“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The Santa Squad
TV Movie · Drama · Romance · 2020
Allie, an out of work art teacher, has to accept a job with the Santa Squad to help wealthy widower Gordon and his two precious daughters rediscover the magic of Christmas. As Allie is lifting the holiday spirits of the family with Christmas decorations, cookies and shopping, her kindness is rewarded with the most unexpected of gifts: love!
The Santa Squad
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
6.0 / 10
1.2K votes
TMDB
6.1 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
Allie, an out of work art teacher, has to accept a job with the Santa Squad to help wealthy widower Gordon and his two precious daughters rediscover the magic of Christmas. As Allie is lifting the holiday spirits of the family with Christmas decorations, cookies and shopping, her kindness is rewarded with the most unexpected of gifts: love!
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over The Santa Squad?
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their caseThe Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
Watch in your region.
Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.
Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
John Bradshaw
Written by
Mark Valenti
Put The Santa Squad on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.






