Deck the Walls is another release in this year’s Hallmark Countdown to Christmas hoping to capture your viewership and heart this holiday season. This rom-com stars Twilight‘s Ashley Greene and True Blood‘s Wes Brown as an interior designer and contractor whose mutual animosity gives way to something more as they are forced to collaborate on a charity house-flipping project during the holidays. The two actors are joined by writer and comedian Danny Pellegrino to lead the way in this entertaining Hallmark movie that celebrates romance, family, reconciliation, and more during Christmastime.
The Gist: Rose Demonte (Ashley Greene) is a successful interior designer living and working in Chicago when she’s pulled away for the holidays with an offer she can’t refuse: a plea from her brother, Sal (Danny Pellegrino), to help flip their beloved grandparents’ former home. Sal runs Demonte Construction alongside his childhood best friend Brysen Douglas (Wes Brown) in their suburban Colorado hometown, and they’ve just scored the job opportunity of a lifetime.
Chosen to whip his former family home into shape for a Christmas Charity House Flip benefitting pillar of their community, Principal Landry (Paul McClean) and his family, Sal panics when a budget crisis puts the project in danger. He convinces Rose to return to their hometown for the first time since their parents’ untimely death five years ago, leading her to confront both past traumas and her own former crush turned sort-of nemesis Brysen. Brysen went through a tough divorce with his high-school sweetheart that was only just finalized last year, leaving him with trust issue, while Rose struggles with a tendency to avoid all her problems and stressors.
Meanwhile, Sal deals with his own nemesis, as his childhood bully, Jake Hunter (Claybourne Elder), hovers around him to cover the house flip efforts for the Denver Chronicle. But with no money to spare and a lot of work to be done in the 10 days before the house is supposed to be gifted to the Landrys live on TV on Christmas Eve, Sal, Rose, and Brysen have their work cut out for them. Can they finish the job by Christmas with the odds stacked against them, and even find their own happy endings in the process? Or will their respective hangups, challenges, and misunderstandings get in the way of achieving everything they’re trying to built?
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: The “Christmastime home renovation” and “squabbling reluctant coworkers turned lovers” parts of Deck the Walls may also remind you of fellow recent Hallmark holiday rom-com Santa Tell Me.
Performance Worth Watching: Danny Pellegrino stands out from the get-go thanks to his effortlessly winning and entertaining performance as Sal Demonte. He not only has great chemistry with everyone around him but also knows how to commit to the bit, delivering the perfect energy to everything from a budding enemies-to-lovers story with Jake to delightfully off-key Christmas karaoke in a way that makes it all feel natural and honest.
Memorable Dialogue: Sal has a lot of good lines with even better delivery, but I think this one might take the cake: “That’s right, and she’s here to help us deliver a house to the Landrys that’s Nancy Meyers pretty. Like a mix of both houses from The Holiday. When Jude Law was at his most handsome… Which is incidental but important to me!”
A Holiday Tradition: When they were alive, Rose and Sal’s parents seemed to make it their mission to flip houses for people in need on a shoestring budget all year long, but especially during the holidays. Perhaps this legacy will inspire a festive house flip by Demonte Construction every year from here on out!
Does the Title Make Any Sense?: It’s a holiday movie revolving around a Christmastime house flipping project, so Deck the Walls is a perfectly sensical and fitting title.
Our Take: Deck the Walls is bolstered by believable budding romances, wonderful family interactions, and engaging performances from the entire cast. It was easy to root for both the Rose-Brysen and Sal-Jake pairings as each duo overcame their initial mutual dislike and various misunderstandings to blossom into something more. For both duos, the chemistry was there from the jump, especially with Sal and Jake, who could have easily been the main love story and I would have been happy (in fact, they almost stole the show for me at some points).
But beyond the romance, the family aspect really is the backbone of the movie, and Ashley Greene, Danny Pellegrino, and Carolyn Hennesey all do a fantastic job portraying our core crew of relatives. The sibling dynamic between Rose and Sal felt realistic and was fun to watch, while their interactions with and support from Aunt Gigi were also very sweet and loving. Deck the Walls does a nice job of building community and family in a short amount of time, making you care about the characters and hope for their success. There’s real warmth and sincerity etched into the movie, helping Deck the Halls to truth capture the spirit of Christmas, in all its wonderful just-the-right-amount-of-cheesy glory.
Our Call: STREAM IT! Thanks to committed performances and a simple yet solid plot, Deck the Walls ultimately has the heart, humor, and charm to make watching it feel like time well-spent this holiday season.
