DEAR SANTA (2024)

 

Directed By: Bobby Farrelly

Written By: Ricky Blitt and Peter Farrelly 

Story By: Ricky Blitt, Peter Farrelly and Dan Ewen

Cinematography: C. Kim Miles

Editor: Julie Garces

Cast: Jack Black, Robert Timothy Smith, Post Malone, Brianne Howey, Keegan Michael Key, Jaden Carson Baker, Hayes MacArthur, P.J. Byrne, Kyle Gass 

When a young boy mails his Christmas wish list to Santa with one crucial spelling error, a devilish Jack Black arrives to wreak havoc on the holidays.

This seems like a film that was made to go to theaters as a high-concept comedy and ended up on streaming. Which one is thankful for because if this hadn’t made it to theaters, only you could see why people would be displeased with it.

It seems like more films that should be released in the theaters are being released in streaming, and many movies that are streaming only could have been released in the theaters and actually made a profit and had better notoriety. 

Then again, it seems like there are more expensive high-concept films being made in general that actually don’t look interesting because they seem more reliant on special effects and fantasy storytelling rather than the talents of their recognizable stars.

At this point, it seems like Jack Black has decided to mostly star in children’s films or films aimed at families and young teens that are a little risky but pretty much clean and well-centered going for the too-crass or too-gross humor.

Now this film is perfectly fine for families to watch as a holiday film, except that it just feels so planned and over the top corny to a certain degree no matter how hard Jack tries or even the rest of the cast it just feels so lightweight by the numbers.

I will credit the filmmakers as this could’ve easily been a more mean, spirited, and gross film. It ends up being a little more moralistic and a bit emotional definitely more than anything else. . 

Though I will admit, there was only one scene that was truly funny and almost hilarious that should help up the audience as the rest of the film is pretty basic and lacks any laugh-out-loud moments.

Then again keep in mind I’m not the ideal audience member for this film. It’s not necessarily my cup of tea and this film is made or directed by Bobby Farrelly of THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY and SHALLOW HAL Fame so this is a comedy with him showing restraint it should be noted.

It’s a film yeah if you just are in the mood for a kind of empty holiday film that tries to have the heart go for it, but unfortunately, it’s not anything special as you might’ve hoped.

Considering the cast and filmmakers. This should have been better or at least a lot more enjoyable. 

Grade: D