Jingle All the Way

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sinbad, Phil Hartman, Rita Wilsom, Robert Conrad, Jake Lloyd, Martin Mull, Jim Belushi, Harvey Korman, Chris Parnell, Verne Troyer
Directed by: Brian Levant
Rating: PG
Genre: Adventure, Comedy
1996

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A struggling father (Arnold Schwarzenegger) promises his son (Jake Lloyd) he'll get him a Turbo Man action figure. As Christmas looms and the toy is impossible to find, he goes to exceedingly extreme lengths to find one.

Review:

Tim: Wow, Jingle All the Way is a pretty bad movie. I've long been a fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger and I tend to look upon his work slightly more favorably than most. He's made some solid comedies over the years, so I went into this movie hoping it would at least be decent. That was a dream. This movie has some solid ideas about being a father in our modern age, but the execution is incredibly poor. Any worthwhile ideas are squandered in a poorly made movie. I don't know much about director Brian Levant, but based on this, I question his talent.

What frustrates me about this movie is it easily could have been (at least) a decent movie. You have a work-focused father who is disappointing and disconnecting from his son. His child wants one toy for Christmas, but it's impossible to find. The father goes to extreme lengths to find one, hilarity ensues. Every parent in the world could relate to this- the lengths we go to for our children. I can see an effective movie here.

The film actually does some things really right, too. The idea of Turbo Man as the hot toy of the holiday season is exceptionally well done. That felt so authentic and it reminded me of my childhood, when there was one toy everyone wanted. As a parent, I've seen people lose their minds around Christmas trying to get a specific toy for their kids. This is all portrayed exceptionally well. Hell, as the movie progressed, I kind of wanted a Turbo Man action figure. That's the strongest part of the film.

The cast works well, too. Schwarzenegger has such onscreen chemistry, he's just fun to watch. I love when he does comedies because he has such unexpected comedic timing. He's a surprisingly great comedy actor and it was fun seeing him here. I felt his frustration and I was entertained watching him in the role. He didn't have much to work with, but his performance was effective. Phil Hartman was a bit over-the-top, but I thought he brought some nice energy to his unlikable role. Rita Wilson was solid as "the wife", although she gets so little to do. Jake Lloyd's performance felt forced. He was a cute kid, but I never believed his acting. Most of the cast works.

The one exception is Sinbad, although it comes with a caveat. Sinbad's performance isn't terrible, he does his thing decently well. The problem is that is character is incredible awful in nearly every way. There's some uncomfortable racial/social economic connotations for his character. Sinbad tries hard to be funny, but his character is a badly drawn one. He's a post officer worker, so of course, he's mental. He's also poor and black, so draw your own conclusions (verses the white and affluent character Schwarzenegger plays). His story was terrible. At one point, in the film's absolute worst sequence (SPOILERS), he threatens police with a fake package bomb, which turns out to be real, blows up in a cop's face, and he reacts to the bomb like he's a Looney Tunes character. I mean, if the movie didn't have other flaws, this would have ruined it completely right there. Sinbad was okay, but his character and what he needed to do was awful.

The movie's third act is likely the best of the film, but even this is stretching things a bit. It feels very watered down, certainly seeking to satisfy only the youngest and least discerning of audiences. It's kind of fun in a ridiculous, bad comic book sort of way.

Jingle All the Way had some strengths, but Levant is never able to leverage these or make much use of them. This is a movie that failed because of it's direction (and script, to some degree), not because the ideas or the cast were wrong. It's truly a poorly made movie. I give the cast credit for trying.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Kindergarten Cop, Twins, A Christmas Story, The Santa Clause