Directed by Clay Kaytis
Story by Nick Schenk and Peter Billingsley
Screenplay by Nick Schenk & Clay Kaytis
Based on the book, "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash" by Jean Shepherd
Stars: Peter Billingsley, Erinn Hayes, River Drosche, Julianna Layne, Julie Hagerty, Scott Schwartz, R.D. Robb, Zack Ward, Ian Petrella, and Henry Miller
This is supposed to the official sequel to the 1983 staple Christmastime film. I heard about this when I saw a trailer for it a couple of weeks ago. What I expecting the movie to be a timeless classic like the first movie? No. Is it a good movie? Far from it.
Taking place 33 years after the events of the first movie, Ralphie (Billingsley) is a struggling novelist, trying to get his first book published. He made a deadline that if he does not get published by Christmas that year, he would abandon that dream and get a regular job. Ralphie gets a photo call that his old man has died. He takes his family back to his family home in Indiana where everything that could go wrong does.
I understand that the first movie is a seminal watch around the holiday season. This movie is not good. There were times when I covered my face and cackled at the absurdity I was watching. This movie was trying capture lightning in a bottle twice. It did not. There were callbacks to the previous film that were nice, but it did not feel genuine.
Most of the original cast came back. They were fine. Not great. The glaring recasting choice of having Julie Hagerty playing the mom from Melinda Dillon from the first movie. I understand that Dillion retired from acting in the mid 2000s, but you can see clips of her from the flashbacks sequences.
The movie was a retread. It tried to capture the spirit of the first movie, but it leaves the viewer filling hollow. If the story was about Ralphie's kids and their hijinx over the Christmas holidays, it would have worked more.
Rating: 3/10
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