Christmas Reviews: Jingle All the Way

I was almost not sure of whether or not to review this, but then I realized it only makes sense to write a review seeing as how it is a pretty notable Christmas film from the 90’s and I’m all about the 90’s here.

Also, because Schwarzenegger. Let’s get right on to the movie, it’s time for Jingle All the Way!

Released in 1996, Jingle All the Way focuses on one man’s struggle to find a super popular action figure that everybody is snatching up during the holiday season known only as Turbo Man. Its popularity somehow escapes him, and on top of that, there’s the fact that he should’ve bought the toy earlier. Yeah, how did that escape him? I guess we could just blame his job or something.

The main character, Howard Langston, is played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. He’s an average man (or at least as close to an average man as possible, seeing as how he’s played by Schwarzenegger) who has a demanding job and little time for family. He struggles to spend time with his wife Liz (played by Rita Wilson) and his kid, often missing out on things like karate classes, and other family events.

His son Jamie is played by Jake Lloyd, who of course went on to play Anakin in Star Wars episode one. It’s hard not to think of that and why he stopped acting afterwards while watching this. And to be fair, I don’t think he was never that bad of an actor (if anything, blame the script for Episode One). He does alright in this and has good chemistry with Arnold. Plus, I know many kids could relate to his character in Jingle All the Way. He really wants this toy, but on top of that, he just wants to spend more time with his dad.

There’s also a smarmy neighbor named Ted, who’s played by the late Phil Hartman. As odd as it sounds, this is actually one of my favourite roles of his purely because of how he plays it. Ted is always trying to romance Howard’s wife and often doing what Howard can’t do, like helping with Christmas decorations and whatnot. He even obsesses over things like Liz’s cookies in what has to be one off the funniest moments in the entire movie.

Rest in peace Mr. Hartman, still miss ya man!

After Howard decides go out and buy the action figure (easier said than done), he runs into a mailman named Myron (played by actor/comedian Sinbad.). You know those comic relief characters who were always played by comedians in 90’s films? Yeah, that’s right. And you know how people would sometimes find them obnoxious or not funny or more amusing rather than laugh-out-loud funny?

That’s basically Myron in a nutshell. But in my opinion, Sinbad is pretty funny in the role. It’s a strange performance in a way, but he has fun with it and it’s quite amusing to see him interact with Schwarzenegger. The two improvised a lot of their dialogue and it shows how much fun they had fun with this. It almost reminds me of the chemistry between Tom Arnold and Schwarzenegger in True Lies, but with a different and more chaotically crazy context.

From there, the two get into funny fights and scenes as they team up to find Turbo Man action figures. They both want the toy, and even though there’s a bit of a team-up aspect between the two, they always have the intention of doing what they can to one-up each other in the event there’s only Turbo Man toy, even if it means trampling other customers and punching a few Santas.

Oh yeah, and they sometimes cause a little destruction along the way.

…yeah, I can see why people would find this film awkward and whatnot. But you know something? It’s pretty accurate in terms of how and why people go nuts as they try to finish up Christmas shopping. I’ve seen other reviewers talk about this and how they relate to the hysteria aspect of last-minute shopping, especially with regard to popular toys for kids.

And speaking of kids, this movie makes a good effort to keep everything clean and lighthearted, with very minimal cursing and only slight nods of implied adult humor. I was surprised to see a couple funny moments hinting at something even just lightly risque, but those definitely went over my head as a kid and the film is mostly family friendly.

Sounds like Jim Belushi’s chicken sound inspired Tommy Wiseau to get into acting.

The plot is very straight-forward, the characters are a little on the simple side, but the movie knows what it is and manages to be quite fun. There are a lot of memorable lines, especially with Schwarzenegger’s acting and delivery. It’s always fun to see him do something less action-packed, as he is very funny. Even though they go for this idea of Arnold playing an ordinary man, you know not to take it seriously because… well face it, we ARE talking about a guy with a distinct Austrian accent and a physique that’s really not all that fitting for an ordinary person. But again, the movie doesn’t take itself seriously and you can just kick back and enjoy the silliness.

Bottom line, it’s good silly fun. If you’re in a mood for something lighthearted and slightly crazy, go ahead and watch Jingle All the Way.

So until next time… PUT DAT COOKIE DOWN! Now!!!