Stream It or Skip It?

The Merchants of Joy (now streaming on Amazon Prime Video) follows New York City’s five big families – of Christmas tree sales. Inspired by a 2022 Epic magazine and New York magazine feature titled ‘Secrets of the Christmas Tree Trade,’ Celia Aniskovich’s documentary details the ins and outs and comings and goings of the lovably no-nonsense eccentrics who set up corner Christmas tree pop-ups throughout the biggest city in America – and if Charlie Brown once railed poignantly against the commercialization of the holiday, he might want to watch this movie, which shows us a sweeter side of Xmas capitalism.

The Gist: Greg has owned and operated Greg’s Trees for 38 years – he also owns Greg’s Roses, Greg’s Pumpkins and Greg’s Other Holiday-Themed Plant-Based Products, but that’s kinda beside the point, other than answering the question as to whether anyone in the tree trade needs to work the other 11 months of the year. George Smith used to work for Greg, and now George has his own tree business. Heather Neville, based on the Jersey Shore, worked for George, and now she owns NYC Tree Lady. Also part of the circle are Vermonters Jane Waterman and George Nash of Uptown Christmas Trees fame, and their daughter Ciree, who’s set to take over the business once her 70-something parents retire. They’re all “frenemies,” Heather quips, and they’re competitors vying for the city’s best streetcorners, but when one needs a little help, another comes to their aid. Let’s hear it for a sense of community!

NOT part of this circle is an entity known as Kevin Hammer, a very aptly named fella who participates in one measly phone interview with the documentary filmmakers, and is very much a cutthroat businessman who sees no friends in the tree business, only enemies. He’s a Scientologist, is the rumor. Boooooo. I guess four out of five of the big ones ain’t bad; this doc doesn’t need to be any longer than 90 minutes anyway. Hanging out with Greg and George and Heather and the Vermonter fam is kind of fun, because we learn some broad strokes and a few bits of minutiae of the holiday tree biz: Their tree farm sources are SECRET. They participate in annual auctions to rent out sales locations throughout the city, and adhere to some friendly “unwritten rules” so they don’t step on each other’s toes – except for that jerk KEVIN HAMMER. They participate in calculated gambles about how much inventory they think they’ll move. And they employ dozens of people who work 12-hour days every day between Thanksgiving and Christmas, a lot of them outdoorsy free-spirit types – and some, it’s hinted at, who are ex-cons in need of a leg up – who don’t mind bunking in a tiny shed on the chilly NYC streets and possibly not showering for weeks at a time.

We also get to know some of these people as, well, people. Greg works alongside his 20-year-old son Little Greg – note, “Little Greg” is 6’5” – and uses his white beard and ample midsection when he volunteers to play Santa for local gatherings; Greg also faces a significant personal challenge that’s revealed in the third act. Ciree faces a steep learning curve in taking over Uptown from her parents, who’ve been doing this so long, they used to tangle with the mafia back in the day (that conflict has dwindled significantly over the years, phew). George is a big goofy huggable teddy bear of a gruff heavily accented Noo Yawker who’s trying to find a lady for his life at speed-dating events – and may have met the perfect one. Heather also owns an exotic meats store on the Jersey Boardwalk (check the pig head in the case) and shares that she’s a former addict with a criminal record; we watch as she finds a homeless alcoholic man sleeping in one of her sheds, and kindly but firmly tells him he needs to get help, and she knows from experience. These people are kind of awesome, and not just because they cuss like the dickens while spreading the joy of the season.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of? Becoming Santa (2011) might be the most popular making-of-Christmas doc out there.

Performance Worth Watching: Gotta admire Heather for being the most take-no-crap person among several take-no-crappers being profiled here.

Memorable Dialogue: Sorry this isn’t Xmas-themed: “My dream is to sell beaver hot dogs,” Heather says of her exotic-meats shop. “So I wanted my logo to be a spicy beaver. It’s a reflection of who I am.” 

A Holiday Tradition: Trees, togetherness and selling things – this movie covers ALL the Christmas shit.

Does The Title Make Any Sense? F—in’-A right it does!

Sex And Skin: None.

Our Take: Are all the tree people in The Merchants of Joy weirdos? Yeah, kind of, but endearingly so. The more time we spend with them, the more we grow to appreciate them for who they are. If Aniskovich comes to any blanket conclusions about her subjects, it’s that it takes a certain type of person to oversee the “organized chaos” of NYC Christmas tree sales – a type of person who takes very little guff, is a little nutty, is entrepreneurial when it comes to up-and-down seasonal businesses, and is willing to get their hands dirty and do yeoman’s work to make a few bucks while spreading a little joy during a time of year that’s as happy as it is difficult. There’s no sense that anyone’s getting rich doing this; it’s rooted in tradition and a love for the trade, and the film is quietly an ode to the freedoms and stresses of self-employment in family-owned businesses. 

Despite setting up Kevin Hammer as the Grinchy-poo of this story, the doc doesn’t really capture the tension inherent to a business with a season that ends with either feeding a few dozen or a few thousand trees to the shredder. It addresses the risks and moves on to more enjoyable things. Aniskovich is a more successful observer of the seasonal streetside bustle of haggling customers and omnipresent car and foot traffic and honking horns and brutal weather, and how these people are built to endure all the noise, to block it out and direct their employees and hand out candy canes and unload trucks and cut the end off trunks and bail the trees and send them home with excited families – another day, another job well done. Zoom out, and you get a love letter to New York City, scrawled on the back of a coffee napkin or an old receipt, so to speak – and the sense that these people are New Yorkers through and through, embodying the f—in’ spirit of a city that’s utterly unique, never more so than during Christmas.

Our Call: Fun doc! So STREAM IT, ya freakin’ putz!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! (At least, that’s what Andy Williams promised.) The holidays are a time to celebrate with family, friends, food, and, let’s not forget, fun things to watch. Whether you’re huddled up with the whole family in your living room or cozying up under the covers with your tablet, let Decider be your guide to all things festive this holiday season.

John Serba is a freelance film critic from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Werner Herzog hugged him once.