Trivia At St. Nick’s is another one of the Hallmark Channel’s new holiday rom-coms (Countdown to Christmas 2024) hoping to win some hearts this month. Tammin Sursok and Brant Daugherty lead the cast of this Christmas movie set amongst the world and personnel of an elite New England university and their local obsession with seasonal bar trivia. But is the combination of an astronomy professor and a football coach enough to actually score an out-of-this-world holiday romance?
The Gist: It’s winter break at an unnamed Vermont university and Type-A, tighly-wound astronomy professor Celeste (Tammin Sursok) is setting her sights on building the ultimate winning team for this year’s Christmas Bar Trivia Tournament at local joint, Nick’s Bar. She seemingly acquires a ringer in pompous math professor Richard (Denis Ooi), a two-time Jeopardy! champ who Celeste is crushing on for some reason. But Richard ends up bailing last minute to go on a lecture tour in Asia, leaving Celeste in a lurch.
Unable to find a sixth member, it seems like Celeste’s trivia squad, The Quizmas Elves, won’t get to compete this year. But when Max Robbins (Brant Daugherty) approaches the group to sit at their table, Celeste tells him to take a hike, even if it means her team can’t compete. Max is the school’s new offensive line coordinator who led their football team to a historic undefeated championship-winning season in his first season with them. Celeste, naturally, hates football because the university prioritizes sports while treating astronomy like an afterthought. She also dislikes Max personally because he apparently did a buffet incorrectly (the horror). But the team overrules Celeste on this one, recruiting Max to help tackle sports-related questions that he nails with ease.
Celeste’s Christmas trivia Avengers is now assembled to include herself, her best bud and school admissions worker Ashley (Kathleen Elizabeth Monteleone), Ashley’s husband and university landscaper Freddie (Ari Brand), Celeste’s mom and town music teacher Sherry (Liz Keifer), history professor Gary (Willie C. Carpenter), and Max. But with no one taking things as seriously (some would argue, too seriously) as Celeste, the seemingly well-rounded group begins to fall apart in the face of her intensity.
Will Celeste’s obsession with being right and preconceived notions about Max get in the way of her ending up with the right guy and falling in love? And is Max’s presence enough to turn things around for both the trivia team and his bad first impression with Celeste?
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: The whole “Type A woman meets laid-back joke-cracking guy only to initially dislike one another, then become friends and maybe even something more” feels like an attempt at speed-running a version of When Harry Met Sally that just takes place over one trivia-filled Christmas.
Performance Worth Watching: I loved Willie C. Carpenter’s winning whimsy and easy charm as Gary. Even as a supporting character, he popped and was a consistently likable and positive presence in any scene that he was in.
Memorable Dialogue: “What? I may be a Rhodes Scholar but I can still appreciate the greatest sitcom of all time.” Did not expect to get a plug for Friends in this movie, but go off I guess, Gary!
A Holiday Tradition: For the past 45 years, the college’s faculty, residents, and additional stragglers in town for the holiday break go to Nick’s Bar to compete in a Christmas Bar Trivia Tournament, with the championship going down on Christmas Eve. The winner gets a year’s worth of bragging rights and a trophy called “The Stan,” named after Stan, the most legendary player in the local trivia tournament lore.
Does the Title Make Any Sense?:It’s a Christmas movie about trivia that happens at a bar called Nick’s, so yep, Trivia At St. Nick’s feels pretty apt.
Our Take: Trivia At St. Nick’s is, unfortunately, not as charming and engaging as its initial premise sets it up to be. The trivia angle is fun and somewhat original compared to some other Hallmark movies out there, but the film’s largely two-dimensional characters and cheesy writing ended up making the final product feel a bit bland and boring.
Both Celeste and Max feel like caricatures, but Celeste is especially frustrating. I mean, it’s truly ironic that she teaches astronomy because she’s often a walking black hole sucking all fun and good feelings out of the room with her uptight and judgmental personality. And Max in comparison comes across as this perfect himbo who is too good to be true, with constant childlike wonder that eventually starts to become slightly grating. Their romance is neither exciting nor particularly believable in the given timeframe, making this whole thing a bit of a tough sell.
While some joy does come from supporting characters Ashley, Gary, Sherry, and Freddie, even their pops of personality aren’t enough to flip the overall impression of this movie. At a certain point, it feels difficult to justify Celeste’s desperation to win Christmas trivia and it’s also hard to understand why these people want to keep hanging out with her. I get that her mom kind of has to, but the others don’t need to put up with her tomfoolery. I do wish Gary and Sherry all the happiness in the world, however. Maybe the movie should have just been about them and their budding relationship instead.
Our Call: Buzzing in to answer… SKIP IT. Although the premise shows promise, Trivia At St. Nick’s is weighed down by uninspired main characters and their so-called love story. I mean, when the side characters and their relationships eclipse the central pair, you know you’ve missed the mark. But at least it might inspire you to try some trivia?