Everything Christmas

Everything Christmas was a real mixed bag for me. I thought it started out quite well with the over the top Christmas loving Busby and her level-headed friend played by Katherine Barrell on a buddy road trip to the town of Yuletide Springs. They break down and shortly after are helped by a man who resembles Santa in body and spirit. From there are a series of coincidences and almost magical experiences that lead them to believe that he might be the real thing. Oh, and of course there is romance for the both of them. Unfortunately, after a good start with some legitimate laughs provided mostly by Barrell, it starts becoming more and more bland and predictable. I've pretty much liked Busby but here she comes across almost like a child going on and on about "believing," etc. Etc. I thought Barrell pretty much stole the show, and George Masswohl provided solid support as the continually appearing Kris. The biggest disappointment was Corey Sevier who was the major love interest but didn't say or do much of anything. He was always just staring googly-eyed at Busby and was basically just a bubble-brain. The other male love interest wasn't a whole lot better. Kind of a head scratcher and somewhat of a lost opportunity.

Everything Christmas was a real mixed bag for me. I thought it started out quite well with the over the top Christmas loving Busby and her friend played by Katherine Barrell on a buddy road trip to the town of Yuletide Springs. Barrell's character is much more level headed that Busby's here. They break down and shortly after are helped by a man who resembles Santa in body and spirit. From there are a series of coincidences and almost magical experiences that lead them to believe that he might be the real thing. Oh, and of course there is romance for the both of them. Unfortunately, after a good start with some legitimate laughs provided mostly by Barrell, it starts becoming more and more bland and predictable. I've pretty much liked Busby but here she comes across almost like a child going on and on about "believing," etc. Etc. I thought Barrell pretty much stole the show, and George Masswohl provided solid support as the continually appearing Kris. The biggest disappointment was Corey Sevier who was the big love interest but didn't say or do much of anything. He was always just staring googly-eyed at Busby and was basically just a bubble-brain. The other male love interest wasn't a whole lot better. Kind of a head scratcher and somewhat of a lost opportunity.

Here we have two girls on a road trip who keep running into ..... Santa Claus? Well, Kris Kringle, anyway. He continues to detour the two girls in a way that might have been creepy if you didn't have the comfort of knowing you're in a Hallmark movie. The two girls keep running into and traveling with the same two guys, one of whom, Cory Sevier, was in one of our favorites from last year, Noel Next Door. He was great in that movie, but was given much less to work with here. Separately, each of the parts of this movie are charming and friendly. Placed end to end, they don't make a compelling story.

6.4 stars. This film doesn't provide 'Everything Christmas' has to offer, but for certain gives us some insight into the mythos surrounding the holiday. Of course, there are a plethora of beliefs, but I will focus on the two primary ones. The first being that Christ was born and was sought out by shepherds and wise men with the aid of a star in the east, followed by the nativity 2000+ years ago. Second is the magic and mysticism of the Yuletide, A. K. A. The winter solstice (which is what actually happened on December 25, contrary to popular belief). Kris happens to be a false spelling of Chris or Christos (Greek for Messiah, the Anointed) and Kringle is a Norse surname that might be linked to Yuletide. There are those who believe in magic and mysticism of the Yuletide, but the present day Christmas is an amalgamation of multiple fables originating and melding over the past several hundred years by authors, historians, etc... The main characteristics of the west's current traditions stem from Catholicism mingled with Protestantism. Was Saint Nicholas just a good protestant man who was venerated by the Catholic church? Who knows. It appears this film is about combining the two historical figures: Santa Claus, and The Christ. Notice that the emphasis rests upon two aspects of supernatural happenings: magic vs miracles: a little of both. It's Kris Kringle who is supposedly working these Godlike miracles, but he's a manifestation of The Christ, and so we have yet another fusion of traditions portraying the sentiment that Saint Nick is the same person, performing miracles (considered magic) and teaching us to have faith, rather than settle on coincidences alone. He performs "tricks" that cannot be explained, but they manipulate fate instead of being called divine intervention, or maybe a bit of both. And we also have an allegory of different types of people, a woman named L. J. (Busby) who has faith, but what sort of faith? In contrast her best friend Viktoria (Barrell), who has no faith and feels it's all just coincidence (she's the doubter), and the two men who are nothing more than bystanders and love interests (representing the uneducated, ignorant, innocent, vast majority of other peoples). Do I think the writers had all this allegorical, figurative, metaphorical nonsense in mind when they penned this script? Yes. If so, did they wholeheartedly commit to this allegorical Santa/Messiah unification? No. Notice how at the end the mayor explains how this Kris Kringle fellow is simply a magician, a flim flam, if you will. Highly unlikely considering the miracles/magic he performed, which no magician mastermind could accomplish. Is there an agenda? Who knows, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. A bit of an abomination if you ask me.