Stream It or Skip It: ‘Christmas Unwrapped’ on Lifetime Starring Amber Stevens West as a Reporter with No Holiday Spirit

Move over, Halloween and Thanksgiving—it’s time for Christmas Unwrapped on Lifetime! As is tradition at this point, the cable networks are fast-forwarding straight to Christmas—and who can really blame them in 2020? The first weekend of LIfetime’s Christmas movie lineup includes a gift to you from producer Tiffany Haddish. But is this the perfect feel good romcom you’ve been waiting for? Or is this a gift you’ll want to return?

CHRISTMAS UNWRAPPED: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Amber Stevens West plays Charity Jones, a reporter and blogger with an impossibly cool name and little room in her life for Christmas cheer. Her holiday agnosticism is threatened, though, when she lands a coveted assignment reporting on a mysterious—and, of course, handsome—philanthropist (Marco Grazzini) who gives away millions of dollars in personalized gifts every holiday season. What’s the catch?!

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Mix in a bit of A Christmas Prince’s incredibly loose grasp on “journalism” with a little bit of Miracle on 34th Street’s Santa evangelism and throw in a lot of modern day cool and you’ve got Christmas Unwrapped.

Performance Worth Watching: This shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering she’s the lead of the film, but it’s Amber Stevens West. Just—what an absolute joy she is to watch! She’s a natural at the holiday romcom format as well as a standout. She brings a level of self-aware cool to her role, as well as a bit of an edge—well, as much of an edge as a cable Christmas movie can have. She was hilarious on the criminally canceled-too-soon Happy Together, and it’s great seeing her here. I hope this is the first of annual holiday movies for West.

Memorable Dialogue: How great is West in the role of—I can’t get enough of this name—Charity Jones? She delivers this whopper of a line with precision: “Let’s get one thing out of the way: I’m never going to believe any of this Christmas magic stuff. I believe in facts—and that’s what this story’s going to represent.”

A Holiday Tradition: In Christmas Unwrapped’s New York, people line up all across the boroughs on Christmas Eve to snag a copy of an actual newspaper just for the annual Christmas feature piece. Wow—print is alive and thriving in this alternate reality! More believable than that is the other tradition: a charity organization named NSB (Never Stop Believing) throws 12 days of Christmas events (iceskating, a movie marathon, making ornaments, etc.) that are free for all to attend.

Does the Title Make Any Sense?: No. I’m actually struggling to remember even one unwrapping scene in the entire movie! Considering the movie’s journalism angle, it could’ve been called Christmas Exposé or—brace yourselves for a super insider-y journalism pun—Dek the Halls.

Our Take: What a way to start the season! Christmas Unwrapped checks all the boxes on the holiday TV-movie romcom wishlist, and then some. It has fantastic leads in Amber Stevens West and Marco Grazzini (Kim’s Convenience) and the exact right level of Christmas movie WTF-ery to keep you cackling while the leads warm your heart. Truly, this movie’s depiction of journalism is about as spot-on as Emily in Paris‘ depiction of brand management—and I wouldn’t have it any other way! It helps that Charity Jones is actually aware that falling in love with the subject of your very first investigative piece, a high-profile piece at that, is ethically nuclear. Does that stop her? No—and we wouldn’t want it to! Find love, Charity Jones! It’s Christmas!

As for the subject of Charity Jones’ professional and personal interest, Grazzini does a fine job with bright-eyed maybe-billionaire Erik Gallagher. Although I have to admit, there is something unintentionally unsettling about his perfect smile and the way his philanthropy has caused a cadre of believers to form around him, volunteering their time to make his 12 days of charity a reality. He fully believes his money comes from Santa Claus and that he’s been recruited by Kris Kringle himself to hand out gifts.

When one of his workers/friends/followers looks Charity Jones in the eyes and warns her against writing something negative about NSB, well, it was then that I realized that NSB sounds a little like NXIVM! Mind you, this is the kind of seasonal lunacy that I look for and live for in these movies. You know that literally every single thing is going to work out perfectly in the end, and that makes even the smallest detour into mildly dark territory a delight.

Really, the only downside to Christmas Unwrapped is that it doesn’t feel very Haddish-y. When you hear “Tiffany Haddish Christmas romcom,” you expect something bold and raucous along with merry and bright. Christmas Unwrapped has snappier banter than usual, true, but this isn’t A Girls Trip Christmas. What it is, though, is Christmas Unwrapped—and that’s a perfectly fine movie to be.

Our Call: STREAM IT, and may Amber Stevens West bless us with a new holiday movie every year.

Christmas Unwrapped premieres on Lifetime on Saturday, October 24 at 8 p.m. ET

Where to watch Christmas Unwrapped