The latest in the infinite TV movie re-workings of "A Christmas Carol," this movie - shown on the ABC Family Channel under the title "Chasing Christmas" - has some sense of fun and an occasional witty touch. But the main reason to see it is Andrea Roth's performance as "Present," a.k.a. the Ghost of Christmas Present. Without having all that much to work with in the script, she creates an attractive character who balances her sense of responsibility to her ghostly duties against a dawning appreciation of the daily pleasures of normal life. She even manages to make believable those moments when she needs to convey a romantic interest in Tom Arnold's Scrooge stand-in. At any given moment in Hollywood history, there always seem to be some good actresses who lack only a breakthrough role to reach the level of success they deserve. This movie doesn't give Roth that role, but - notwithstanding whatever weak points it has - it does let us enjoy her skill, intelligence, and charm. There's worse ways to pass two hours on a December evening.
17 Reviews
Cute spin on a Christmas classic
shacmasta10 November 2019
It's christmas time again so you'll need to watch a few Christmas/Holiday themed films to get things rolling in the spirit department.
I will say this will not be an all-time favorite on people's list but it's a cute spin on an all-time Christmas classic.
This film could have easily been rated high if not for Tom Arnold. I will admit he got better as the movie progressed because he's more of a comedic actor, so his Scrooge-esque character was a bit annoying and very nasally during the first 30mins or so. Once he started getting a little more cheerful in his demeanor it helped the film out a lot.
The real gem of this movie is Leslie Jordan, he was hilarious in every scene and Andrea Roth was solid throughout. They were the reason this film didn't sink into D-level movie territory.
I will say this will not be an all-time favorite on people's list but it's a cute spin on an all-time Christmas classic.
This film could have easily been rated high if not for Tom Arnold. I will admit he got better as the movie progressed because he's more of a comedic actor, so his Scrooge-esque character was a bit annoying and very nasally during the first 30mins or so. Once he started getting a little more cheerful in his demeanor it helped the film out a lot.
The real gem of this movie is Leslie Jordan, he was hilarious in every scene and Andrea Roth was solid throughout. They were the reason this film didn't sink into D-level movie territory.
Cute version of "A Christmas Carol"
lastliberal15 December 2007
OK, I like Tom Arnold and, except for the "Highway to Heaven" episode with Geoffrey Lewis, this is the funniest version you can imagine.
Arnold hate Christmas because his wife dumped him on Christmas Eve. He becomes the "Scrooge" we all love to hate. The Ghost of Christmas Past (Leslie Jordan) visits and decides that he wants to stay in the past. To the rescue is the Ghost of Christmas present (Andrea Roth). So most of the movie takes place in Arnold's past as Present tries to get him home before midnight.
Brittney Wilson was great as Arnold's daughter.
Of course, you all know how it ends.
Arnold hate Christmas because his wife dumped him on Christmas Eve. He becomes the "Scrooge" we all love to hate. The Ghost of Christmas Past (Leslie Jordan) visits and decides that he wants to stay in the past. To the rescue is the Ghost of Christmas present (Andrea Roth). So most of the movie takes place in Arnold's past as Present tries to get him home before midnight.
Brittney Wilson was great as Arnold's daughter.
Of course, you all know how it ends.
Bland & Boring
youngsteve17 December 2007
Although this didn't look much, I thought I would give it a try, as it had a Christmas theme, & based on the Christmas Carol. It also was fairly praised up by comments on here. Unfortunately, I have just spent 80+ minutes of my life watching a completely unfunny, badly acted, load of rubbish, & warn others to keep well away.
Tom Arnold seems to have fallen a long way & got a lot thinner since his Roseanne days. Andrea Roth is supposed to be Christmas Present who is character falls for as she is so good looking & witty, whilst in reality is a complete bore. Worst though was a little midget masquerading as Christmas Past, who the plot evolves around, & seems to have a severe mental deficiency, whilst the rest of the cast sleepwalks to another TV movie.
Bah Humbug
Tom Arnold seems to have fallen a long way & got a lot thinner since his Roseanne days. Andrea Roth is supposed to be Christmas Present who is character falls for as she is so good looking & witty, whilst in reality is a complete bore. Worst though was a little midget masquerading as Christmas Past, who the plot evolves around, & seems to have a severe mental deficiency, whilst the rest of the cast sleepwalks to another TV movie.
Bah Humbug
Embarrassing train wreck, a cheap mess
firstalittlebackstory14 December 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Every once in awhile, I decide to watch a movie knowing full well that I'll hate it. Usually I'm hoping it'll be bad enough that a little booze and some similarly critical friends will turn a tedious ninety-minute torture-fest into something that's at least amusing, if not hilariously bad.
We poured some wine, dimmed the lights, and settled in with Chasing Christmas, a made-for-TV movie that should have been gloriously bad but was instead just boring. Tom Arnold stars as Jack, a bitter, angry man with a bratty teenage daughter, a failed marriage, and the worst case of rhinitis since the entire cast of Scarface sniffed their way through years of cocaine addiction.
It seems Jack hates Christmas because he caught his wife shagging some guy in the coat closet at his daughter's Christmas play. The wife, who is unapologetically skanky and slutty throughout the movie, left him for another man and moved to London. At one point, this subplot is showcased in a ridiculous green screen scene with her new paramour, some champagne, and Big Ben seen through the windows beyond.
Like most terrible Christmas films, the movie's plot loosely and tiresomely follows the plot of A Christmas Carol. Except this time the ghosts of Christmas Past and Present have personalities. Past, played by a creepy little man with the soft Southern drawl of a registered sex offender, wants to stay in the past, and leads Jack and Present (played by some blonde Amazon who is neither funny nor sexy) on a series of repetitive, madcap dashes through the decades. Hamfisted homages to other Christmas movies abound and the sets, costumes, and extras are about what you'd expect from a TV movie; that is to say, they are shamefully bad. The "Goofs" section for this movie should be the longest in IMDb history.
Look for Tom Arnold and the slut wife actress playing younger versions of themselves in the latter part of the movie; despite a cheap wig on Arnold and some bad vintage costumes, both are clearly middle-aged and wrinkly. Typical Baby Boomer conceit or mere low budget corner-cutting? You decide! Also amusing is a scene in which Tom Arnold decries the lack of Santa-less Coke cans in a drug store; in the next shot, there's a huge display of non-seasonal Coke cans in the background. Oops.
Chasing Christmas drags on and on and by the end, we were drinking heavily, solemnly, white-knuckled grips on our glasses. All mirth was gone and even Arnold's embarrassing, desperate reformation couldn't bring the smiles back. This movie was tawdry, cheap, ill- conceived, and worst of all, boring. Avoid it.
We poured some wine, dimmed the lights, and settled in with Chasing Christmas, a made-for-TV movie that should have been gloriously bad but was instead just boring. Tom Arnold stars as Jack, a bitter, angry man with a bratty teenage daughter, a failed marriage, and the worst case of rhinitis since the entire cast of Scarface sniffed their way through years of cocaine addiction.
It seems Jack hates Christmas because he caught his wife shagging some guy in the coat closet at his daughter's Christmas play. The wife, who is unapologetically skanky and slutty throughout the movie, left him for another man and moved to London. At one point, this subplot is showcased in a ridiculous green screen scene with her new paramour, some champagne, and Big Ben seen through the windows beyond.
Like most terrible Christmas films, the movie's plot loosely and tiresomely follows the plot of A Christmas Carol. Except this time the ghosts of Christmas Past and Present have personalities. Past, played by a creepy little man with the soft Southern drawl of a registered sex offender, wants to stay in the past, and leads Jack and Present (played by some blonde Amazon who is neither funny nor sexy) on a series of repetitive, madcap dashes through the decades. Hamfisted homages to other Christmas movies abound and the sets, costumes, and extras are about what you'd expect from a TV movie; that is to say, they are shamefully bad. The "Goofs" section for this movie should be the longest in IMDb history.
Look for Tom Arnold and the slut wife actress playing younger versions of themselves in the latter part of the movie; despite a cheap wig on Arnold and some bad vintage costumes, both are clearly middle-aged and wrinkly. Typical Baby Boomer conceit or mere low budget corner-cutting? You decide! Also amusing is a scene in which Tom Arnold decries the lack of Santa-less Coke cans in a drug store; in the next shot, there's a huge display of non-seasonal Coke cans in the background. Oops.
Chasing Christmas drags on and on and by the end, we were drinking heavily, solemnly, white-knuckled grips on our glasses. All mirth was gone and even Arnold's embarrassing, desperate reformation couldn't bring the smiles back. This movie was tawdry, cheap, ill- conceived, and worst of all, boring. Avoid it.
Odd
Gubby-Allen4 December 2019
A peculiar film which had a decent premise and an interesting variation on a Christmas Carol but the acting primarily by the two main male characters was appalling and the Christmas Past character was absolutely unbearable. He seemed to run at walking pace yet put miles between those chasing him.
What the Dickens? Another re-do of Christmas Carol? Hey, this one is pretty entertaining
inkblot119 March 2011
Jack (Tom Arnold) despises Christmas. Not only are his memories from childhood painful, his acrimonious divorce didn't help matters, either. So, even when his daughter is visiting, Jack doesn't want to go shopping for the trimmings or presents. Naturally, the Yuletide "powers that be" believe Jack needs a visit from, you guessed it, Christmas Past (Leslie Jordan), Present (Andrea Roth) and Future. But, what they don't count on is Past, very tired of his role, running away from Jack with his magic Christmas wand, in 1965! Now, lovely Present steps in to help Jack track down Past and work his way back into the present day. As they do so, they hop-skip to various Christmas pasts, including the one Jack spent with his new bride on a ski trip. What revelations appear! Therefore, will Jack get out of the past, lessons learned, and will Past return to save the day? This is really quite an entertaining take on the Dickens classic, where new versions come out every season. One of the reasons is that Arnold is extremely likable and humorous in the main role, as are Jordan, Roth and all of the others. Then, too, with the settings fluctuating from the fifties to the sixties, seventies and beyond, it is delightful to observe the fashions, hot gift ideas, et cetera. Also, the direction is lively and the script is cute. Ho, ho, ho, what fun it is to see Jack tied up with a string of Xmas lights and such! Need a new funny bone tickler for the holidays? Chase down this one.
Worthless
crowerag13 December 2006
This "film" has no charm whatsoever.
Christmas movies had at least better TRY to be special, and this is like watching the ABC movie of the week, sans big stars or a big budget. There's nothing here to enthrall a child, and there's bugger all remaining to hold the attention of an adult.
Tom Arnold exchanging the "suck" word with his daughter. Lovely.
The music is awful, and clumsily applied, desperately trying to remind you, in the midst of this dog, that you're watching something special. You're not.
This is Christmas "product," meant to inexpensively fill the schedule grids during the Christmas season.
Christmas movies had at least better TRY to be special, and this is like watching the ABC movie of the week, sans big stars or a big budget. There's nothing here to enthrall a child, and there's bugger all remaining to hold the attention of an adult.
Tom Arnold exchanging the "suck" word with his daughter. Lovely.
The music is awful, and clumsily applied, desperately trying to remind you, in the midst of this dog, that you're watching something special. You're not.
This is Christmas "product," meant to inexpensively fill the schedule grids during the Christmas season.
Delightfully pleasant
jackburto12 December 2006
I like this twist offered on the take of "The Christmas Carol". It is a refreshing change from the normal Christmas movie. It was touching, funny, and sentimental. It offers you a message of the importance of family without the usual archaic bore. Despite how Tom Arnold became to be known, he still delivers a believable performance. Leslie Jordan gives an outstanding performance. Andrea Roth was just adorable. The cast is above average in their roles. If you want the standard old stuff usually offered up for Christmas movies, then this is not the film for you. If you want something different and unexpected, then you can't miss.
Couldn't finish watching it (Possible minor spoilers)
leatherwing9 December 2005
Warning: Spoilers
This TV film's attempt to make Tom Arnold appear attractive and appealing to Andrea Roth was creepy. Young Tom Arnold from 1978 was creepy. I like Tom Arnold, but not in this wreck of a film. The original idea of the Charles Dicken's Christmas having ongoing annual projects was likable, at first. But the movie went nowhere and the obvious ripoffs took funny lines from some classics and made them not funny.(You'll shoot your eye out kid from A Chritmas Story, and Chuck Berry's cousin calling Chuck, from Back to the Future were the obvious ripoffs I noted. I'm sure there were plenty more, I just became uninterested.) I turned it off, you should too. There are too many good Christmas shows out there to waste your time with this one.
Unlike any version of "A Christmas Carol" you've ever seen.
adampascalfan20059 December 2005
I caught this movie on ABC Family and thought it was really funny. There have been so many versions of A Christmas Carol that it was nice to see them do something different with it. I really liked the way that Christmas was run by an office and the ghosts were like secret agents.
I talked to my grandparents, who also saw it, and they didn't like how it leaves the story of A Christmas Carol and goes off on its own story. But that's exactly why I liked it. So maybe it's not an old person movie. It certainly wasn't traditional.
It was nice to see Andrea Roth, who is on Rescue Me (which I am a big fan of) do something comedic. And the little guy who plays The Ghost of Christmas Past was good too.
And any movie that references Star Wars Holiday Special is fine by me.
I talked to my grandparents, who also saw it, and they didn't like how it leaves the story of A Christmas Carol and goes off on its own story. But that's exactly why I liked it. So maybe it's not an old person movie. It certainly wasn't traditional.
It was nice to see Andrea Roth, who is on Rescue Me (which I am a big fan of) do something comedic. And the little guy who plays The Ghost of Christmas Past was good too.
And any movie that references Star Wars Holiday Special is fine by me.
Decent
SanteeFats20 December 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Another typical movie for the season. I like it. It is a take off on Scrooge and the three spirits of Christmas with a twist. Tom Arnold plays the grinch who hates Christmas because he found his wife cheating on him at his daughters Christmas play. He is chosen to be visited by the three ghosts of Christmas. The glitch occurs when the ghost of Christmas Past flakes out doesn't want to leave. This sends Present back to retrieve both the ghost and Tom. They end up having to chase him down, hence the title I suppose. They finally get him and return to the present but during the chase Tom and Present kind of fall in love but separate when they return. Tom has now relearned the true meaning of Christmas, pleasantly shocking his daughter. Christmas Present is given the job of Christmas Past and the old Past is demoted to toy elf. A nice movie for the season.
not a Christmas carol
wrlang7 December 2006
Chasing Christmas is an interesting turn on A Christmas Carol. Arnold is a single dad that decided not to observe xmas because his wife left him around that time. The ghosts of xmas past and present try and get Arnold to relent, but they screw up their jobs and send themselves on a wild ride through time showing up at various times in Arnold's past. As they try and rectify the timeline and get back to the real present, they change some things. I think they successfully pull off the updated story because of the comic relief and the talent of the actors. There are quite a few lame parts, but overall a good watch. I'd give this film an A- for content and execution.
A different spin on Dickens' A Christmas Carol
Zoooma5 October 2014
Finally something different in the Christmas genre. This made-for-TV movie has Dickens' A Christmas Carol getting all shook up to give it bunch of different situations not in the original story. Tom Arnold is excellent in the "Scrooge" role. He, of course, is visited by three ghosts meant to show him how he has every reason to stop being a scrooge. But all does not go as planned and that's what makes this refreshing. Unfortunately a low budget hinders this kinda unique story. Bright green grass with foamy looking snow covering portions of the ground? Just terrible. Throw in more money and a more talented director and you really coulda had something much better here. Still it's refreshing. Even though it was made for the ABC Family Channel, it's not exactly charming nor is it really family-friendly unless the family consists of only adults! It's still PG but does contain adult themes. Barely any Christmas music in it so not very Christmasy. But it kept my interest especially compared to so many repetitive and formulaic takes on the classic tale.
6.4 / 10 stars
--Zoooma, a Kat Pirate Screener
6.4 / 10 stars
--Zoooma, a Kat Pirate Screener
Creative Christmas Carol Twist
kylepop26 December 2018
Workaholic Jack (Tom Arnold) has forbade any celebration of Christmas, prompting the Ghost of Christmas Past (Leslie Jordan) to intervene. However, when Past goes AWOL in the 1970's, Present (Andrea Roth) must intervene and team up with Jack before it's too late.
Chasing Christmas is an instant classic, and not your usual take on A Christmas Carol. It's funny, it's thoughtful and doesn't take itself too seriously. The meta-jokes and touching character moments make for a great watch for all the family (even adults!). Roth and Arnold have good chemistry and Leslie Jordan is a true scene stealer.
Despite this being released in 2005 (and me reviewing this in 2018), the story and its elements still hold up today, with its themes of time, forgiving, love and loss being forever-relevant and relatable.
Chasing Christmas is an instant classic, and not your usual take on A Christmas Carol. It's funny, it's thoughtful and doesn't take itself too seriously. The meta-jokes and touching character moments make for a great watch for all the family (even adults!). Roth and Arnold have good chemistry and Leslie Jordan is a true scene stealer.
Despite this being released in 2005 (and me reviewing this in 2018), the story and its elements still hold up today, with its themes of time, forgiving, love and loss being forever-relevant and relatable.
Aewsome and fun Christmas movie
nathanbridges26 December 2006
I rented this movie as a kinda last minute mistake on Christmas Eve, I was hoping to get White Christmas but like I said.... I rented this. Maybe there was some film errors and maybe starwars was not played on Christmas eve, however to capture an time period I believe that creativity is an important feature, just like movies about the 60s will often have VW beetles from the 70s and so on and so forth. I though that it would be an awful B movie, however I do like Tom he was great in True Lies, this movie was a very fun and cute movie, exploring the real meaning of family in an enjoyable fable. The rest of the movie has amusing antidotes and a funny twist on the original Christmas carol. An absolutely marvelous and fun pleaser, and if you don't like Tom Arnold, maybe his roll will surprise you.
Really entertaining!
ginasharp15 December 2020
Very Funny, when you think that all the twists have been done on the Christmas Carol movie obviously not because this is a very unique and modern twist on the old classic. Tom Arnold in my opinion is a great actor, it always seem so naturally fun and real. I would have given the film a little higher even if the ending was more of a love story! But a must Christmas watch in my opinion. Gives you a nice punch of Christmas Spirit. :D
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