Kirk Cameron has always been a second fiddle sort of guy, especially as the second fiddle to his younger sister Candace. Despite getting a head start in the sitcom Growing Pains, which peaked at #3 sometime by its third season, it is Full House - Candace’s show - that has cemented itself as the 80s staple sitcom in pop culture. Neither two were really theatrical stars, but Kirk had higher ground when he did the Left Behind series. Nonetheless, Candace persisted in the public eye and Kirk languished. So in 2014, Kirk made the questionable decision to follow his sister in the world of Christmas films. Candace has been the queen of two separate TV film networks - the Hallmark Channel and the Great American Family network. Kirk has Saving Christmas. Need I say more?
In all seriousness, Kirk Cameron set out and made the most strawman argument film possible. Here he is, being a guy whose brother-in-law is in doubts about the Christian meaning of Christmas, and Kirk swoops in and has a rebuttal through his own personal interpretations of the Bible shot as if we’re watching a made-for-TV historical reenactment on the History Channel. The man in doubt after hearing each and every argument he has about the “corruption” of Christmas debunked jumps up and goes “you’re right!” and all is good.
Kirk Cameron doesn’t strike me as a man who is always in the right, so I can only imagine the film must have been therapeutic or even self-gratifying in a way, a mental jerk off for the man if you will. The only issue with this is the rest of the film. There’s stereotypical black characters who speak as stereotypical black characters do, a whopping four sets, and a story - Kirk really likes to remind you that this is a story, maybe because Candance doesn’t play his sister here - designed to feel more like a fifty-seven minute lecture. If it were just fifty-seven minutes (I timed it) this would be a one star movie, but I’ve knocked it down for the embarrassing gospel rap dance number and the other 20 minutes of filler tacked onto the end. This is what Santa gives cinephiles on the naughty list instead of coal. Merry Christmas.
Kirk Cameron has always been a second fiddle sort of guy, especially as the second fiddle to his younger sister Candace. Despite getting a head start in the sitcom Growing Pains, which peaked at #3 sometime by its third season, it is Full House - Candace’s show - that has cemented itself as the 80s staple sitcom in pop culture. Neither two were really theatrical stars, but Kirk had higher ground when he did the Left Behind series. Nonetheless, Candace persisted in the public eye and Kirk languished. So in 2014, Kirk made the questionable decision to follow his sister in the world of Christmas films. Candace has been the queen of two separate TV film networks - the Hallmark Channel and the Great American Family network. Kirk has Saving Christmas. Need I say more?
In all seriousness, Kirk Cameron set out and made the most strawman argument film possible. Here he is, being a guy whose brother-in-law is in doubts about the Christian meaning of Christmas, and Kirk swoops in and has a rebuttal through his own personal interpretations of the Bible shot as if we’re watching a made-for-TV historical reenactment on the History Channel. The man in doubt after hearing each and every argument he has about the “corruption” of Christmas debunked jumps up and goes “you’re right!” and all is good.
Kirk Cameron doesn’t strike me as a man who is always in the right, so I can only imagine the film must have been therapeutic or even self-gratifying in a way, a mental jerk off for the man if you will. The only issue with this is the rest of the film. There’s stereotypical black characters who speak as stereotypical black characters do, a whopping four sets, and a story - Kirk really likes to remind you that this is a story, maybe because Candance doesn’t play his sister here - designed to feel more like a fifty-seven minute lecture. If it were just fifty-seven minutes (I timed it) this would be a one star movie, but I’ve knocked it down for the embarrassing gospel rap dance number and the other 20 minutes of filler tacked onto the end. This is what Santa gives cinephiles on the naughty list instead of coal. Merry Christmas.
