Hallmark’s ‘Finding Santa’: Time, Cast, Discussion & Photos

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Tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern (7 p.m. Central) on Friday, November 24, Hallmark’s latest Countdown to Christmas movie, Finding Santa, will premiere. The movie stars Jodie Sweetin and Eric Winter. After you read all about this movie and watch it, come back and share any comments or questions that you may have about the movie in our comments section below. Join in the discussion with other readers. After you’v watched the movie, scroll down to the end of the story for a spoiler review.

To find out what channel Hallmark is on for you, click here to go to TV Guide’s listings. Then change the “Provider” (right under TV Listings) to your local provider. You’ll be able to scroll down to see what channel Hallmark is on for you. (To find out how to stream Hallmark’s Christmas movies live, see our story here.) If you miss the movie tonight, you’ll have lots of other times to catch it. Just visit here and click on “Showtime” to find all the encore times.

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The synopsis reads:

Jessica was delighted to start running her New England town’s Christmas events after her mom died. The main event is the parade on Christmas Day when the jolly man in red greets the crowd. For the last 30 years, Henry, owner of a famous Santa School, played St. Nick. When Henry falls ill, and everyone else he has trained is already booked, Jessica’s in a predicament. The only possible replacement is Henry’s son, Ben, an Uber driver who never wanted to follow in his father big black leather boots. Desperate, Jessica sets off 200 miles north to find Ben, and lures him to town by hiring him to drive her back. The trek is daunting; the real Kris Kringle makes it around the world easier than Ben and Jessica on their return. Still, once Ben dons the red suit, he feels the spirit of Christmas — and soon begins to realize he may have found the new, real-life Mrs. Claus.” (Update: The synopsis reads Jessica, but in the movie she was referred to as Grace.) 

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The movie stars Jodie Sweetin as Jessica Grace. You may remember Sweetin from some of her many appearances, including Hollywood Darlings, Fuller House, Full House (Stephanie Tanner), Dancing with the Stars, and more.

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Also starring in the movie is Eric Winter as Ben. He has a long list of TV and film appearances to his name, including Rosewood, Witches of East End, The Mentalist, Secrets and Lies, GCB, Rizzoli & Isles, Moonlight, CSI, Love Inc., Sundays at Tiffany’s, Harold & Kumar, The Ugly Truth, Fire with Fire, and more.

Crown MediaKatey Hoffman, Jodie Sweetin, Dolores Drake, Jay Brazeau, Eric Winter

Other stars in the movie include:

• • Katey Hoffman (Caroline)
  • Jay Brazeau (Tom/Santa)
  • Dolores Drake (Holly)
  • Billy Wickman (Clint)
  • Karen Holness (Leslie)
  • Laura Mitchell (Amy)
  • Ian Rozylo (Jeremy)
  • Brenden Sunderland (Tucker)
  • Ava Telek (Alyx)
  • Karen Kruper (Mayor)
  • Mike Cavers (Wanna-Be-Santa #1)
  • John Prowse (George)
  • Maggie Sullivan (Grandmother)
  • Benjamin Crawley (Kid)
  • Dion Riley (Barista)

Spoiler Review for the Movie: This was a refreshing, fun, and lighthearted movie. Grace really was a sweetheart keeping up with her parents’ legacy. She and Ben both “completed” each other so to speak. Ben helped Grace see that painting was still a love of hers that she couldn’t ignore, and Grace helped Ben see that helping children and being Santa really was in his blood. They were a sweet couple, but didn’t quite have that strong chemistry that we see in movies like Maggie’s Christmas Miracle, which also aired this season. I also had a tough time feeling sympathy for Ben’s plight. He didn’t have his novel written (he had barely even started it), but he still wasn’t willing to help out his dad after he broke his arm. Sure, he needed to know that his dad loved him and was proud of him no matter what. But taking a few days off from Uber and writing his novel (especially after Grace offered to pay him to be Santa), really shouldn’t have been a question for him, in my opinion. The movie never portrayed his dad as being a bad father or that there was a truly heartwrenching reason that Ben shouldn’t want to come home — a reason that made it a real sacrifice. So, it was a cute and lighthearted movie, but Ben’s motivation for feeling so strongly about coming home didn’t make sense to me. What did you think? Let us know in the comments below.

Here are some more photos to get you in the holiday mood, all courtesy of Crown Media:

Crown MediaKaren Holness, Jodie Sweetin, Katey Hoffman

Crown MediaJodie Sweetin, Karen Kruper

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Crown MediaJodie Sweetin, JayBrazeau, Dolores Drake

Let us know what you think of the movie in the comments below.