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This year’s batch of Christmas movies haven’t been great so far, not unless regifting is your seasonal tradition. I’ve unwrapped (streamed) three now and not a single one of then is a keeper. It is a shame that I can’t actually give them away, washing my hands of them completely, because now that will sit there feeding my algorithms and informing suggestions of what I might want to view next. At least this one has Eddie Murphy so there is a chance some great 80’s comedies might be coming my way. (I suppose Trading Places might come up first, being a Christmas movie as well, but I’ve already revisited that.)

As it is, all of the films I’ve watched; this, Genie and Family Switch, have been built largely on the personalities of the cast and Murphy still carries value here. He may not be constantly making great movies anymore but he remains a strong screen presence and there is joy in seeing his reactions to various situations and relationships here just as there always was. Older and a little more restrained, Eddie Murphy is still a natural comedian and he’s always fun to spend time with.

The other thing this has over those other movies mentioned is that Yuletide is actually pretty key to the story. My definition of a Christmas Movie is one where you cannot take the accoutrements away of the season away and still have a story and this is about a family who are terrorised by the subjects of the different verses of The 12 Days of Christmas, with the Geese a Laying dropping giant eggs on them from great heights, the Lords a Leaping threateningly somersaulting around like ninja’s and the Maids a Milking trying to drown them in fresh cow juice.

From that premise it sounds like the film leans toward the horror as much as the laughs and more the shame it doesn’t, but it does have some borderline surreal moments that appeal. The problem is that Murphy notwithstanding the humour isn’t generally as successful as it needs to be. There are two characters in particular that are clearly supposed to be funny, one an influencer and one a lamp lighter (it makes sense in the film), that really aren’t and appearing next to Axel Donkey certainly doesn’t help.

This lack of decent laughs is something that combines all the recent films I’ve seen, as does the fact that they are also too reliant on pat kindred sentiment. This is a hard thing to pull off but at a time when lots of movies that manage it annually resurfacing, something like this doesn’t stand up.

It’s not quite Candy Cane Lame (and I’d never go for cheap shots like that even if it were) but neither is it sweet enough.

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The Ripley Factor:

As a final thing to draw them all together, Family Switch, Genie and Candy Cane Lane all have a young daughter figure in them. In fact one has a teenager, one a preteen and this one has both. The two teen daughters even have similar interests and story points. Each of these characters is presented positively, although in this film they only really serve the man’s story.

Less is true of Tracee Ellis Ross who plays opposite Murphy as his wife Carol. She has her own story line and is clearly the main breadwinner in the family. Neither is she Eddie Murphy’s straight (wo)man, showing good comedic skill or her own.