Jingle all the Way

[baumer]

Discuss

[BiffMan]

"Where's your Christmas Spirit?"

Oddly enough, I have fond memories of this and still enjoyed it upon rewatch. It's goofy, over the top, unevenly acted, completely reprehensible, but also quite a lot of fun. On this one, I can just toss the plot out the window, lay aside the horrible role models, and just enjoy the pure Ahnold goodness.

I've become a parent since I first watched this, and just remembered it as being goofy and a fun film. I'd even been wondering ahead of time if this is one I'm getting close to being able to share with my 7 & 8 year old kids. No sir. Not even remotely close. I must say that the CommonSenseMedia review is spot-on and this movie is largely about a completely delinquent father trying to buy his son's love with a present. That said, while I won't have the kids watching it anytime soon, I still enjoy it for the Ahnold Cheese.

Arnold gives a pretty rocky performance in this one and doesn't appear to have really been into the character. I can hardly blame him if he wasn't, but he does at least have a lot of fun with it and that's mainly what I'm looking for in this type of movie. Quite an impressive amount of "Aaauuuaaaggghhhh" going on for a comedy and I love that they fit in an action sequence involving the Santa Underground Mafia to give him the obligatory fight sequence. His expressions are excellent and some of the glares at Phil and Sinbad are really fun.

I've apparently not watched this since 1999 as I had one of those "holy crap!" moments when I realized why I have such bad memories of Arnold's kid in this. Lo and behold, it's f-ing Jake Lloyd! Ugh, ugh, and ugh. So if I ever needed any further proof of just how off the deep end George was when he cast this kid, I don't have to look any further than the completely irritating performance he put in here. Good news is that now his performance in Episode 1 doesn't seem nearly as bad by comparison.

Ahnold Quotient - 8

For a comedy with Arnold keeping his shirt on, there's a substantial amount of Ahnold running through this one. All the fun and/or goofy expressions are here, there's some good physical acting, and plenty of one-liners.

Rewatchability - Rarely

It's fun to watch, and I'm happy to watch it once every couple of Christmases, but it's not a particularly well-crafted movie. I'd be a little skittish to recommend this to anyone other than a die hard Arnold fan, and I'd certainly not suggest it to anyone under age 13.

[Jack Nevada]

Jesus christ this movie. I watched this last christmas, and it was just as awful as I hoped it would be. I love the sinisterly materialistic message of "If you dont buy your kids the shit they want the rest of their lives are fucked" and "Buy shit and your christmas will be amazing"

 

1,5/5

[Jack Nevada]

I started off my Holiday Movie Season with this hilarious piece of crap. And it is crap to be sure, but also fucking hysterical.

[BiffMan]

Funny, I did the same.  It's enjoyable for what it is and has some good moments, but no getting around the fact it's really not a very good movie. 

 

But now that's out of the way, it's on to Home for the Holidays and Christmas Vacation and Christmas Story and....

[The Stingray]

Whatever happened to the black guy in this? Dude just fell off the face of the earth.

[The Toymaker]

One of the best Christmas movies there is.

 

A

[Jake Gittes]

This about covers it:

http://thedissolve.com/features/forgotbusters/840-arnold-schwarzenegger-brings-christmas-cheer-and-g/

[Empire]

LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!!!!!

A(94)

I give it that for my pure enjoyment of it!