Last week, I was lamenting about the state of Christmas movies after watching The Merry Gentlemen, and between then and now, 10 more Xmas-themed films have been released across various streaming platforms, and all of them have been pretty bad. One of them was inspired by the real-life romantic relationship between Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift, so you can guess what we are dealing with. And the most surprising and dreadful thing is that we are still in the month of November. We haven’t even hit December. It’s still hot outside. Hence, I am not shivering because of the temperature; it’s the fear that holiday season-centric films are going to get much worse than they are right now that’s making me quiver in my boots. That’s why, despite being an atheist, I started praying to the movie gods to give me a glimmer of hope by showing some variety so that I don’t have to rely on 25 glasses of eggnog to deal with the 100th film about finding love during Christmas. Is Dear Santa the answer to my prayers? Let’s find out.
Bobby Farrelly’s Dear Santa, written by Ricky Blitt and Peter Farrelly, tells the story of Liam Turner, who has moved from Connecticut to Midtown (I don’t know which one because the movie is sort of vague about it and I am not Trevor Rainbolt, but I think it’s Pennsylvania) with his parents, Molly and Bill, for a pretty traumatic reason. Since the parents don’t really want to address the elephant in the room, they keep bickering amongst themselves, which has a harmful effect on Liam. The little kid tries to douse the flames by talking about the Christmas spirit and sending a letter to Santa about what he wants during this festive season. Molly, who is a big fan of Christmas, is understandably happy about Liam’s decision to keep the tradition alive, despite knowing that Santa isn’t real, but Bill thinks it’s a recipe for disaster. Molly disparages Bill’s apprehensions and takes Liam along to mail his letter, but since Liam is dyslexic, he ends up addressing it to Satan instead of Santa. And, well, Satan does show up in Liam’s bedroom, promising to grant three wishes in exchange for his soul. Given how Liam’s life is full of problems, he agrees to make a deal with the devil.
I think I have to point it out, because there might be some kids in the crowd, but Dear Santa has been made by the Farrelly Brothers. Yes, these are the same Farrelly Brothers who have given us comedy classics like Dumb and Dumber, There’s Something About Mary, Me, Myself & Irene, Osmosis Jones, Shallow Hal, and The Heartbreak Kid. They’ve already given me one of my favorite movies of 2024, Ricky Stanicky, and to be honest, I really enjoyed their Christmas-themed venture too. Sure, it’s incredibly kid-friendly and unsurprisingly predictable, but the premise and the execution were fun enough to keep me engaged. The sincere tone and the overarching message about being nice, despite all the temptations and vices being thrown at you from a young age, were refreshing. I don’t know if the film’s target audience and their parents will be tuning into Paramount+ to watch a Christmas film featuring Jack Black as “Satan.” But I think it’s great that the Farrelly Brothers, along with Ricky Blitt and Dan Ewen, are trying to cut through all the cynicism and snark that kids are picking up on via the internet and real life (largely due to irresponsible parenting) and telling them that being kind and sensitive isn’t “hashtag cringe”; it’s the right thing to do.
Dear Santa suffers from the kind of bad visual storytelling that has become synonymous with Christmas movies and comedy movies. The cinematography, the editing, the production design, the costume design, the art direction—it’s all really static and basic, but not offensive enough to make you hit the pause button. That said, it has two scenes that kind of impressed me. The first one happens when “Satan” gives Liam a taste of everything he can have if he uses his wishes properly. I was afraid that Farrelly would just rely on exposition to get the job done, but he and his team did the bare minimum of actually shooting “Satan’s” seductive illusions, and that’s great. The second one happens when “Satan” visits his lair. I wasn’t expecting his throne room to look that exquisite, and hence, I was thoroughly impressed. Even the makeup and costumes in that scene were pretty fantastic. It made me wish the movie had more scenes like that. I have a feeling that the film’s commentary, if I can call it that, on learning difficulties will irk people. So, I just want to make it clear that “Satan” is insensitive because he is “Satan.” The parents overreact because they’re stupid. Only one kid mocked Liam and she was called out and reprimanded. And dyslexia isn’t just used as a silly gimmick to set the film’s events into motion because it eventually leads to timely learning lessons for all.
Contrary to popular opinion, Dear Santa rests on Robert Timothy Smith’s shoulders. I don’t really know how to put it, but even when casting directors absolutely hit it out of the park while selecting child actors for a main or supporting role, they either feel like they’re overacting or they’re really uncomfortable. That’s not necessarily a critique because these are all children who are being asked to perform in front of 50 crew members while having the pressure of their work being scrutinized by thousands of people. All child actors are doing their best, but in my humble opinion, Robert is a little better than them. His awkwardness, innocence, and charm feel so organic and honest that it doesn’t look like he is putting on a performance. The same can be said about Jaden Carson Baker and Kai Cech, and their chemistry with Robert is excellent. Jack Black is good. The man is at that stage of his career where, I think, he is choosing characters that he can play by being himself or the version of himself that he presents to us. And this is a decent fit. I can totally see him playing “Satan” until the character earns his horns (you’ll understand what that means when you see the film) or becomes iconic. Brianne Howey (who was splendid in The Exorcist TV series) and Hayes MacArthur are pretty amazing. P.J. Bryne is brilliant, as always. For some reason, Post Malone delivers a better cameo performance than Keegan-Michael Key. And, please correct me in the comments if I am wrong; I am pretty sure the movie has a Ben Stiller cameo!
I still think that the best “Christmas wish gone wrong” film is the 2015 comedy horror classic by Michael Dougherty, Krampus. But in case you can’t stomach a high level of mean-spiritedness and gore, Dear Santa is a good substitute. If you are up for a tonally polar (get it?) opposite Christmas double feature, you can watch both and have a jolly good time. Twin bill recommendations aside, I think the latest Farrelly Brothers venture is a perfectly fine kid-friendly Christmas film. It has the adequate amount of twists to make you gasp or cry (in a good way). Jack Black and the rest of the cast are fun. I have no clue why it isn’t in the cinemas. The production studio had a couple of tentpole releases this year that haven’t done well at the box office. Something as stacked as Red One (which is by MGM, by the way) is not doing as well as the studio expected it to, financially speaking. So, I guess Paramount didn’t want to take the risk and has released it on digital. Anyway, since it’s readily available from the comfort of your homes, I reckon you should give it a watch.
