Jingle All the Way
| Year: | 1996 |
| Director: | Brian Levant |
| Cast: | Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sinbad, James Belushi, Jake Lloyd, Rita Wilson |
The start of a long period of decline for Schwarzenegger and the film that presumably convinced George Lucas he'd found his young Anakin for the Phantom Menace. It's hard to remember if Lloyd was as grating, irritating or embarrassing as he was in Lucas' return to the director's chair - in fact it's hard to remember anything about the film.
A one-joke comedy drawn out into elaborate and protracted hijinks as a workaholic father promises his son a popular action figure for Christmas then realises on Christmas Eve he has no chance of finding one. Cue an oddball rival with the similar ambitions and watch as the script delivers some relatively funny scenes and a plot that leads to the inevitable Arnie becoming Turbo Man and the kid learning the true meaning of Christmas.
Assumes the irony (as only Hollywood can) of being a shameless cash-in Christmas holiday movie and then preach against the sort of materialism upon which it's success depends.
A one-joke comedy drawn out into elaborate and protracted hijinks as a workaholic father promises his son a popular action figure for Christmas then realises on Christmas Eve he has no chance of finding one. Cue an oddball rival with the similar ambitions and watch as the script delivers some relatively funny scenes and a plot that leads to the inevitable Arnie becoming Turbo Man and the kid learning the true meaning of Christmas.
Assumes the irony (as only Hollywood can) of being a shameless cash-in Christmas holiday movie and then preach against the sort of materialism upon which it's success depends.