Another reviewer for this picture says he doesn't believe a town like the one in the story could have so many stupid people in it. Well I beg to differ on that. My town only has about three thousand residents and I could probably come up with a cast for this film. It would have been even easier about four decades ago when the population was less than half that. Seriously, one needs to live in a small town to understand, but as John Mellencamp would put it, "that's good enough for me".
Now I haven't seen Tim Allen in many movies, I basically know him as Tim the Tool Man Taylor from the hit TV show. I also know he dabbled as Santa Clause in a series of flicks, so to see him here as an alcoholic dirt bag was quite the shock to the system. Funny, but I never made the father-son connection with Eric Norris (Luke Grimes) until the very end of the story when Larry (Allen) dredged up his bad experience in Vietnam.
Don't be fooled by the title of the picture. The fact that it's Christmas time in the movie is ancillary to the story line. Vincent D'Onofrio, who portrays deputy Carl Hooker is straight out of Stallone's "First Blood" playbook as an ignorant redneck, and the film's fatal ending for Tim Allen's character mimics Eastwood at the conclusion of "Gran Torino". I think the film would have been better served to end it right after the siege at Vicente's Liquor Mart, but I guess they needed to tie up Eric's relationship with Kate (Michelle Mylett) for the classic happy ending.
Now I haven't seen Tim Allen in many movies, I basically know him as Tim the Tool Man Taylor from the hit TV show. I also know he dabbled as Santa Clause in a series of flicks, so to see him here as an alcoholic dirt bag was quite the shock to the system. Funny, but I never made the father-son connection with Eric Norris (Luke Grimes) until the very end of the story when Larry (Allen) dredged up his bad experience in Vietnam.
Don't be fooled by the title of the picture. The fact that it's Christmas time in the movie is ancillary to the story line. Vincent D'Onofrio, who portrays deputy Carl Hooker is straight out of Stallone's "First Blood" playbook as an ignorant redneck, and the film's fatal ending for Tim Allen's character mimics Eastwood at the conclusion of "Gran Torino". I think the film would have been better served to end it right after the siege at Vicente's Liquor Mart, but I guess they needed to tie up Eric's relationship with Kate (Michelle Mylett) for the classic happy ending.