Adam & Alison Watch Christmas Movies: DECK THE WALLS

 by Adam Thas and Alison Thas

In which a successful podcaster becomes that star of his own holiday movie.

Alison: It’s not everyday when my love of all things Bravo coincides with my love of Christmas movies, so when the opportunity presents itself, I had to take it! Deck the Walls was written and produced by Danny Pellegrino ,who hosts a successful podcast, Everything Iconic with Danny Pellegrino, where he discusses pop culture, including the Real Housewives. Pellegrino is also the author of The Jolliest Bunch, a collection of essays about his holiday memories growing up in Solon, Ohio. Pellegrino loves all things Christmas and writing his own Christmas movie had been a dream of his.

Sal DeMonte, played by Pellegrino, has agreed to flip a house as part of a charity project. The flip isn’t going as planned, so Sal decides to call in a favor from his interior designer sister, Rose (played by Ashley Greene). Rose reluctantly agrees and finds herself working alongside her high school crush, Brysen (played by Wes Brown).

I had a lot of fun watching this movie. It felt well-acted and the story was plausible (for a holiday movie). In our years of watching holiday movies for F This Movie, I find that there are two big things that takes away from the magical, holiday charm of a movie: plot holes and zero chemistry between the movie’s lead actors. Deck the Walls manages to tell a heartwarming story with acting that feels believable and fun. If you are looking to put something on while wrapping presents or getting in some tree time, Deck the Walls is for you – ladies, am I right?

Adam: Well, after Hallmark fought it for so long, I think that we can safely say that the addition of gay love stories into the mix has been a welcome addition to the holiday rom-com culture. This one has it all, from a girl coming back into town and running into an ex to a “mystery” as a minor plot point that isn’t resolved until the last two minutes of the movie. There is even a scene where the main character barges into the bathroom on the guy she “just can’t stand” while he is wearing a red and green plaid bathrobe, revealing that they need to share a Jack and Jill bathroom! The height of drama is if they will finish remodeling the house before the live television reveal on Christmas Eve…. I’ll let you guess what happens.

It’s very clear that Danny Pellegrino, who both wrote and stars in Deck the Walls, is a fan of these types of holiday rom-coms because he understands the formula to these nine-act movies, but also understands enough of the tropes to mess with them a bit. Most of the movies in the genre have a clear antagonist who is more an annoyance than a true villain, but by the conclusion of the movie always either feels bad for what they’ve done or gets their comeuppance. Pellegrino understands this and messes with our expectations so that things turn out differently than we expected. I mean what I said earlier, though: the addition of gay characters has been a net positive and it has become a welcome addition to a very stale and predicable genre.

Overall, I’d put this one in the middle of the road. Hallmark has a system in place to churn these movies out and what I can definitely say about them, plot aside, is that they are always competently made. It’s hard to pick apart the Hallmark movies on a technical basis when they are shot as a sitcom -- so much like a sitcom, in fact, that it’s a great Friday night movie to be mindlessly entertained with for 90 minutes.

Adam’s List:

1) Holidate (2020, Netflix)

2) Love Hard (2021, Netflix)

3) Your Christmas or Mine (2022, Amazon)

4) Hot Frosty (2024, Netflix)

5) Holiday Calendar (2018, Netflix)

6) Snowed Inn (2017, Hallmark)

7) Christmas in the Spotlight (2024, Lifetime)

8) The Princess Switch (2018, Netflix)

9) Falling for Christmas (2022, Netflix)

10) The Knight Before Christmas (2019, Netflix)

11)  EXmas (2023, Amazon/Freevee)

12) Midnight at the Magnolia (2020, Netflix)

13) Deck the Walls (2025, Hallmark)

14) The Christmas Train (2017, Hallmark)

15) Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story (2024, Hallmark)

16) Joy to the World (2025, Hulu)

17) Holiday in the Vineyard (2023, Netflix)

18) Meet Me Next Christmas (2024, Netflix

19) Christmas Under Wraps (2014, Hallmark)

20) Reporting for Christmas (2023, Hulu)

21) The Princess Switch 2: Switched Again (2020, Netflix)

22) A Christmas Vintage (2023, Amazon)

23) Merry Gentlemen (2024, Netflix) 

24) The Noel Diary (2022, Netflix)

25) The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star (2021, Netflix)

26) One Royal Holiday (2020, Hallmark)

27) Christmas on the Farm (2022, Hulu)

28) Holiday in the Wild (2019, Netflix)

29) Pride, Prejudice, and Mistletoe (2018, Hallmark)

30)  A Perfect Christmas Pairing (2023, Amazon)

31) Three Wise Men and a Baby (2022, Hallmark)

32) Christmas on the Ranch (2024, Hulu)

33) Best. Christmas. Ever. (2023, Netflix)

Alison’s List:

1) The Princess Switch (2018, Netflix)

2) Your Christmas or Mine (2022, Amazon)

3) Love Hard (2021, Netflix)

4) Holiday Calendar (2018, Netflix)

5) Falling for Christmas (2022, Netflix)

6) Holidate (2020, Netflix)

7) The Christmas Train (2017, Hallmark)

8) The Knight Before Christmas (2019, Netflix)

9) Deck the Walls (2024, Hallmark)

10) Holiday in the Vineyards (2023, Netflix)

11) Meet Me Next Christmas (2024, Netflix)

12) Midnight at the Magnolia (2020, Netflix)

13) Hot Frosty (2024, Netflix)

14) Christmas Under Wraps (2014, Hallmark)

15) Pride, Prejudice, and Mistletoe (2018, Hallmark)

16) The Princess Switch 2: Switched Again (2020, Netflix)

17) EXmas (2023, Amazon/Freevee)

18) Snowed Inn (2017, Hallmark)

19) Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story (2024, Hallmark)

20) Reporting for Christmas (2023, Hulu)

21) The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star (2021, Netflix)

22) One Royal Holiday (2020, Hallmark)

23) The Noel Diary (2022, Netflix)

24) Three Wise Men and a Baby (2022, Hallmark)

25) A Christmas Vintage (2023, Amazon)

26) A Perfect Christmas Pairing (2023, Amazon)

27) Christmas in the Spotlight (2024, Lifetime)

28) Joy to the World (2024, Hulu)

29) Christmas on the Farm (2022, Hulu)

30) Holiday in the Wild (2019, Netflix)

31) Merry Gentlemen (2024, Netflix)

32) Best. Christmas. Ever. (2023, Netflix)

33) Christmas on the Ranch (2024, Hulu)