“A Big Fat Family Christmas,” starring Shannon Kook and Shannon Chan-Kent, is a compelling Hallmark holiday film, which revolves around Asian-American families.
Jennifer Liao directed the movie from a script written by Justine Wetzell-Chang and co-written by Blaine Chiappetta. It highlights Asian voices, especially since the director and co-writer are Asian female filmmakers.
In “A Big Fat Family Christmas,” Liv Chang (Shannon Chan-Kent), a photographer at the San Francisco Chronicle, lives a low-key life. She has curated what she believes to be the perfect life for herself, a little less Chinese and a little more American.
As a social media influencer, she even goes by the name Liv Rose. Her family, on the other hand, represents something a bit more loud, proud and Chinese. They are the infamous Chang family, responsible for throwing the biggest, annual holiday block party in the neighborhood.
Their party is a celebration of Chinese American culture, which Liv finds to be
over the top. She has managed to keep her family a secret until she is forced to partner with Henry (Shannon Kook), a new coworker, to cover her family’s annual celebration.
Shannon Kook is charming as Henry, and his female lead Shannon Chan-Kent is bubbly and vivacious as Liv, and towards the end, she even showcases her impressive singing voice. It is extremely well-written and poignant, and hopefully, this is a harbinger that there will be more Hallmark films with Asian-American characters, actors and storylines in the future.
