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Thinking about the best classic Christmas movies of all time, some typical ones come to mind like How the Grinch Stole Christmas, It’s a Wonderful Life, Die Hard, or hell, even Deck the Halls. Those are all great for Christmas, but I want to focus on a few that you may not be familiar with or may not even like. The goal of this article is to bring a few feel-good Christmas movies into the pantheon of already established classic Christmas movies.
Christmas movies shouldn’t be about how good a movie is on the surface, like do they tell a primp and proper narrative, which is something I usually judge a movie on; Christmas movies should be about making you laugh and making you appreciate the family that surrounds you while you watch these classics. So grab your eggnog and get comfy as I humbly present to you some new nominees for the best Christmas classic movies of all time.
Christmas with the Kranks
Christmas with the Kranks is a 2004 movie based on John Grisham’s Skipping Christmas. The plot revolves around Nora (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Luther (Tim Allen) Krank who have decided that this Christmas they won’t be holding their annual Christmas party after their daughter decides to spend Christmas in Peru after she goes there to work for the Peace Corps. Not only are they not throwing the Christmas party, but they also decide not to partake in the typical Christmas traditions like putting up a Christmas tree, putting up their Frosty snowman like all the other neighbors, or decorating their house with fun and colorful lights.
At one point the Kranks decide to take a vacation using the money they would end up spending on the party, which leads to a very funny scene where Frank decides to get all tan and pretty in preparation for their vacation:
Which causes them to get the cold shoulder from their neighbors after their neighbors find out. Eventually, their daughter surprises them by informing them that not only will she be coming home for Christmas, but she will be bringing her new finance that she met in Peru. This is where all the fun and holiday cheer/jeer begins with both parents scrambling to get the party ready for when their daughter gets home. Jamie Lee Curtis, Tim Allen, and the entire cast are great in Christmas classic; very funny and very warm, including the ending. Do yourself a favor and check this one out, I’m hoping you will agree that this one should be considered one of the best Christmas movies of all time.
Scrooged
A tale as old as time, this Bill Murray-led feel-good holiday movie takes the old tried and true classic, A Christmas Carol written by Charles Dickenson back in 1843. When it was released back in 1988, it was an updated take in Dickenson’s novella which focuses on Bill Murray’s character, Frank Cross, a mean, cynical, jerk of a television executive who wants to broadcast a flashy, new take on A Christmas Carol, very meta. He ends up firing one of his executives after the executive disagrees with him on the new take on A Christmas Carol.
James Murray, Bill Murray’s brother, plays a meta role as James Cross, Frank Cross’s brother. Very solid script and I know you will enjoy the new takes on the Ghost of Christmas Past, The Ghost of Christmas Present, and The Ghost of Christmas Future.
I remember watching this as a kid and really enjoying it, even though I was the demographic they were going for with the snide and sharp dialogue, but it’s full of all the Bill Murray you can handle and much like A Christmas Carol, it teaches us that we should value others and try to take things slow. What’s the point of all that money and power if you have no one to share it with. A very appropriate film for the times.
This one might already be one of the best classic Christmas movies, but since I am a Chicago resident, I had to sneak Bill Murray in here just cause.
Jingle All the Way
This last one is my absolute favorite hidden gem of Christmas movies and I feel that it should go down as one of the best classic Christmas movies of all time; Jingle All the Way revolves around two fathers’ quest to find the elusive Turbo-Man action figure that is all the rage that year, and no, we don’t want that pink carpet of a loser, Booster.
One is a mattress salesman who works, works, works, all the time, Howard Langston played by Arnold Schwarzenegger and the other is a mailman who appears to be succumbing to the pressures of holiday shopping, Myron Larabee played by the impeccable Sinbad. Not only does Howard have to deal with other parents, retail employees being jerks, a cop who won’t stop getting in his way (or visa versa), and a mailman madman, but he also has to deal with his neighbor, Ted Maltin played by the always funny and sorely missed, Phil Hartman, hitting on his wife constantly and won’t stop eating his cookies!
A very unexpected, feel-good movie that I watch every year, but not only because it’s a Christmas classic, but mostly because of how they built up Howard and the super-hero-like ending that follows all the holiday joy, which leads me to my closing statements;
Jingle All the Way is a low-key superhero origin movie. There are scenes where Howard displays absurd feats of strength for a guy that lives in what appears to be the suburbs of Minneapolis. Also, lest we forget that Austrian accent. How did he get here? Is he hiding from people who want to use his superhuman strength for evil or even want him dead? These were the questions that went through my mind after watching it from a writer’s perspective. They even have the final that has more in common with Avengers: Endgame than a Christmas movie. I wish they would have seen that and taken the initiative of making a sequel where we see Howard become Turbo-Man, fighting crime around Minnealopis and eventually having to deal with Myron breaking out of jail with the help of a new foe.
This is one spec script I have always wanted to write, I know there is a sequel called Jingle All the Way 2, but that is a straight to DVD, probably a cheesy follow-up starring Larry The Cable Guy. I don’t think they know what they had on their hand when they accidentally created a superhero origin movie from an awesome Christmas movie.
Is there a classic Christmas movie you wish had been mentioned? Have you seen any of these feel-good movies? Let us know in the comments section!