Jingle All the Way (1996)

“They sit there and use subliminal messages to suck your children’s minds out! And I know what I’m talking about because I went to junior college for a semester and I studied psychology so I’m right in there, I know what’s going on. And then they sit there and they make your children feel like garbage and you, the father, who’s working 24/7 delivering mail so you can make an alimony payment to a woman that slept with everybody at the post office, but me! And then when you get the toy, it breaks and you can’t fix it because it’s little cheap plastic! ” – Myron

Number of Times Seen – at least 3 times (Cable in the 90’s, 17 Nov 2007 and 7 May 2018)

Brief Synopsis – A workaholic father must find a Christmas toy for his son that has been sold out for weeks.

My Take on it – I’m not sure when and where it was decided during the 90’s that Arnold Schwarzenegger would be a good comedic actor.

This film is further proof that he should have stuck to action films.

He is totally miscast in this film as a workaholic every-man trying to do whats right in order to be there for his son.

The premise is quite good but the way the story is presented is completely wrong and the way that they add extraneous characters to the mix drags it down even further because they are so unrealistic.

Sinbad and Phil Hartman are usually actors that can be counted upon for some good laughs, but neither of them manages to do so here with their characters.

Jake Lloyd makes me cringe in this film and I’m once again surprise dhow they chose him to be young Anakin Skywalker based partially on his performance in this film.

Not even close to being among Arnie’s best films.

Bottom Line – Schwarzenegger is incredibly wrong for this role. His portrayal of a workaholic father who doesn’t have time for his son just isn’t plausible at all.  The story doesn’t work at all because it adds in extraneous characters that seem quite unrealistic. Seeing Jake Lloyd in this film makes me cringe and I can’t believe that he got the coveted role of young Anakin Skywalker based partially on his performance in this film.  Always fun seeing Sinbad and Phil Hartman in this film but neither of them are funny enough to be even more enjoyable.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – The story is based on the 1980s shopping frenzy over the Cabbage Patch dolls. However, it ended up perfectly mimicking the Tickle Me Elmo craze of Christmas 1996. (From IMDB)

Rating –Razzie Worthy (3/10)

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