This year Paramount+ gives us a Christmas movie starring Jack Black, Dear Santa. The trailers make it seem like it would be a fairly typical Jack Black movie. That doesn’t always mean it will be good.
Liam Turner (Robert Timothy Smith) is a dyslexic sixth-grader whose parents are constantly arguing. When he writes a letter to Santa with his Christmas wishes, he accidentally addresses it to Satan. That night, Satan (Black) shows up to grant Liam three wishes. But Satan’s idea of a good wish is very different from Liam’s.
For the most part, this wasn’t a terrible movie. It is, indeed, a rather typical Jack Black movie. He jumps around, acting crazy, while the main characters try to get him to calm down and listen. The twist with his character at the end was interesting but what he did at the end was annoyingly short-sighted. I don’t want to spoil it but that “wish” kinda screws up the whole happy ending. I’m thinking maybe they wanted to try to spin this off into a sequel? Though I’m not sure how that would work either.
Like a lot of Jack Black movies, Dear Santa is a watchable mess. You will probably enjoy it, even if you aren’t sure why you enjoy it. At least the Post Malone cameo was fun?
Rating: Be careful what you wish for