Wouldn’t a romantic affair with Santa’s son himself make your Christmas magical? The film Catch Me If You Claus brings out a romantic relationship that develops between Avery and Chris, Santa’s son himself. The magic element in the film has been beautifully portrayed under the able direction of Bradley Walsh. The cast includes renowned actors like Italia Ricci and Luke Macfarlane. The romance-comedy build itself on magic realism, adding to the festive vibe of the season! Will Chris and Avery be able to help each other out? What circumstances will make them fall in love? We are yet to find the answers to these questions!
Spoiler Alert
How Do Chris And Avery Meet?
While Avery is preparing to become a famous news anchor like her mother, Sophie Ashburn, she comes across an unexpected guest at her house. He is not the usual kind of visitor that one would expect, but he introduces himself as Chris, Santa’s son. Avery thinks that he is delusional and has broken into her house to steal, as she had heard on the news previously about a chain of theft by a fake Santa. She does not believe Chris at all and ties him up, when he tells her that he actually meant to deliver the Christmas present to her neighbor and accidentally landed at her place. As he complain about his time being wasted, Avery helps him deliver the parcel to her neighbor while still in doubt of his identity. He tells her that he had to be quick, as he had to deliver all the presents to the children before six. Avery is not ready to listen to his excuses and wants to inform the police of a sudden entry into her house. While they are on their way back to Avery’s home, they are mistaken for the Santa gang, who has been robbing people, by a security man, and he immediately informs the police.
What Conflict Arises?
As Avery and Chris are on the run to save their lives, they end up having a lot of adventurous experiences. In order to save themselves, they get inside a theatrical troupe. Avery wants to make a call to Channel 71, where her show was supposed to be aired the next day, to inform them of her situation. She, however, manages to impress the people of the theater with her monologue, and they help her out. We see a strange man following Avery and Chris for a flash drive that he thinks they might have. However, when the man follows them to the theater, he is chased away by the people there. They disguise themselves to escape the man, but he somehow manages to kidnap them. The kidnappers also manage to capture another couple that they suspect to be the real Santa thieves, and they end up getting confused as to who the real thieves are. Avery manages to escape the situation with Chris after stealing the flash drive that the other couple had. She knew that she could present the belongings of the flash drive on the channel which would gain her the leverage as an anchor.
What Was Peter Mayhew’s Motive?
Avery tells Chris that the flash drive was actually evidence against Hewitt Vance, the former mayor. Peter Mayhew has managed to collect the evidence along with his wife against Vance’s scam. He had stolen a Christmas fund and put it to his own use. There was a scam of 45,000 dollars that Vance had stolen to benefit himself and have a luxurious lifestyle. When Peter tried to unravel that, he was fired from his job. Peter was the one who had been behind the chain of thefts in the entire city to distract people from the flash drive! Therefore, Vance’s men had thought that Chris and Avery were behind the theft, as Chris had been dressed in a Santa coat.
How Did Chris And Avery Help Each Other?
Chris and Avery are chased all over the town by Vance’s men, and they somehow manage to come back home. On returning home, they find that Vance’s men had ravaged the place in search of the drive. Santa also arrives at her home in search of his son Chris, as he thinks that he has been unable to fulfill his duties well. When he learns how eagerly his son has given all his time to helping Avery, he is pleased! She manages to print out the contents of the flash drive almost instantly, and it is just then that Vance arrives at her doorstep again. He threatens her to give him back the drive, and she tells him that she has already informed the police of the incident and that they will be there anytime. Just then, Vance and his men hear the police coming, and they flee the place.
After a night full of adventures, Avery realizes that she is late for her show. She had one last chance to prove to everyone that she could be a great anchor, just like her mom. When she is almost about to give up hope of reaching the place on time, Chris assures her that he will help her. The magic-realism is portrayed in the film when Chris sleds her through the snow in his reindeer cart, and she manages to reach the place just in time. She presents her story with full confidence and manages to bag the job as an anchor on the channel. Both Chris and Avery had supported each other when they had lost faith in themselves! Later, Chris comes back to get Avery and tells her that he has managed to deliver all the gifts on time. We saw chemistry building up between them throughout the entire course of Catch Me If You Claus, which leaves us in awe of the possibility of a love story between an earthling and Santa’s son!
Final Words
Despite having several magical moments and being replete with magic realism, the story is very loosely knit! The plot is not engaging, and the character development has not been stressed. There are several loopholes in the film! How did Avery find out about the contents of the drive even before glancing through it? It is possible that she had somehow known Peter and wanted to cover up his chain of thefts by knitting a story, making him look like a saint! Why is Peter never shown in the film? There is a possibility of him being associated with the underworld. However, Catch Me If You Claus does not provide the audience with materials to deeply speculate on the events. The only good part about the film was the magical chemistry that had built up between Avery and Chris. However, the festive vibe of the film is the only element that has made it tolerable! With Christmas around the corner, the director must have thought that he could get away with any plot, absolutely devoid of proper narration or character build-up! Even the title has not been paid any attention and has been simply copied from Catch Me If You Can! This film is a one-time watch for a feel-good festive vibe, but I would refrain from advising anyone to watch it.
