The opening of this movie is quite clever. Two airline passengers, one of whom is quite obviously Santa Claus, a fact of which the other man is totally unaware, are discussing business logistics related to the upcoming Xmas crunch. Priceless!
Unfortunately, then Jim Varney as Ernest shows up to wreck everything. The plot is familiar to anybody who watched the Flintstones Xmas episode (which is everybody in the free world as far as I know) - Santa can't make his deliveries on Xmas eve and some unqualified idiot has to pitch in. Ernest does this here, and the results leave everything to be desired in the way of story originality and comic staging and timing. The slapstick is the whole point of the exercise and here it is very sloppy and unconvincing. Whoever saw Varney as a physical comedian needs an eye exam. He just can't do the job very well. And if this movie fails as slapstick it fails period, since there is not much else here to watch. Avoid.
Unfortunately, then Jim Varney as Ernest shows up to wreck everything. The plot is familiar to anybody who watched the Flintstones Xmas episode (which is everybody in the free world as far as I know) - Santa can't make his deliveries on Xmas eve and some unqualified idiot has to pitch in. Ernest does this here, and the results leave everything to be desired in the way of story originality and comic staging and timing. The slapstick is the whole point of the exercise and here it is very sloppy and unconvincing. Whoever saw Varney as a physical comedian needs an eye exam. He just can't do the job very well. And if this movie fails as slapstick it fails period, since there is not much else here to watch. Avoid.