Jingle All The Way (1996)

This movie begins with the well-used premise that workaholic Dad Howard Langston (Arnold Schwarzenegger)has missed yet another Karate event in which his son Jamie (Jake Lloyd) would receive his latest belt. To make up for it, he promises Jamie that he will make sure that he gets whatever he wants for Christmas. This gift turns out to be the Turbo-Man(the Cabbage Patch Doll of the season) that he had also previously promised his wife Liz (Rita Wilson) that he would pick up weeks ago. He, of course, says that he picked it up earlier and his wife says great because Turbo-Man is sold out all over town.

The rest of the movie is of Howard desperately trying to find this doll for his son all the while trying to hold off another father, Myron (Sinbad), who is also in the same situation. Along the way he has several run-ins with a cop (Robert Conrad awesome in the old T.V. show "Baa Baa Black Sheep") and also has to keep his divorced next door neighbor (Phil Hartman perfect in this role) from making the moves on Liz. Howard is not able to secure a doll, but by strange events becomes Turbo-Man in the Christmas parade and holds off Turbo-Man's arch nemesis Dementor (Sinbad) and finally gets a special edition doll for his son. His son, after hearing Myron's sad story about his own son, gives Myron the doll after declaring that he doesn't need the doll when he has Turbo-Man at home. Awwww!

Filmed in the Twin Cities, this movie is not quite as bad as most of the critics say it is. Don't get me wrong, this is not a great movie, but it is not as unwatchable as it has been made out to be. There were a couple of funny parts including one in which Howard and Myron as well as about a hundred other people try to get lottery balls to be in a drawing for a late shipment of Turbo-Man dolls. With lottery balls flying and people biting and crawling around to get them all perfectly timed to the song "It's the most wonderful time of the year" made me laugh out loud. Sinbad was good, but Arnold's acting is as awful as usual (he should stick to mainly non-speaking roles such as Terminator I). This movie, like "A Christmas Story" was put on FX for 24 continuous hours in 2004, please note that this did not continue. Kids would like this movie.

89 Minutes. Rated PG. I give this movie TWO AND THREE QUARTER STARS.