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Jingle All the Way: Movie Review By: PoisonRamune, the Apathetic Lizardman I love Christmas! I have a perverse fascination with the Christmas season. I believe it started when I was in early elementary school and would notice that despite the colder weather, adults were always more animated during this time of year. Little did I know that those adults were actually more frantic and drunk rather than animated and jovial. Jingle All the Way is a movie that doesn’t focus on the religious aspect of Christmas or warm feeling we get when “we learn to love again on Christmas” as so many other Christmas movies do. Jingle All the Way focuses on my favorite part of Christmas, the holiday rush!
The movie stars the unlikely cast of Arnold Schwarzeneggar and a Sinbad on a last minute shopping excursion as they try to get their hands on the “must have toy” for Christmas. As the movie was made about 12 years ago, it takes a cue from the Tickle Me Elmo Christmas phenomenon of 1996 with the must have toy being a 12” action figure named Turbo Man (rumors of Jingle All the Way 2 and 3 with the Nintendo Wii being featured in both have hit imdb recently, just kidding). In fact, the whole movie takes a cue from some sort of pop culture reference of the time (most notably the “Demon Team” from the Turbo Man show, who are direct rip-offs of the Power Rangers), as this was made to be a very tongue in cheek holiday film.
Being shot almost exclusively in the Minnesota area definitely gave this movie a huge plus in my book. Being a huge Snoopy fan, I love the locales such as the Mall of America, Camp Snoopy and “Peanuts Town” (Charles Schultz’s old neighborhood). The location gave the movie a certain charm that you can’t find when trying to simulate other parts of the US (or the world) in Hollywood, California. The story can be broken down as Schwarzeneggar trying to find where he stands as a father throughout the movie. While he isn’t the “model father” his neighbor (Phil Hartman) is, he’s not an underhanded louse like Sinbad’s character. Though this celebration of mediocrity is very cliché in most modern family films, its presentation and delivery wasn’t. Schwarzeneggar and Sinbad end up in a number of outlandish and downright hilarious situations as they try to get their hands on the hard to find action figure. Most of the said situations result in some sort of classic cartoon style or slapstick comedy such as: getting assaulted by an army of mall Santa’s or trying to pass off an undelivered holiday parcel as a bomb. While I won’t directly give up the end, I will say that neither man directly ends up with a Turbo Man. However, that doesn’t mean that their kids didn’t (I’ll let you watch the movie to figure that one out).
The “buddy comedy” shtick and the over the top gags would make me consider Jingle All the Way a “Stoner Christmas Comedy,” just without the weed. Its formula is a true work of genius; the entire production team managed to cram in all of the "what the fuck?" from Dude Where's My Car and retromodded it into something that works for the entire family. If you haven't planned on watching the film by now, there’s not too much more I can do to sell you this film. I mean, you’ve probably passed over it numerous times on the Direct TV info grid, Best Buy shopping display, and local rental place just based on the leading roles. However, if you’re snowed in or too drunk to leave the house during this holiday season, I thoroughly suggest that you check it out. You’ll be glad you did (even if you won’t admit it).
Final verdict:
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