Starring Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis & Dan Ackroyde. From a novel by John Grisham; Screenplay by Chris Columbus. Directed by Joe Roth
Why is it so hard to write a good Christmas film? I’ve seen National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and the Muppets Christmas Carol far too many times now, and I desperately need a new classic Christmas film to watch over and over again in October!
Jamie Lee Curtis is by far the best thing in this film – doing all the funny bits funnily; so I did have a bit of a chuckle every now and then. But it wasn’t enough to rescue the dismal script writing of this film.
To give you the gist – a couple’s daughter isn’t expected home for Christmas for the first time, so they plan to go on a cruise instead, and skip cards and presents and decorations, and everything they normally do. This causes a lot of grief – especially from the neighbours. But then they get the phone call at the last minute that their daughter’s on her way home, and only have a few hours to sort out Christmas in the traditional way that she expects.
The first half just drags on and on, and it’s far too predictable. It lifts up a bit with all the panic to get everything done on time, but it doesn’t exactly get interesting. I wouldn’t bother watching this if I were you.