As we’re heading toward the end of the Christmas movie season, Lifetime only has a few more movies on their docket. Yes Chef! Christmas is the beginning of the end.

Alicia (Tia Mowry) is a self-taught chef who gets nominated to compete in The Kringle Cook-Off. Her mentor is Logan (Luke Humphrey), a self-involved chef that doesn’t like Christmas. Together, they try to come up with the perfect Christmas meal to submit for the contest.

Tia Mowry has become something of a Christmas movie staple. While her movies aren’t always amazing, they do usually cover interesting topics. The plot of chefs trying to figure out a Christmas theme isn’t new but the subplot of Alicia trying to find her birth parents made the story a little more interesting. As is typical with Lifetime movies, I would have preferred a little more time spend on the subplot but these type of movies rarely want to dive deeper into that territory. In the end, this movie is fine. There’s nothing awful about it but there’s nothing to keep the audience going either. A good background noise movie.

Rating: Can I have just a little sweet potato casserole?

Describe a plot badly: A couple harasses an old man to work for them for free on Christmas Eve. I mean, that is the basic gist of Miracle in Motor City.

Amber (Tia Mowry-Hardrict) has taken over planning her church’s Christmas pageant. In order to make the pageant special, she promises that Smokey Robinson (himself) will perform. Except that Smokey doesn’t know about it. Amber teams up with her ex-boyfriend, Eddie (Mark Taylor), to convince Smokey to appear.

There are two sides to this movie: The creepy “Let’s call everyone who has ever known Smokey Robinson to get them to get him to come to the pageant.” Then there is the sweeter “Amber takes care of a foster child, Lily (Markeda McKay).” I really wish they focused more on the foster child situation than the Smokey Robinson stalking.

The writers could have done so much more with this story. Make the main story Lily coming to live with Amber and how Amber’s life has changed since she’s taken on caring for a child. Show Amber teaching Lily how to love Motown music as much as she does. Then, if you really need to have Smokey Robinson in your movie, have Smokey find out about this orphan girl learning how to love Motown so he shows up at the Christmas pageant and surprises everyone with his rendition of “Silent Night.” First, it’s a more intriguing story and the audience learns a bit about Motown. Second, it would put the “Miracle” in Miracle in Motor City. Because the story as it is has no miracles.

I don’t think this movie is worth watching. Even if you are a Smokey Robinson superfan, he’s not in the movie all that much. The best part of the movie really is Markeda McKay but I’m not sure she’s enough of a reason to sit through this whole thing.