Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Holiday Road’ on Hallmark, Where Nine Strangers Come Together for an Unforgettable Christmas Roadtrip

Christmas has come a month early on Hallmark with the absolute gift that is Holiday Road. Nine strangers decide to hitch a ride to Denver together after their flight gets cancelled, leading them on the roadtrip adventure of a lifetime. So is this movie worth hopping onboard for? Read on to find out!

HOLIDAY ROAD: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Holiday Road is an ensemble-driven road-trip rom-com that begins with a group of nine strangers whose holiday travel plans are completely disrupted when a winter storm cancels their flight to Denver. Realizing they’re all going to the same destination, they decide to share a van, the last one left at the airport dealership, rented out by risk-averse dating app creator Clay (Warren Christie). Though Clay and the group’s ringleader, free-spirited adventure travel writer Dana (Sara Canning), initially butt heads, they eventually begin finding common group as the newly formed “Van Clan” starts their journey.

18 hours in a car (which turns out to be wrong when, inevitably, things go awry) naturally ends up leading to some major bonding time amongst this seemingly very different group of people. Dana and Clay are joined by vlogging-obsessed influencer Maya (Princess Davis), single mom Trisha (Enid Raye Adams) and her adopted son, Ben (Kiefer O’Reilly), Hong Kong-based couple Lei (Sharon Crandall) and Kai Ling (Ryan Mah), gruff older man Dusty (Trevor Lerner), and soulful aspiring singer Ember (Brittany Willacy). Together they embark on a holiday journey like no other complete with no shortage of mishaps, memory making, and plenty of Christmastime magic and merriment.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: The whole core plot of very different strangers coming together out of necessity to travel to the same destination together just in time for the holidays (and having hilarity, mishaps, and emotional moments occur along the way) is very reminiscent of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Additionally, Holiday Road‘s romance brewing between two initially opposing personalities on a roadtrip may remind some viewers of films like Leap Year or The Sure Thing.

Performance Worth Watching: Sara Canning seriously stands out as Dana, acting as a charismatic charmer and memorable presence in a film full of interesting characters. Canning delivers a subtle yet multifaceted performance that comes across as very human and natural, complete with realistic flaws and all.

Memorable Dialogue: “You cannot teach someone to dream and not let them dream.” Uhh I’m not crying, YOU’RE crying (okay yes, I am crying).

A Holiday Tradition: Lei and Kai Ling lead the way with some terrific holiday traditions that they share with “The Van Clan”. One is to eat and share traditional Chinese Christmas cookies that are said to bring good fortune, and another is to use their portable karaoke machine to slay some Christmas karaoke from wherever they are in the world (even if it’s in a van with a bunch of strangers in the winding roads of Western USA.

Does the Title Make Any Sense?: Holiday Road‘s title is an homage to Lindsey Buckingham’s song of the same name, which was written for the 1983 road trip film National Lampoon’s Vacation. With all of that in mind, the title does feel like a very fitting one, especially as the characters find that, as a line in the original song says, “it’s a long way down the holiday road.”

Our Take: I’m an absolute sucker for a roadtrip movie but Holiday Road goes above in beyond with doing that genre justice, in large part thanks to the film’s writers Grant Scharbo and Gina Matthews imbuing their script with tons of genuine warmth and heart. Like any great holiday title, this is a movie about love and connection in its many forms. And Holiday Road is doubly impressive that it’s able to put such connection on display when there are nine different main characters to focus on. Yet even with so many, every character feels distinct, lovable, and very real-feeling, with each even getting their own satisfying arc.

In the end, I was sad to see the characters go because I loved getting to know them, and I can openly admit without shame that their more emotionally climactic moments in the final 20 minutes had me shedding tears. All of the actors did a wonderful job. They showed the heck up and made their respective role feel lived in and multi-dimensional from the start. I loved seeing them come together from strangers to real friends and I truly believed in the bonds being formed. This was just so darn wholesome and encapsulated all of the whimsy, generosity of spirit, and love that defines any high-quality holiday movie.

Our Call: STREAM IT! Holiday Road is everything a Christmas movie should be (it makes you feel the holiday magic, believe in the innate goodness of humanity, and is just the right amount of cheesy) and I truly hope you give it a go this holiday season.