Why Can't Hollywood Make a Good Funny Christmas Movie?

One of our many Christmas traditions is holiday movie nights scattered throughout the Christmas season in which the whole family gathers in the living room and watches some of our favorite funny Christmas movies from our collection. We have annual appearances from A Christmas Story ("You'll shoot your eye out!"), National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (one of the funniest movies ever made), The Santa Clause (the original, not the sequels), and the newest acquisition, Elf (well done and the best of the holiday titles in recent years). Another couple of titles that I can recommend but don't own are Home Alone and The Muppet Christmas Carol (we usually see the latter one at my parent's house with the nieces).

This season there were a couple of titles coming out that looked promising: The Santa Clause 3 and Deck the Halls. I usually look to Michael Medved for reviews of new releases and trust his judgment, and after hearing the reviews for both movies which ranged from awful to dreadful, we decided to save our money. Why can't Hollywood make a good funny Christmas movie anymore?

I had previously seen both the first two entries in the Santa Clause franchise. The original, as always, was best, but Santa Clause 2 wasn't that bad (though it got ripped by our local newspaper reviewer). It looks like they used up the available good ideas before they got to Santa Clause 3.

The premise of Deck the Halls, two neighbors competing over Christmas decorations, could have been really funny, but the moviemakers decided to scrimp on writing talent and instead made it an unfunny and painful bore. Too bad. The casting was decent and with a little good writing, it had the potential to be another classic. Instead it will end up quickly on video and quickly thereafter in cases of returns to the distributor.

I don't see anything on the horizon that will save this year's funny movie crop, though on the serious side, I have been invited to a private screening of The Nativity Story which releases next weekend. I'll be seeing it Monday night and will write a review for you on Tuesday.

Speaking of Christmas traditions, decorating day went well yesterday, and as usual, the day wasn't complete without 3 trips to the hardware store or nursery to add stuff to our Christmas displays. Another year, another $200. I'll try to get some photos up tonight after dark.