Rita Moreno is an absolute legend. Even if Santa Bootcamp sucked, I would tell you to watch it for her. But this is the only Lifetime Christmas movie that has made me cry. Let me tell you why.
Emily (Emily Kinney) is an event planner tasked with planning a very special, very elite Christmas gala for mall magnate Ed Mancini (Patrick Cassidy). In an attempt to find the perfect Santa for the party, Emily attends a Santa Bootcamp run by Belle (Rita Moreno). There she meets Aidan (Justin Gaston), a chef who helps her find her Christmas spirit.
As I said, this movie made me cry. Not because it’s sentimental or anything like that. But because Emily speaks American Sign Language. Mostly to her mother, Olive (Deanne Bray), but the scene that got me was Emily talking with a deaf child, Charlotte (Zyra Singleton), in a toy store. I have never seen a Christmas movie that featured ASL as heavily as Santa Bootcamp. Can you imagine how seen a deaf person feels watching a movie where not one but three characters (four, if you count the little ASL Moreno speaks at the end) are fluent in ASL? That is what made me cry.
The rest of the movie is just as beautiful. The costumes and decorations are breath-taking. Thankfully, they cast extremely talented actors in the lead roles. There isn’t any part of this movie that is bad. And I can’t tell you how happy I am that Santa Bootcamp was so good.
Put another hashmark in the Win column. Santa Bootcamp is definitely a movie you should watch. Then tell all your friends to watch it. The more people we get to enjoy movies with diverse characters and storylines, the more of those movies we’ll get to see. Let Hallmark and Lifetime know this is what we want.