To save her family hotel’s Christmas variety show, talent booker Claire must ask her ex-boyfriend for help who is the lead guitarist of an A-list band that fired her as their manager years previously.

Starring:  Laura Osnes, Kyle Selig, Pat Monahan, and George Lopez

Laura Osnes is beautiful, talented, and can create magic with any co-star, even when he looks young enough to be her little brother.

Kyle Selig has the perfect hair for his role as the lead guitarist of the boy band, Wild Lynx, and in real life, he is a singer and dancer as well as an actor.  Both he and Osnes share a background in theatre, so from that perspective, they are well-matched.  Age wise, however, Selig is seven years younger (age 29), and with his boyishly good looks, Claire looks like she’s robbing the cradle in this movie.

One thing’s for sure, the boy knows how to land a kiss, and in Christmas in Tahoe, viewers are treated to two kisses, not just one at the end.  Sorry, ladies.  Selig is taken offscreen as well.  He is engaged to fellow actor, Erika Henningsen.

Claire’s father can’t understand why the annual Christmas variety show at the family hotel is so important to her.  Little does he know a rep from the Emperor Resorts in Las Vegas will by flying in to watch the show to decide if Claire is a good fit for booking talent in Vegas for his resort’s live entertainment.  Things unravel when Claire’s headliner cancels, causing all the other booked acts to follow suit.  Claire has less than a week to fill all the spots.

Just when her dream job is within her grasp, Claire must make some tough choices.

Claire’s co-worker at the hotel and her co-conspirator is Jackson, played by Train’s lead singer, Pat Monahan.  Considering Monahan is not an actor, his performance is doubly impressive.

Jackson has been sneaking away from work a few minutes early each week, and Claire teases him about having a date.  She later learns he can play guitar and sing and has been booking gigs locally.  When Claire hears him perform, she’s wowed by his talent and immediately books him for the hotel’s variety show.  It’s at the Christmas show that Jackson joins Wild Lynx (which script writer came up with THAT dumb group name?) to sing Shake Up Christmas, which is actually a Train original song.  It is catchy!  If you love it too, you can listen to it here:

 

Monahan explains his inspiration for writing Shake Up Christmas, which you can watch in this video:

If Shake Up Christmas has you itching for more holiday music from Train, you can order their 2017, 17-track Christmas CD, which also includes Shake Up Christmas.  Find it here:

Christmas in Tahoe is classic Hallmark gold and worth saving on your DVR!