Review of Ernest Saves Christmas (1988) by Roy C — 29 Nov 2010

Welcome to Christmas Week everybody! To start, I thought I might review one of my favourite Christmas movies of all time and one that I have watched every christmas since I can remember. That of course being Ernest Saves Christmas. Some of you may think that 100% is absolutely ridiculous for an Ernest movie, but I definitely have my reasons, which I will explain in this review.

A brief note on Ernest. Anybody who I have asked either loves Ernest or hates Ernest. Personally, I love the Ernest movies, this being my personal favourite. I realize that he's an acquired taste, but I definitely have that taste. Stepping uncertainly between theatrical, tv, and straight-to-dvd release, the Ernest movies have had a rocky history with critics and audiences, but I have seen most of these movies and I love every single one of them.

The movie is about Ernest P. Worrell, played once again by the late great Jim Varney, working as a taxi driver, and ends up driving Santa Clause in his taxi. Santa is down on his luck and wants to call it quits. Ernest simply can't let that happen, so he has to save Christmas and keep children happy. Of course, it ends on a happy note and everybody loves Ernest's efforts.

Ernest is simply a great character, quite possibly one of the most iconic film characters ever. There are some points in his character that are dumb, like his mugging and his constant change of characters. But it doesn't cross the line between delightfully stupid and offensively stupid and remains securely in the delightfully stupid range.

The story is well told and the slapstick was great and made the heartwarming moments all the more heartwarming. It's an inventive christmas movie and definitely one of my favourites. More Christmas reviews will be coming this week, Christmas movies both good, mediocre, and bad. Stay tuned!

RIP Jim Varney.