Jingle All the Way 1996, Rated PG

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Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, et al.

The premise of Jingle All the Way is one of those ideas that shows just how far we, as a society, have regressed from the times when we were but Australopithecines running around the African plains, looking for animal carcasses to scavenge. Materialism abounds in this smarmy, schmaltzy look at one father's Christmas shopping experience. Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as the father, desperately looking for a Turbo Man action figure, the year's new, hot toy, on Christmas Eve. Arnold has promised his son that he will have a Turbo Man to look forward to on Christmas, and, of course, forgets this promise until the day before Christmas when he is forced to break even more promises to his son and into his neighbor's house trying to find a $20 toy that his son, ultimately, gives away. There are several fleeting moments of comedy in this film, the majority coming when Jim Belushi, dressed as Santa, tries to sell Arnold a Spanish Turbo Man for $300, but nothing that you will remember the next day.

Chris Columbus, director of Home Alone 1 and 2, who produced Jingle All the Way, should know Christmas box office gold when he sees it, fires a shockingly off-target shot with this movie. His presence as producer is very obvious--watch Arnold trip his main Turbo Man competitor, Sinbad, and pump his fists, yelling, 'yes'--but Arnold is not Macauley Culkin, and Jingle All the Way is not fit to even be mentioned in the same sentence as Home Alone.

This sense of borrowing from other films is even more prevalent during Jingle All the Way's climax, when Arnold, dressed like Turbo Man, flies around with a jet pack on his back ala The Rocketeer. Sadly though, where The Rocketeer was clever and funny, Jingle All the Way is recycled and rather unimaginative.

Belushi brings humor with him to his bit part, but, as a Christmas movie, Jingle All the Way doesn't send any message other than that the majority of people suck.