As far as romance movies go, Dating Santa is surprisingly free of the usual artificial conflicts that plague the genre. The central couple meet early on and stay in close proximity to each other throughout—meaning they get to skip past the cliche of the courtship phase and converse maturely as adults about turning a new leaf relatively later in life. What ends up straining the film's story, unfortunately, is the much more lighthearted storyline about trying to convince a little girl that this new man in her mother's life is Santa. It's a cute idea that just gets too hard to sustain over time, especially since the daughter proves herself intelligent and perceptive, but still somehow willing to believe so many obvious deceptions.
Synopsis
Lucia is a consummate professional and the single mother of Leo, her beautiful and mischievous 6-year-old daughter, who is obsessed with Christmas and believes her birth was due to a Christmas miracle. Between her two full-time jobs (motherhood and architecture), she has neither the time nor the inclination to fall in love again, but when she reluctantly agrees to go on a blind date with Sergio, a handsome and likeable chef, the spark is undeniable.
Storyline
A single mother who has started a new relationship tries to get her daughter to approve of her boyfriend by pretending he is Santa Claus.
TLDR
I just know in my heart that the mass popularization of the term "daddy" has brought us all here.
What stands out
That said, little Olivia Duflos (who plays the daughter in the film) is nothing less than totally authentic. Even when she's given admittedly silly things to say, she balances on the line between precocious and completely innocent. It never feels as if she's trying to perform to the camera, simply inhabiting scenes with her much older scene partners, whose own performances are made better by having her in the room. Having a strong core trio of actors such as this helps make Dating Santa better than many of the other holiday films that have been released this season.
