Our Official Ranking Of Every Hallmark Christmas Movie Starring Jen Lilley

Jen Lilley is a bonafide Hallmark Channel darling. While Lilley is one of the multiple Hallmark stars who's joined the competitor network, Great American Family, as of late, she's still got quite an impressive filmography with Hallmark under her belt. Lilley's leading Hallmark roles have made it into the double digits, and it's easy to see why. She's got the energy, versatility, and relatability of a perfectly lovable leading lady. 

The Hallmark Channel is best known for its wholesome romantic comedies, but it's also particularly popular for its holiday content. Lilley is a fan of Hallmark holiday movies herself, telling Brit + Co: "Hallmark has always been a part of my Christmas. And then when they formed Hallmark Channel and started doing all of the Hallmark Channel Christmas movies, that just naturally folded into my Christmas traditions."

While Lilley's face can be seen all over the channel, she's actually only starred in three Hallmark Christmas movies. Her list of Hallmark holiday movies may be short, but it's chock full of everything we love about Christmas rom-coms. If you're a Jen Lilley fan, and you're in search of the best Hallmark movies to watch this Christmas, get ready for the ultimate watch list. We've got Jen Lilley's Hallmark Christmas movies ranked from our least favorite to the best. 

"USS Christmas" came out in 2020 and stars Jen Lilley as a journalist named Maddie. Maddie follows a lead on a story onto a Christmastime tiger cruise on a naval ship (a tiger cruise, per the U.S. Department of Defense, gives the opportunity to "friends and family of deployed sailors and Marines to spend time aboard a sea-going vessel to experience the ship's day-to-day operations"). There, she meets naval officer Billy, played by Trevor Donovan. As the two solve a mystery and fall in love, Maddie teaches Billy the magic of Christmas. 

"USS Christmas" has a formulaic story; we've seen the tough, holiday-hating male lead see the light thanks to his love interest's Christmas spirit plenty of times before. That said, this movie isn't entirely predictable; its unfolding mystery adds some intrigue that we don't get from the typical Hallmark holiday content, and it might provide something special for some fans. Still, not everything that makes "USS Christmas" unique makes it a Christmas movie that we'll want to rewatch every year. While the naval ship setting certainly puts a fresh twist on the typical rom-com, it doesn't make for a particularly warm holiday vibe. It's easy to miss that small-town, Christmas-y mood that others give us. 

We've seen the same Hallmark Channel tropes played out countless times, and frankly, this comfort and dependability is one of the things folks love most about the network. 2018's "Mingle All the Way" puts a new, modern twist on some classic Hallmark cliches. It's basically classic Hallmark plus dating apps. Jen Lilley's character, Molly, creates an app for helping folks find plus ones for holiday events. She uses the app herself, only to be matched with Jeff played by Brant Daugherty, who she already knows and doesn't like. 

Molly and Jeff proceed to pretend that they're a couple in order to act as dates for each other's myriad holiday parties and events, as well as appearing to be living proof that the app works. Of course, their dislike for each other fades over time as the facade slowly turns into a real romance.  Lilley and Daugherty have palpable chemistry in this movie, which really helps to sell the story. Even so, there are elements of "Mingle All the Way" that just don't quite work, like Molly's uncomfortable relationship with her mom and Jeff's generally unlikable character.

The 2019 Hallmark holiday film "Angel Falls: A Novel Holiday" brings us another enemies-to-lovers tale, as the Hallmark Channel loves to do. Jen Lilley plays Hannah, a book editor who is forced to reunite with her nemesis, Ryan, played by the always charming Carlo Marks. Their feud is, of course, no match for holiday spirit. The pair falls in love with the help of a guardian angel who helps the story play out. "One thing I loved about this film is they are childhood friends who later turned to nemeses. ... It provides a lot of drama right off the get-go," Lilley told TV Insider about the film.

This movie isn't without flaws, and it won't be everyone's favorite on the list since it is, in some ways, more predictable and unoriginal than the others. Still, when it comes to favorite Hallmark Christmas movies, most of us want something that feels like an instant classic that we can watch every year while wrapping presents and baking cookies. Of all three options, this pick gives those warm, fuzzy, magical Christmas vibes that we're looking for in a Hallmark holiday classic, putting it a leg above the rest.