Jack Black joining the Farrelly brothers to work on a family comedy a while ago would’ve made a few cultural currents but not exactly now. Most people probably have no idea that Bobby Farrelly’s “Dear Santa” has been buried on Paramount+, released on a Monday with zero promotion. Why? Because the marketing team probably figured it would be impossible to sell a movie that seems intentionally made for no one. Neither fully a kids movie nor a Farrelly adult comedy, “Dear Santa” appears to be a movie made by people who have absolutely no clue what being in middle school in 2024 feels like. Besides not getting 11-year olds (and I have one, so I can speak with a little expertise), I’m not sure they’ve ever met one.
Wadzanaka! Get ready to laugh harder than ever thanks to yet another ‘Bobby Farrelly’ classic! The plot is super simple, Bobby and Peter rather, the talented duo have presented an intriguing storyline. It follows a young dyslexic boy named Liam, get this, he still believes in Santa Claus! You must be wondering why his letters get wasted every year; well let me tell you, this incredible kid addresses his letters to Santa as Satan (and it’s not even a joke). The film then goes onto a quest to adventure with Liam’s best bud ‘Jeremiah’ a horned and bearded black (yes I said it) devil, everyone’s favorite stalker. If I’m being honest. The film also attempts to throw a decent Jimmy joke while managing to scatter the rest of its plots, but the portrayal of the cast was immaculate.
Overall, “Dear Santa” seems as if someone has snatched a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book alongside adding certain very bizarre Satanic myths. Liam, a newcomer, has a school crush on a girl named Emma and is also reasonably friendly with a boy named Gibby. He engages in a struggle against an irritating Mr. Charles who is a demonic teacher but STAB Jack apparently retaliates on Charles by giving him a case of severe diarrhea at a flea market. Liam’s parents, apathetically played by Brianne Howey and Hayes MacArthur, are consulted when they find out that their son believes he is chatting with the devil. However, all this is just a pathway to really cheap manipulative writing where mother and father mourn the death of Lamb’s brother this is perhaps the only space that ends in a very cringe life sighting. Worst don’t even bring up the extended ‘Mary Poppins’ special courtesy of Post Malone that ‘Bravo’ serves because they strong believe that it is among the best songs that were ever composed. It really is.
And yet also so bland. The movie Dear Santa is chock full of the aforementioned elements, be it corny humor, irritably emotional dialogues or adolescent level of thought processes while claiming to be for children aged 11, there’s something egregiously off with a majority of the movie’s scenes. For a childless individual, the difference looking at Liam and his friends might not seem drastic, but in reality it is, a group of kids attending a post Malone concert with no adults is believable for a high school setting, but a middle school setting? Not so much. And that middle middle schoolers love triangle? Behaves More like a high school mess. All these things combined depict such a group. But that’s not the half of it.
If Dear Santa was wrapped up in a sweet storyline, all the absurdities in the movie could be overlooked. But that’s not the case. Black never shies away from having fun and with his role there’s always an entertaining cameo from a Farelly all star, however this statement couldn’t be more off from reality, No child and not even the parent of a child who sees this film in the festive week of Christmas will have a single clear memory of this for more than a year.
Making a theory wise move, an organization that already coughed up a high amount of cash, has now made the movie available on paramount plus.
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