and enjoy Christmas on her own terms. Barbara was so awful to her for most of the movie that her eventual turn to repentance at the end felt a bit random and unearned, as did the sudden apology from Graham’s ex and big”first love,” Julia (Maia Beresford). Graham, however, was perhaps ultimately the worst offender of all, as he continually seemed to leave Leah in the dark about everything from what to wear to family dinner to the fact that he’s still friends with his ex who’s clearly still into him.
My last straw was when Leah gave Graham an extremely thoughtful Christmas gift that she put a lot of work into and he just kind of blandly accepts it with no emotion. Meanwhile, all he gave her was a generic food gift basket from a catalog. So by the time we get to the end and all of Graham’s family, and even Leah’s parents, are gathered in the Westwood McMansion poised for a proposal, chills were going down my spine. It genuinely felt like a scene out of a horror movie. I didn’t want Leah to be stuck with this dud of a boyfriend who doesn’t deserve her and his family that hasn’t been super kind to her. You’re too good for him, girl, run!
Make no mistake, Leah’s Perfect Gift is overall quite enjoyable, with a steadily building plot and engaging characters. It’s just in the last 15 minutes where things start to feel rushed and resolutions forced as various characters get unearned redemption or happy endings. But overall, it’s still an entertaining ride that’s unique from many other holiday movies coming out of Hallmark right now.
Our Call: Leah’s Perfect Gift may not be perfect, but you know what? It’s a gift all the same. STREAM IT!