Jingle All the Way (PG)
20th Century Studios; Christmas Specials Wiki; IMDb; Rotten Tomatoes; TV Tropes; Wikipedia
streaming sites: Amazon; Disney+; Fandango; Google Play; Hulu; Movies Anywhere; YouTube
This came out in 1996, and I'm sure I saw it at some point in the '90s. I watched it again in 2024 to write a review. I remembered not being wild about it, and I'm still not, but it was kind of okay.
Arnold Schwarzenegger plays Howard Langston, who spends too much time at work, and too little time with his wife, Liz (Rita Wilson), and son, Jamie (Jake Lloyd). One night near Christmas he misses a ceremony where Jamie earns a new belt in karate, so to make up for it he promises to get Jamie whatever he wants for Christmas. Jamie wants a Turbo Man action figure, which is the most popular toy that year. Liz had told him to get one weeks ago, but he forgot. So now he has to spend Christmas Eve desperately searching for the toy, which is sold out everywhere. He meets a postal worker named Myron Larabee (Sinbad), who is also trying to find a Turbo Man figure for his own son. Howard and Myron become very competitive over this. Meanwhile, Howard's neighbor, Ted (Phil Hartman), spends a lot of time with Liz and Jamie, which Howard really doesn't like. (And he turns out to be right not to.)
I don't want to give away any more details, except to say that Howard ultimately gets a happy ending in a way he never could have expected (and I'd say doesn't really deserve). Honestly, I think Howard really isn't a very good father or husband, though he does come to realize he needs to try harder to be. And more importantly, Jamie gets a happy ending, which he did deserve. Other than that, all I can say is that the whole movie is pretty ridiculous, and not as funny as it's trying to be. I guess it did have some good parts, though. And there's a funny post-credits scene. I'm glad I finally re-watched the movie, and I don't feel it was a waste of my time, but I don't know that I'd ever watch it again.