Hallmark Channel’s new family adventure, “A Keller Christmas Vacation,” is more than a hilarious romp down the Danube River, according to Jonathan Bennett, who stars in and executive-produced the star-studded rom-com.
Premiering on November 9, 2025, the movie is also a touching tribute to Bennett’s late father, he told EntertainmentNow, sweetly sharing how his dad’s determination to keep their family connected inspired a film that he’s “so proud of.”
‘A Keller Christmas Vacation’ is Based on an Annual Tradition His Dad Spearheaded in Their Family
In “A Keller Christmas Vacation,” Bennett and his onscreen siblings — played by “Superman Returns” alum Brandon Routh and “The Middle” alum Eden Sher — reluctantly agree to take a European riverboat cruise with their parents for the holidays.
The premise was inspired by Bennett’s own upbringing, he told EntertainmentNow, and his dad’s insistence on creating “forced family fun” with an annual trip to Tennessee, where they’d be stuck on a houseboat together for days.
Bennett explained, “My dad would make us go on a houseboat trip every Labor Day for like, 13 years in a row, because my step-siblings and I didn’t always get along, and he discovered that if he took us on
a boat, we would have to talk to each other because there’s nowhere else to go.”
The “Finding Mr. Christmas” host continued, “Whenever we’d try to go to a different vacation or a resort, he’d say, ‘No, you have to go on the boat because it’s forced family fun. And so that’s what it is in ‘A Keller Christmas Vacation,’ too.”
Jonathan Bennett Says Hearing Brandon Routh Utter the Words ‘Forced Family Fun’ During Filming Was an Emotional Moment
HallmarkBennett lost his father, Dr. David Bennett, to brain cancer in April 2014. But with “A Keller Christmas Vacation,” part of his dad’s legacy will live on in a “powerful” way, Bennett told EntertainmentNow.
“It was really hard and touching shooting this movie, because there was a lot of closure to it for me,” Bennett acknowledged. “There was a lot of emotion during the filming process.”
“My dad’s saying — ‘forced family fun’ — is a big thing in our family,” Bennett shared. “We still say that in our family all the time. So the first time that Brandon’s character explained it to someone on the boat in a scene, he goes, ‘Yeah, these are forced family fun trips. You know, something we just have to do in our family to make us all get along.’ It was a very touching moment to hear Brandon Routh say the words ‘forced family fun,’ which were the exact words that my dad repeated to us for decades.”
Bennett continued, “There was this moment of like, ‘Wow, Dad, I’m doing this for you.’ Like, this movie is definitely a tribute to my father.”
Jonathan Bennett Hopes Everyone Can Relate to the Dysfunctional Family Scenes in ‘A Keller Christmas Adventure’
HallmarkBennett wanted “A Keller Christmas Adventure” to reflect the quirks and challenges so many families face during the holidays, noting that “through friction comes bonding.”
“I created the movie loosely based on my own family’s dynamic, because I come from a dysfunctional family, like so many people that watch Hallmark movies,” Bennett told EntertainmentNow. “We all do, and there’s always heightened dysfunction in your family around the holidays. So I thought, why not lean into that and show a real family — what it looks and sounds like during the holidays, right?”
Comparing the movie’s Keller family to the infamous Griswolds of National Lampoon’s classic “Vacation” movies, Bennett said that in addition to many funny moments, it’s also surprisingly sentimental.
“People who have already seen the movie have said, like, ‘I was laughing until I was crying and then I was bawling,'” Bennett noted. “It’s got all the heart you want in a Hallmark movie, and hilarity, too.”
“You take the best Christmas markets in the world, put a dysfunctional family in the middle of the most beautiful background for Christmas, and it’s just the perfect recipe for what you want in a Christmas movie,” Bennett beamed. “There’s heart, there’s humor, there’s adventure. “It’s so good and so powerful. I’m just so proud of it.”
Hallmark Channel’s “A Keller Christmas Adventure” premieres on November 9 at 8 p.m. Eastern time and will be available to stream via Hallmark+ the following day.
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