Jingle All the Way (1996) - Gift-craze Christmas lampooned with fun Schwarzenegger performance

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+ Best Christmas Movie of the Year + Best Minnesota Movie of the Year 

 

Wild chaos and colorful lights beam the way on this poster for Brian Levant's Jingle All the Way

A busy businessman and family father disappoints his son yet again, and the only thing that can make it up again is a much coveted action figure for Christmas, - but he's running last minute, and the figure is sold out!

 

Jingle All the Way is written by Randy Kornfield (Bloodknot (1995, TV movie)) and directed by Brian Levant (Problem Child 2 (1991)).

It has a fun, - if extremely materialistic, - premise and struggles to find enough meat to its story for the required timespan, but a huge Christmas parade and all sorts of mix-ups help fill it up. 

Phil Hartman (TaleSpin (1991, TV-series)) is funny as the unctuous 'prize-worthy' family father neighbor, and Jake Lloyd (Unhook the Stars (1996)) is cute as the son. Arnold Schwarzenegger (Red Heat (1988)) is his usual engaged, high-spirited self. It is a minor film in his body of work, but it has Yuletide charm. - And then Arnie also knock-outs a reindeer in one scene in Jingle All the Way, which is also a special kind of treat for a Schwarzenegger fan.

 

Related post:

 

1996 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 60-75 mil. $ (different reports)

Box office: 129.8 mil. $

= Flop or a big flop (returned between 1.73-2.16 times its cost)

[Jingle All the Way premiered 16 November (Mall of America, Minnesota) and runs 89 minutes. The script was inspired by Christmas toy crazes such as the Cabbage Patch riots over the Cabbage Patch Kids dolls of 1983 and other similar cases of Yuletide toy hysteria and violence. Schwarzenegger was paid 20 mil. $ for his performance. Shooting took place from April - August 1996 in Minnesota and California. The film opened #4, behind fellow new release Star Trek: First Contact and holdover hits Space Jam and Ransom, to a 12.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America where it spent 2 more weekends in the top 5 (#4-#4) and grossed 60.5 mil. $ (46.6 % of the total gross). The foreign market numbers are regrettably not made public. A multi-million $ lawsuit alleging that the premise was stolen was finally decided in favor of Fox in 2004. Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Levant returned with Metropolitan Hospital (1997, TV movie) and theatrically with The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000). Schwarzenegger returned in Batman & Robin (1997). Jingle All the Way is rotten at 20 % with a 4.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Jingle All the Way? 

Homer and Eddie (1989) - Konchalovskiy's under-appreciated road dramedy

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Two endearing star sweethearts invite us on a journey from an autumnal landscape on this pleasant poster for Andrey Konchalovskiy's Homer and Eddie

Homer is not the brightest man, (in fact he is a little backwards), and when he heads to Oregon to see his cancer-sick father, he is robbed of all his belongings. He meets Eddie, an escaped mental patient, and the two become friends on the lam together.

 

Homer and Eddie is written by Patrick Cirillo (The Surgeon (1995)) and directed by great Russian filmmaker Andrey Konchalovskiy (The First Teacher/Pervyy uchitel (1965)).

The stakes are truly high in this buddy dramedy road movie, in which the lower classes of America are portrayed with an enormous, beating heart. Jim Belushi (Underdog (2007)) and Whoopi Goldberg (If I Had Known I Was a Genius (2007)) roll out as two class actors, making Homer and Eddie a pleasure, with lots of Americana music in the speakers along the journey, as beautiful America passes by outside their car windows. Belushi does verge on the overly silly at times in some of the uneasy scenes, but I am still a big fan of this under-appreciated gem.

 

Related post:

 

Andrey Konchalovskiy: Andrei Rublev/Andrey Rublev/Андрей Рублёв (1966) - Tarkovsky's undying epic of faith in Russia (co-writer)

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain - but certainly a flop

[Homer and Eddie was released 17 August (West Germany) and runs 100 minutes. Shooting took place from January - March 1988 in Oregon and California. The AFI catalog reports that following a troubled road towards the big screens, the film was axed by critics and did poorly at the box office. There are regrettably no public numbers of its budget or gross available. Konchalovsky returned with Tango & Cash (1989). Belushi returned in Wedding Band (1989); Goldberg in Beverly Hills Brats (1989). 1.9k+ IMDb users have given Homer and Eddie a 5.3/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of Homer and Eddie?