If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, SheKnows may receive an affiliate commission.
It’s Hanukkah movie time now that the celebrations have commenced! During Hanukkah season, sometimes it feels like all the sleigh bells can drown out the dreidels, latkes, and other attendant Hanukkah fun. And whether or not Hanukkah was ever a particularly important holiday to you, it can be hard as a Jewish person not to feel competitive with the soaring Christmas spirit — especially when there are kids involved, for whom Santa and his many presents is a much easier sell than an eight-day holiday based around lighting candles.
This year, no matter what your celebration looks like, we want to promise there’s still hope to get the whole family invested in some Hanukkah fun, through some good old-fashioned feel-good holiday movies. Are Hanukkah movies still a niche category within that genre? Absolutely, which is its own problem. But each and every one of these picks, from Adam Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights to new Hallmark movie Love, Lights, and Hanukkah, was made with love.
We’re not here to pit Hanukkah against Christmas — given Hanukkah’s relatively minor status compared to other Jewish holidays like Passover, it wouldn’t make any sense to, and we also have nothing against Christmas. But there’s more inspiration and holiday magic to be found come December than just Santa’s trip down the chimney, and movies like Full-Court Miracle, An American Tail, and Mistletoe & Menorahs give a little glimpse of what the Jewish faith, culture, and experience has to offer.
Read on for the best Hanukkah movies for everyone in your family, from young kids and teens and yes, even for you.
‘Eight Gifts of Hanukkah’
Inbar Levi stars in this wholesome movie about an optometrist who receives a gift from her secret admirer every night of Hanukkah. Her quest uncover her admirers identity leads her in a very unexpected direction.
‘Mistletoe & Menorahs’
This Lifetime movie presents a classic Hanukkah dilemma: what happens when you have to learn about Hanukkah to impress a corporate client, but you’ve only ever celebrated Christmas? Naturally, you enlist your handsome Jewish accquaintance to teach you all about it, while you teach him about the wonders of Christmas in return. Mistletoe and menorahs, indeed.
‘Full-Court Miracle’
This Disney Channel Original movie tells the true story of a retired college basketball star who gets lured back into the game by Jewish high schooler Alex, whose team has never won a game. Despite the reluctant school officials, coach Lamont Carr comes back to see if he can make their Hanukkah dreams come true.
‘Love, Lights, And Hanukkah’
Hallmark’s 2020 ode to Hanukkah stars Mia Kirshner, Ben Savage, and Marliu Henner in this tale about a restaurateur who finds out via DNA about her Jewish heritage. Over the eight nights of Hanukkah, she finds out so much more about her family — and her own future — than she ever thought was possible.
Airing on Hallmark Dec. 12 at 8 p.m. ET.
‘An American Tail’
This heartwarming animated movie about the Russian-Jewish Mouskewitz family of mice is off to a devastating start when their Hanukkah celebration is broken apart by an attack from Cossack cats. As they flee to America, which they have been told has no cats, they quickly discover that what they were told about their new life isn’t exactly true, and a difficult journey has gotten their family separated on the way. Still, with the help of other mice in the new world, they band together to forge a life for themselves in the new world.
‘Hitched For The Holidays’
Christian Rob and Jewish Julie are in need of a relationship over the holidays to convince their nosy families that they’re not going to end up alone. As she fakes her way through Christmas and he fakes his way through Hanukkah, they start to realize their feelings may not be fake after all.
‘The Night Before’
It’s a Seth Rogen Hanukkah movie, so this is a rated R option for grown-ups only: lots of cursing, lots of partying, lots of drugs. Also, it’s not so much a Hanukkah movie as it is a movie about Jewish people getting drunk around Christmas while wearing menorah-decorated sweaters, but it is exactly the raunchy and irreverent comedy you will need when the sound of Christmas carols is ready to make you scream.
‘Double Holiday’
Hallmark’s Double Holiday is the tale of two co-workers who can’t stand each other — and who are both up for the same big promotion. When their boss tasks them with planning the Christmas party together, Jewish Rebecca slowly lets her guard down around former nemesis Chris as he comes to embrace her holiday traditions.
Airing on Hallmark Dec. 17 at 12 a.m. ET.
‘Adam Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights’
This movie is strictly PG-13, with more than a little dark humor — but it is Adam Sandler, after all. Alcoholic ex-party animal Davey is given one last chance to avoid jail time when he’s assigned to do community service over Hanukkah by serving as assistant referee on the local basketball. Easy, right? Well, not where head referee Whitey is involved.
‘Holiday Date’
Who likes being home for the holidays without a hubby, am I right? Well, hopefully far more people than the Christmas movie trope would suggest, but we admit it makes for compelling mix-ups (like Netflix’s recent delightful Holidate). in Holiday Date, a woman goes so far as to hire an actor named Joel to pretend to be her boyfriend when a relationship goes south before the holidays — but the catch is, he has to pretend to celebrate Christmas too, which the Jewish Joel does not.
Airing on Hallmark Dec. 18 at 8 a.m. ET.
Leave a Comment