ironhorse_iv Review of Jingle All the Way 2

Jingle All the Way 2 (2014 Video)

This family comedy didn't git er done! It's a lump of coal that looks like it might warm your heart, but instead, it was coal hearted.

[3/10 · 24 December 2014]

I think this movie was trying to fail. I felt like it wanted to make a Booster; instead of Turbo Man! No one wants to see Booster! What were you thinking WWE & Fox Studios!? Keep it, nearly the same as the original. 1996's Jingle All the Way is a personal childhood movie favorite of mine. My family and I, watched it, nearly every Christmas and the jokes never get old. My admiration stems almost entirely from nostalgia, but even as an adult it still delivers mindless family entertainment. This supposedly sequel movie, sadly couldn't do the same. This is shameless cash grab. The first one wasn't actually a masterpiece, but all the satire that was present in the first did get lost on this terrible execution of a sequel. Directed by Alex Zamm, the movie has little to do with the original film. None of the original stars, are in it. No Arnold Schwartzenegger, Sinbad or Phil Hartman. It didn't even had mediocre, Jake Lloyd to star in it. In their place, the movie had one man carrying the project, by the name of Larry the Cable Guy AKA Daniel Whitney, a once really popular, gimmick comedian. It's clear by this time, that his one-act redneck gimmick has gotten old and not a lot of people really care for him. It's also clear that the washed up comedian couldn't act, so the screenwriter, Stephen Mazur just written the part to fit in with his gimmick. Jingle All the Way 2 stars Larry as - get this - a redneck named Larry. He's a divorced father of a young girl, Noel (Kennedi Clements). His ex-wife (Kirsten Robek) recently remarried a rich guy, Victor (Brian Stepanek). Instead of working together, both fathers are competing for Noel's affection, hoping to one up the other, to show whom can be the best father to Noel. Both, see it in gathering up the hottest toy of the year, Harrison Bear for her. I was kinda disappointing, by this, because it's been done as hell. Lot of tiresome clichés in here. I don't know why the movie have to do the stepfather is evil, clichés, because I like the portrayal of the happily divorced family. I hate that Victor turn out into a jerk in the end. It didn't need to. I like most of the supporting cast here. Clements is cute and adorable, but she does seem a bit, over cheery for mundane stuff like ice fishing. Kinda unrealistic, there. I don't know, many children that love, doing that. She was a decent enough, child actor. WWE wrestler Santino Marella AKA Anthony Carelli shows up sporadically without silly Italian accent as Larry's sidekick, Claude. Unfortunately, his throwaway part doesn't afford him any opportunities to showcase his comedic chops. The humor is mostly a miss than hit to the funny bone. The jokes that Larry the Guy has written for the film weren't very clever, and didn't really have much of a good punchline. One of the big things, I like about the original film is how, Arnold's character from the first film gets more angry and desperate as the movie goes on, due to the time limit of it being Christmas Eve. In this film, Larry the Guy has plenty of time, to look for the toy, but he lazy out, most of the time. He doesn't work as hard as the Arnold Schwartzenegger's character from the last movie. Having the hunt spread out over multiple days was a mistake. I like the intense mad-dash search on Christmas Eve, better. Also, I found the plot, very unrealistic. We live in a world of computers. Why didn't he just order it online? It could have gotten it to them on time and Victor couldn't do anything about it. I really find, it hard to believe that a single person is not only able to gather all of the inventory of a single store, but that he is able to do it to every store in town before anyone else? This is a stretch in bound of beliefs, here. Yes, the original had some unrealistic moments, but it was a lot more entertaining and realistic than this movie. The things that Larry finds himself in a variety of ridiculous situations in his desperate attempts to win the bear, isn't as crazy as that of Arnold's character. I was really hoping for more. The PG rating kinda hurts, how far can, they can take the craziest concept to. The slapstick is kinda funny. I didn't mind watching Larry the Guy getting hurt. It's by far, the best highlight of the film. It really didn't capture the whole Black Friday insanity, like the first movie did. It's low-brow entertainment, trying to get the attention of blue collar Americans. It's a love letter to them. Rich people are made, out to be jerks, and blue collars part time workers like Larry as always good. I hate how Larry says he never ask for a hand-out, yet earlier in the film, he panhandling himself dresses up as a homeless person in order to get a Harrison Bear from the local shelter. Wow, lame. The movie tries to have this message of rampant commercialism that has come to overtake the holiday season. In my opinion, this straight to video sequel seems to be a prime example of a bad corporate entity of the holiday. Overall: As Christmas movies go, this has got to be near the bottom. It's nowhere near the classics. Only watch, if you're really bored or have your mind turn off.