Mike Spiegelman tackles the top 5 worst Christmas movies made by major movie stars.
5. Robin Williams – Toys (1992) – Let’s begin twenty years ago when the creative force behind Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) released a Christmas movie. Director Barry Levinson and the late actor Robin Williams whipped up an original trailer where Williams riffed in costume and on set. The production looked mismatched and detached, Williams ranted on, but at least the trailer was 3 minutes long. The actual film departed from Levinson’s grounded family stories into a fairy tale about a toy factory threatened by the military. Williams runs the factory, his brother is LL Cool J, his love interested is factory drone Robyn Wrigh , and he drinks Pepsi Cola. The sets, despite their oversized parameters and bright colors, dull the action, even when there are explosions and floods in the final reel. Trevor Horn of the Buggles wrote the music, including holiday tunes that no one’s ever heard, which is ridiculous because, as Americans, we’ve heard every holiday tune ever recorded. Williams and Levinson later redeemed themselves when they made the even more insufferable Man of the Year (2006).
Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis star in “Christmas with the Kranks.” It’s my brother’s favorite good/bad holiday film. Mike tells me all the time. I hear it all the time! Finally watched it. It’s a film about a couple who decide to not do Christmas, which is apparently illegal in their small white block.