I have seen a lot of movies dealing with Christmas over the years. Some have been really good and others not so good. I watch my favorites again every year and sometimes even watch some of somewhat bad ones again for some reason. Jingle All the Way wasn't completely terrible, but it was far from a great Christmas movie.
Howard Langston was a workaholic and that had caused him to miss some important family events, like when his son Jamie received a new belt in his karate class. He had been so distracted by work that he had forgotten that he told his wife Liz that he would pick up a Turbo Man doll for Jamie weeks before. The Turbo Man doll was the most sought after toy that year and was currently sold out. Howard didn’t admit to Liz that he had forgotten all about getting Turbo Man and instead went all over Minneapolis looking for one on Christmas Eve. Howard faced competition from Myron Larabee, a mailman that had also waited until the last minute to try to find a Turbo Man for his son.
Almost all of Jingle All the Way was focused on Howard’s attempts to find a Turbo Man on Christmas Eve. Only a little bit of time was taken at the very beginning to show how obsessed with work and how out of touch with his son Howard was. Frankly, considering that it was fairly common for Howard to miss events or forget things because of work, it was surprising that Liz would leave getting Turbo Man to Howard to begin with. I don’t think that made sense or was believable at all. Howard couldn’t even manage to make it home on time for dinner, so why would Liz think he would remember to go pick up a very hard to find toy?
In addition to dealing with Howard trying to find Turbo Man, Jingle All the Way also tried to tackle issues in his relationship with his wife and son. The movie did seem to be trying to deliver a message about the importance of family, but I don’t think it worked that well. The family issues just sort of seemed to be added in almost like after thoughts to help stretch out the running time. The family issue things may have worked better if there hadn’t been as much importance placed on Howard finding a Turbo Man. It was like Howard’s family life and the holiday would be completely ruined if he didn’t get that toy, so the importance was placed on presents instead of the true meaning of Christmas.
Jingle All the Way did show the insanity that sometimes comes out during the Christmas shopping season. I do love Christmas and love getting people presents, but I don’t really like the actual shopping at times. The crowds seem to be worse every year and the people seem to get ruder. I have gone to several places looking for a certain gift, but I have never gone to the extremes that Howard did. I can’t remember if this movie came out after Tickle Me Elmo or not. I do remember seeing on the news how crazy some people went in their efforts to get that toy. I can also barely remember back when I was a child the craze that happened over Cabbage Patch Kids. I think there was also a craze for the Care Bears that same year. The way the parents in the movie were willing to do just about everything to get a Turbo Man for their children was believable even though things were pushed a bit to make them more extreme. I would like to think that no one would go as far as Howard almost did at one point.
Even though Jingle All the Way took place almost entirely on Christmas Eve, I didn’t think there was a lot of Christmas spirit in the movie. Liz had to practically badger Howard into taking some time off work and he didn’t seem to care about the fact that Liz and Jamie were looking forward to going to the annual Christmas parade. Once Howard did take time off work, he still wasn’t spending time with his family because he had to go out and search all over town for a Turbo Man. He even missed on decorating the Christmas tree. Myron also seemed to believe that getting a Turbo Man was the most important thing about Christmas. The holiday did take a bit of a back seat to the obsession with the toy. That is probably one reason why this isn’t one of my favorite Christmas movies.
If I remember right, Jingle All the Way was supposed to be a funny family friendly Christmas movie. It is family friendly overall, though there were some things that parents may not like their children seeing. I don’t think it was that funny either. A few things that happened were somewhat funny, but most of the things done to add humor fell flat for me. The way that Howard and Myron kept fighting to get a Turbo Man was just stupid. I seem to remember thinking the movie was funnier when I first saw it back in 1996. I ended up thinking most of what was happening was just silly when I watched the movie again this year. I did think it was more disturbing than anything to see Howard first get into a fight with a group of Santas and then beat up a reindeer after his attempt at stealing a present from the neighbor’s house failed. Children will probably find certain things very funny.
There really wasn’t a lot of development for any of the characters. Howard loved his family, but didn’t realize how his dedicating to his work was impacting them. He was drifting away from his son Jamie, which was a big reason why he went on his quest to find a Turbo Man. Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn’t anything special in the part. Liz loved her husband but did get frustrated with him and the way he kept missing special events because of his work. Rita Wilson was fine in the part, though she really didn’t have a lot to do. Jamie wasn’t around too much. Really all that was shared about him was that he took karate and desperately wanted a Turbo Man. I wasn’t impressed with Jake Lloyd in the part at all. He made the character seem to whiney at times.
Myron Larabee was a mailman who was also trying to find a Turbo Man on Christmas Eve for his son. Myron didn’t exactly play fair when trying to get the Turbo Man. He did act a bit crazed at times and was willing to do things even more extreme than Howard was to get the toy. Sinbad did seem to go a bit overboard with the character. Ted lived next door to Howard and Liz and was the father of Jamie’s best friend. Ted seemed to do everything connected to Christmas perfectly, including getting a Turbo Man well ahead of time. Even when he was trying to be helpful, there was a smarmy quality to him. Phil Hartman was fine in the part.
Main Cast
Phil Hartman - Ted Jake Lloyd - Jamie Arnold Schwarzenegger - Howard Sinbad - Myron Rita Wilson - Liz
Brain Levant - Director
DVD Information
Jingle All the Way is available on DVD. I received a copy for Christmas a few years ago. My copy has the full screen version on one side of the disc and the widescreen version on the other side of it. For extras, there is only a trailer and information about the cast. Starting in November of 2007, I started seeing a new version of the DVD, called the Family Fun Version, in a few stores. I’m guessing there are some new extras on that version, but I could be wrong.
Jingle All the Way had a few moments that were interesting even though it wasn’t that great of a Christmas movie overall. It isn’t so terrible that I can’t stand to see it, but it isn’t one of my favorites by any stretch. Fans of Arnold may enjoy seeing it at least once.
Arnold Schwartzenegger stars as Howard Langston an overworked mattress salesman who has been neglecting his family of late; in an attempt to redeem hi...More at Family Video
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