Hallmark does Hanukkah right

Ellen Futterman, Chief Digital Content Officer

Published December 18, 2024

As regular readers know, I am a sucker for entirely predictable made-for-TV holiday movies. Little does it matter to me that five minutes into the plot, it’s clear who’s going to wind up with whom two hours later. My expectations for anything meaningful, authentic or truly poignant are low; I’m in for the scenery, mindlessness and whatever gobs of cheesiness these holiday filmmakers want to toss in.

Suffice it to say, I didn’t have high hopes for “Hanukkah on the Rocks,” a new addition to this season’s lineup from Hallmark. Without going into lots of detail (should you decide to watch it), it’s the relationships among the core characters that help elevate this holiday film, and I don’t mean just between the protagonists, Tori and Jay, who flirt with romance after they “meet-cute” sparring at a Chicago party store over who gets the last box of “good” Hanukkah candles (the kind that don’t drip).

Stacey Farber and Daren Kagasoff in the Hallmark movie ‘Hanukkah on the Rocks.’ Photo courtesy of Hallmark

If that seems far-fetched, I did say this was a Hallmark movie. What drew me in were the multigenerational connections, especially the ones between Tori and her Bubbe, and Jay and his Grandpa Sam, who holds court at a Chicago dive bar called Rocky’s. It is there that Tori, Jay, Sam and a bunch of “Cheers”-like regulars transform Rocky’s for eight nights into a Hanukkah-themed bar replete with drinks like Gelty Pleasure and Bourbon Shamash, which turns out to be an old-fashioned garnished with a jelly-filled doughnut hole (it looks better than it sounds!).

Yiddish-isms abound, along with Hanukkah traditions that are generally relatable. And while this is no means a perfect movie — some plot points are stretched farther than challah dough on a Friday afternoon — the characters in “Hanukkah on the Rocks” are quirky and likeable, and the story is engaging, even with a little schmaltz sprinkled throughout.

About the Contributor

Ellen Futterman, Editor-in-Chief

A native of Westbury, New York, Ellen Futterman broke into the world of big city journalism as a general assignment reporter for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner in the latter part of the 20th century. Deciding that Tinsel Town was not exciting enough for her, she moved on to that hub of glamour and sophistication, Belleville, Ill., where she became a feature writer, columnist and food editor for the Belleville News-Democrat. A year later the St. Louis Post-Dispatch scooped her up, neither guessing at the full range of her talents, nor the extent of her shoe collection. She went on to work at the Post-Dispatch for 25 years, during which time she covered hard news, education, features, investigative projects, profiles, sports, entertainment, fashion, interiors, business, travel and movies. She won numerous major local and national awards for her reporting on "Women Who Kill" and on a four-part series about teen-age pregnancy, 'Children Having Children.'" Among her many jobs at the newspaper, Ellen was a columnist for three years, Arts and Entertainment Editor, Critic-at-large and Daily Features (Everyday) Editor. She invented two sections from scratch, one of which recently morphed from Get Out, begun in 1995, to GO. In January of 2009, Ellen joined the St. Louis Jewish Light as its editor, where she is responsible for overseeing editorial operations, including managing both staff members and freelancers. Under her tutelage, the Light has won 16 Rockower Awards — considered the Jewish Pulitzer’s — including two personally for Excellence in Commentary for her weekly News & Schmooze column. She also is the communications content editor for the Arts and Education Council of St. Louis. Ellen and her husband, Jeff Burkett, a middle school principal, live in Olivette and have three children. Ellen can be reached at 314-743-3669 or at [email protected].