TV movie review: The Year Without a Santa Claus (NBC)
12/11/06 09:58 AM
By ED BARK
John Goodman as Santa Claus? Now weight just a minute!
The veteran actor really needs to take much better care of himself. But in the interim he's perfectly fit for the lead role in NBC's The Year Without a Santa Claus, a live-action remake of the 1974 animated tale. It premieres Monday night, Dec. 11 (8 central, 9 eastern) and will be repeated on Dec. 23rd.
These kinds of productions used to come in blizzards during December. But the demise of variety shows and the virtual shutdown of broadcast TV movie divisions leave this two-hour presentation as the only new stand-alone holiday special from any of the Big Four networks. NBC hasn't exactly put a big promotional push behind it, though. The Peacock's Sunday Night Football game between the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints came and went without a single blurb for Year Without a Santa Claus. There was a commercial, though, for the slasher feature film Black Christmas.
Goodman is first seen in the company of his PR-minded elf, Sparky (a hard-trying Chris Kattan), who recommends both gastric bypass surgery and a new, green "Extreme Santa" costume.
"The world's changed," he reasons. "We need to change with it."
Santa's pretty much shot anyway. Goodman plays him as a wheezing old grump who laments to Mrs. Clause (Delta Burke), "I'm not Santa Claus anymore. I'm a toy delivery version of Santa-co."
Demonstrably "sick of Christmas," he impulsively cancels it. This sends dedicated elves Jungle and Jangle (Ethan Suplee and a scene-stealing Eddie Griffin) on a mission to find a wide-eyed kid who still cares about the "true meaning of Christmas." They find him in cute-as-a-button Iggy Thistlewhite (Dylan Minnette), whose Dad is the all-business mayor of sunny South Town.
Year Without Santa Claus also accommodates a trip to The Great Divide, where warring brothers Heatmiser and Snowmiser (Harvey Fierstein, Michael McKean) continue to run hot and cold. There's a fun production number here, with the two of them singing and slinging fireballs and icicles. In the spirit of the season, NBC also has worked in some scantily clad dancing girls. And cameos abound, with Dr. Laura Schlesinger, Carson Kressley, Carol Kane and Jack La Lanne chipping away at the movie's outer fringes.
Through it all, Goodman's full white beard varies from semi-scraggly to perfectly rounded. It always looks pretty fake, though. Did they simply stretch a rubber band around his neck?
Stock characters include an airhead TV reporter and a pair of devious developers who want to turn cutely distinctive South Town into a mall-dominated Anywhere, USA.
But guess what? Goodness prevails and Santa steps it up again. The movie is merry, bright and sometimes edgily funny enough to make it watchable if not exceptional. Besides that, it's all we've got.
Post-Santa Claus, Goodman now needs to get very serious about slimming down. Otherwise he might not get to be a jolly old soul in real-life.
Grade: C+
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