Amazon.com video review:
It's Christmas Eve, and Arnold needs to find a Turbo Man action
figure, the craze of the season. Only they're sold-out, of course. So the
race is on, and Arnold does fierce battle with other shoppers and merchants
alike, all for the prize toy with which to purchase his son's affections.
His chief rival and nemesis is Sinbad, a mailman who's always going--you
guessed it--postal. (Must have looked good on paper.) All of which is
unwittingly very sad, on the content level. But the film supposes itself
to
be amiable enough, on its own shabby terms, even when it climbs
out
of the screen and starts gnawing at your furniture. If the humor were to
get broader it would make HDTV obsolete. The tone can only be termed
good-naturedly mean-spirited. Goofy carnival music runs continuously in
the
background so we never forget that what we're seeing is, er, um, funny.
All
the action is composed of comic violence, like an unhip Warner Bros.
cartoon. Do the filmmakers actually consider this cynical foray to be
indicative of the Christmas spirit? Apparently so, because the resolution has
Arnold
winning quite inadvertently, and offers no clear alternative to the
competitive commercialism that drives the film's attempts at humor. In a key
scene
that's meant to be touching, Arnold and Sinbad sit down for a
heart-to-heart in which we learn that receiving much-wanted Christmas
presents in our formative years is responsible for our success in
adulthood.
You get that Turbo Man, you'll be a billionaire; don't get it, you'll be a
loser. Such is the formidable challenge of parenthood, to cater to the
child's whims while it can still make a difference. This is what's wrong
with this country. --Jim Gay
Amazon.com video review:
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad star in this frivolous comedy
about two fathers who are trying to locate and purchase the same
hugely popular action toy on Christmas Eve. Schwarzenegger plays a
busy father who makes lots of promises to his son that he can't keep,
while Sinbad is a crazy postman just trying to make his boy
happy. There are some truly comic moments in the film, such as the
sight of Schwarzenegger being chased by a reindeer, and the obsequious
efforts of a neighbor (Phil Hartman) to insinuate himself on
Schwarzenegger's wife in the big man's continual absence. But for the
most part, Jingle All the Way is a disposable, live-action
cartoon. A DVD is available. --Tom Keogh
