In Bed with Santa (1999) User Reviews

Modern society masked as Christmas catastrophe

[OJT · 8/10 · 29 December 2013]

It's a well known fact that Christmas party's can be a family catastrophe, but this film takes the whole thing over the top. This story tops similar movies like "National Lampoons Christmas Hilda's" and Mowegian "Cabin fever" (Når nettene blir lange) which all describe Christmas as we fear, or some similarities with the Danish "The Celebration" (Festen).

It's a very bad idea when naive and queen mummy Sara invites all her children's father's exes with spouses/better halves, and should gave listen to her new man Janne's suggestion to postpone the whole idea. They all turn up, and it's bound for disaster when it's mixed with alcohol.

There's a bitter undertone to this comedy, which is a criticism of the free and open modern society, where family relations are mixed with too modern thinking. Well, it's over the top, and here the kids are the most reasonable.

This film is best seen upon as an over-the-top crazy comedy, still with some serious undertones. And a great moral underneath as well. Very entertaining, and much better than expected.

Best Swedish film 1999!

[Nikita Averin · 8/10 · 23 November 1999]

Celebrating Christmas today isn´t really how it used to be (or how it supposed to be). Divorces are more usual, which make a completely different view on the family.

Sara (Katarina Ewerlöf) invites her ex husbands and their wives and children to celebrate Christmas at her house with her husband Janne (Peter Haber). While eating dinner, she tells everyone, that she´s pregnant again, but Janne has been sterilized without her knowledge. Who is the father of the baby?

Director Kjell Sundvall made a great effort with his 1996 hit Jägarna, and I knew that there were some good actors in the film, but I can´t really say that my expectations were great, since many Swedish films aren´t good. Fortunately, I was totally wrong!

The script by Monika Rolfner is witty and really catches the family situation of today. This along with really good actors (enjoyable to see Alexandra Dahlström again, who hasn´t done a bad movie so far) with a wonderful timing with the funny comments makes this film to be a real treat to watch. Only the cinematography wasn´t that good, but I strongly recommend this comedy if you´re looking for a big laugh! Rating: 7/10

Important messages masquerading as very good comedy in Christmas time

[Catharina_Sweden · 8/10 · 7 August 2012]

This is a very good movie. The best thing is that it can both be watched only as a very good comedy/relation drama in Christmas time, AND as an important statement about family values - or NON-family values... in current times.

This movie tackles such issues as divorces, people who continue to be friends with their (several) ex-partners, women who have children with several men, adoption, artificial insemination, etc.. All these issues have become political correct in Sweden, as - I suppose - most of the Western world. But this movie, through the form of comedy and drama, shows the reality behind it all. How bad the children feel, and how strange and unpleasant relations become also between the adults...

I love this film, because it masquerades as a light-hearted comedy with many famous actors, which makes Swedish National Television broadcast it at some time during the Christmas vacation every year... At the same time as it makes people THINK about important things that have gone wrong in our society, and that one normally is not allowed to object against.

A warning, though: do not watch this in company of children, as it contains both nudity, sex, and foul language!

Funny

[Gordon-11 · 3 February 2003]

This is a comedy about a woman inviting all her 4 ex-husbands and their new wives to her Christmas Party. During the party she announced that she was pregnant, but her current husband was sterilised! The husband therefore had to search for the man who impregated his wife.

This film was very funny. The entire hall of viewers kept on laughing, because the film had so many unexpected twists. The good thing about this comedy was that it is very different from the American comedies, which constantly featured people slipped and fell to the ground. The Americans think that falling to the ground is funny, but the Europeans do not think so. Instead the funny scenes here were more sophisticated, more subtled and not vulgar.

Another great aspect of this film was that the actors were very good. The main actress was particularly good because she could show such a variety of emotions according to the mood of the scene. Her acting was not exaggerated, but a normal every day display of emotions. This made her just like an ordinary woman, who could be someone you know. This brought her closer to the viewers.

The main location of the film was in her house. It was a normal house, not lavish, not big. It had a very warm feel, making the film very warm. The viewers could easily relate to this family as a normal family.

Another good point about this film as that the theme of Christmas was not forgotten. Throughout the whole film the Christmas party was going on all the time, with food, drinks and children singing. The festive atmosphere added to the warm feel of the film.

I definitely recommend people to watch this film. It is so funny and entertaining!

Offbeat comedy with a serious edge

[dbborroughs · 6/10 · 28 August 2008]

Man who is the latest husband of a much married woman has to make do when she invites all her previous husbands, their new wives and families, plus some friends, all for Christmas. Things get complicated when his wife announces that she's pregnant... something that the husband makes him suspect that he isn't the father because he's had a vasectomy. Weird comedy drama from Sweden that made me unsure of what I was watching. Was I suppose to laugh? Was it suppose to be more serious then it is? The uncertainty was a little off putting. Its good but...I don't know. Maybe seeing this just before the end of summer or seeing it after three other fair films... or seeing it on an import Chinese VCD with English subtitles,I don't know, I'm going to try this again if for no other reason the line "Die you f-ing Santa" is too great a line in context(delivered before Santa gets his butt kicked) not to force a second viewing of the film that contains it.Maybe closer to Christmas

Great setting

[ejh-60622 · 9/10 · 26 December 2020]

A Swedish Christmas classic. On par with Home Alone. A bit complex with all the characters relationships but it doesn't matter. It just shows it's a well thought out story.

The intrigues and humor is perfectly delivered by some of the most well known actors and actresses in the country. The cinematography is great. The surroundings and backgrounds are visually what makes this movie amazing. They created the ultimate Christmas setting.