Written by Randy Kornfield
Directed by Brian Levant
Howard: "I couldn't find the kid a doll. Now, does that make me a bad father? No. But yelling at him for no good reason? Now, that makes me a bad father."
Myron: "Look, we get one chance a year to prove we're not screw-ups, and what do we do? We screw it up!"
I remember this was a movie that I saw in the cinema when I was younger and had no idea at the time that it had such a poor reception. I always thought it was a pretty fun Christmas movie but oh well.
The 1990s were certainly a time for Arnold Schwarzenegger to flex his comedic skills as an actor and he was a few months away from his take on Mr Freeze in Batman & Robin. This movie went for something of a much straighter role for Arnie.
In this movie, Schwarzenegger took on the role of Howard Langston. He's a workaholic mattress salesman who's kind of been ignoring his wife Liz (Rita Wilson) and son Jamie (Jake Lloyd). It's much worse with the latter as Jamie has given up on having any trust in his father. Howard was determined to make up for that.
The way for Howard to do that was simple - buying the right toy for his son at the right time. The toy being a Turbo Man Doll but Howard made the Cardinal error of leaving it to the very last minute and spent the movie going on a mad dash to get one for his son. This also meant striking up a rivalry with postal worker Myron Larabee (Sinbad). What turned into a friendly competition got vicious really fast.
There was a lot of fun to be had with both Howard and Myron trying their hardest to get that doll, ultimately bringing out the worst in each other. At one point, Howard even tried to steal one from his annoying next door neighbour Ted Maitlin (Phil Hartman). Honestly I didn't blame him for attempting that given how irritating Ted was as a character.
Saying that, getting to be Turbo Man at a parade was certainly a way of Howard to get the toy and get back into Jamie's good books. There was also a lesson that Jamie learned when he realised that Myron wanted the toy for his kid more than he wanted it. Again, why was this movie so disliked?
- This was meant to be a commentary on the hype that certain toys have at Christmas.
- A post credit scene showed that Howard had forgotten to get Liz a gift.
- Standout music: Jingle Bells, Sleigh Ride, Back Door Santa and Jingle Bells Rock.
- Chronology: Minneapolis during the Christmas season.
I gotta say this - I really like Jingle All The Way. I liked it when I first saw it as a child and I still like it a lot as an adult. It's a lot of daft fun and there's a good back and forth between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad.
Rating: 7 out of 10
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