Jingle All the Way (1996)

Jingle All the Way (1996)

5/10

Starring

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Sinbad

Phil Hartman

Rita Wilson

Directed by Brian Levant

Jingle All the Way for me at age eleven was everything fun. It had Arnold Schwarzenegger who was landing comedy roles well at that time and Sinbad whom I recall from the TV series A Different World. I enjoyed it a hell lot back then and I am indifferent to it now.

It is not a classic Christmas movie like It’s A Wonderful Life (1964), but for me I get to enjoy it every now and again, basically because it reminds me of a cool time from my youth with my sister.

The movie plot has our lead Howard (Schwarzenegger) shown as a workaholic mattress salesman. Howard is married to Liz (Rita Wilson) and they have a son, who is obsessed with the TV character superhero Turbo-Man. After missing his son’s karate class Howard decided to fulfill his son’s wish and get him a Turbo-Man action figure. He tells his wife that he has gotten it already, believing that all he had to do was walk into a store and pick one.

When he finally gets to walk into a store he finds out that the action figure is the most sort after thing in town and it is all sold-out everywhere. It was during this search that he meets another father wanting to buy the action figure for his son, Myron (Sinbad). They soon became nemesis, following each other and trying to get the possibly last action figure of Turbo-Man in town.

The movie was inspired by the writer's Chris Columbus attempt to get his hands on a Buzz Lightyear action figure. Buzz Lightyear was a character in the Disney/Pixar animated movie of 1995, Toy Story. This is Schwarzenegger's fourth appearance as the lead in a comedy film, following Twins (1988), Kindergarten Cop (1990) and Junior (1994).

The movie was no way a box office hit, even though the studio invested well into the production. Dishing out an eight figure salary to Schwarzenegger all adding up to it’s seventy-five million production budget, the movie made over a hundred and twenty million. Although overtime the movie has become one of those regulars you see on TV during the Christmas period.

Also in the movie is Rita Wilson, the wife of Tom Hanks who plays Schwarzenegger’s wife in the movie. So if you are curious to see what she looks like, well this movie will be a helper.

So, your children will enjoy this movie and you will probably understand the feeling if you have ever been at a mall for a last minute Christmas shopping. This movie is a nostalgia quest, not something to see if you are in the mode for a nice family fun movie.