Stream It Or Skip It: ‘12 Games Of Christmas’ on Great American Family, About A Group Of Friends Who Get Sucked Into A Game That Helps Them Find Their Christmas Spirit

A group of friends get magically whisked into a board game called 12 Games of Christmas in the Great American Family movie of the same name. Only by working together can they complete each game, thus earning a return trip home and learning the true meaning of Christmas at the same time.

12 GAMES OF CHRISTMAS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: After several scenic shots of snow-covered trees and houses, we see Kelsey (Felisha Cooper) setting her holiday table, distracted by a knock on the door. No one is there, but a box labeled “12 Games of Christmas” is lying on the steps. “Cute!” she says, bringing the box inside.

The Gist: Kelsey has invited her sister Nora, Nora’s husband Liam, and her friends Dan and Lori, to her home for a Christmas party. Unbeknownst to Kelsey, Nora invited Ethan, a childhood of Kelsey’s who recently moved back to town. Kelsey and Ethan were friends back when and had crushes on each other, but then they left home and lost touch.

After the meal, Ethan spots the box for “12 Games of Christmas” and asks the group if they want to play. Inside is a note from Kelsey and Nora’s Aunt Amelia – the game was hers, and somehow, magically, it found its way to them. When the players place their game pieces – mini snow globes – on the first space of the board, the front door of Kelsey’s house bursts open and the room they’re in fills with a swirl of snow. They’re transported into the game itself, to a town called Yuletide, where Mayor Thomas, the man in charge, informs them that they have to work together to complete the titular 12 games in order to finish and return home… and in the process, they’ll learn the real meaning of Christmas. The games are not so much games as things you normally do at Christmas, like making cocoa, singing carols, and decorating cookies.

After successfully completing the first few games, one by one, the friends prove they totally get the Christmas spirit, a bell rings, and are transported home. As each person is granted their return trip home, they get a little sermon from the mayor or another representative from Yuletide about how family, traditions, and compromise, are what’s most precious. Eventually, the only two people left are Kelsey and Ethan, and they don’t understand why no bells are ringing for them and they can’t go home. Wanna know why? Because they’ve been lying.

Lying!

TO THEMSELVES.

ABOUT THEIR FEELINGS FOR ONE ANOTHER.

Finally, Ethan comes clean to Kelsey that he feels things for her, and Kelsey goes to pray to figure out her feelings. That’s when Aunt Amelia, the one who sent her the game, arrives to show her the way. See, Amelia played 12 Games of Christmas once when she was at a crossroads in her own life and it helped her find her faith, and now she comes back to help others do the same.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of? Jumanji, anyone? (Although the town of Yuletide feels a lot like the town from Schmigadoon! too.)

A Holiday Tradition: Each of the 12 games is a variation on some kind of Christmas tradition; building gingerbread houses, decorating a tree, making wreaths.

Does the Title Make Any Sense?: 100%.

Our Take: The message of 12 Games of Christmas is about community and working together, but the tasks at hand are so mundane and don’t really require teamwork, that it doesn’t really make sense. After the group decorates a wreath and Mayor Tom tells them to remember their spirit of community, Kelsey protests, saying they all worked together. Hilariously, Mayor Thomas kind of shrugs and says in a not-meant-to-be-sarcastic-but-that’s-how-it-comes-out way, “Did you?” While I totally understand what the movie is going for, I wanted to occasionally shake Mayor Tom, because some things do not need to be decided by committee.

I think the “12 games” concept is a really great premise for a children’s movie instead of a sexless romance, and you wouldn’t really have to change much of the dialogue if you recast all the major characters with pre-teens. (On Game 5, the gang has to build gingerbread houses. Our male romantic lead Ethan giggles, “What if we build this huge door, and then we ram through it and that’s how we get home?!” I mean, delivered by a 6-year-old, I’d probably smile and be like “Cute, what a wholesome movie for my kids!” But delivered by a 30-year-old man, I’m like, yeeesh.)

All the characters are generic representations of decent, wholesome folks, we learn absolutely nothing about any of them beyond how much they all love their families. (Lori is sent home to spend Christmas with her grandmother. Dan is sent home so he can be with his daughter. Nora and Liam are sent home to spend time… with each other.) Family certainly is one reason for the season, but this is a movie, not a decorative pillow from Kohl’s, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a movie with zero character development such as this one. I hate to be so negative about a movie with such a positive message, but that’s all that’s here: a message, not a movie.

Parting Shot: “I can’t wait to talk about our hopes for next year,” Kelsey tells Ethan after they’re magically whisked back home. “Who needs hope when I have everything I need? Merry Christmas, Kelsey,” Ethan says. “Merry Christmas, Ethan,” she responds, and they kiss.

Performance Worth Watching: No one in the cast has enough personality or individuality to single out, unfortunately.

Memorable Dialogue: “How is this possible?” Ethan asks, wondering how they came to be inside the board game. “Anything’s possible at Christmas!” says Tom, the mayor of Yuletide, who’s like a Jesus-y version of Burl Ives’ snowman from Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Our Call: Unless you’re a Sunday school teacher looking for a way to kill time this month, SKIP IT.