Spagetti Syrup And Gingerbread Men

Rating: 6/10 (22 December 2007)

Will Farrell has done better films than this one but this is a warm feel good holiday film. When you look at it as a whole film, it holds a certain charm. That charm is established by framing the story around belief in the fantasy known as Christmas.
This is the most extensive work done by Bob Newhart since the 1990's. Bob is the framework that holds this story together. Ed Asner has a very small role as Santa & is just here enough to be recognizable having little chance to do much acting.
Brunette bomb shell Zooey Deschannel is charming as a blonde & proves she can sing. Hopefully she will get some better roles as her young career has proved she can handle them. In this movie, she makes the viewer buy that young innocent charm as she glows here.
Faizon Love is excellent in support as the Gimbles store manager. James Caan is OK here, less annoying than in some films, but for some reason he does not seem to get really good roles anymore.
There are some gross holiday bits, like downing a 2 liter Coke & a 5 minute belch which is entirely logical, and then some bits which are funny physical comedy. Farrell does not carry the whole show here and that is a good thing. While he is considered the star of his films, his films are better when the support can carry them. His easily worst film is Bewitched where he tried to carry the entire film & flopped badly.
This doesn't measure up to classic holiday films but is better than some of the lame efforts of recent years.