Ernest Saves Christmas (1988)

Imagine that, I only first saw "Ernest Saves Christmas" for the first time during the Christmas season of 2016. Yep, I know, way overdue. And it was only because it was part of a Christmas movie marathon with the family that I got around to watching this movie.Now, I am vaguely familiar with the Ernest character (played by Jim Varney) from my childhood, as I remember watching some of the movies back then, though the only title that comes to mind is "Ernest Goes to Camp".While "Ernest Saves Christmas" hardly is a Christmas Classic, it is still a funny and entertaining movie. Especially if you like the kind of slapstick comedy used there. And yes, there are a lot of funny situations, and I did laugh often and enjoyed the silliness of the movie, for sure.Despite being funny, then "Ernest Saves Christmas" wasn't exactly the type of movie that stood out as being memorable. I think you might actually watch it more than once, but with years in between each viewing.One of the good things is that you can sit down and watch "Ernest Saves Christmas" without having watched other movies in the franchise, as they work well as stand-alone movies."Ernest Saves Christmas" is a movie that can be enjoyed by virtually everyone in the family. And it is a fun enough movie to put on for some Christmas time comedy.

Ahhh, Christmas 2013. I had to revisit a childhood favorite of mine: Ernest Saves Christmas. I haven't seen this for over twenty years and remember loving and re-watching it so many times back in the late 80s.You know (Vern,) watching these Ernest movies as an adult, it's not quite the same effect as viewing them through the eyes of a child. Recently, I've been revisiting three of the four I loved (or liked) as a child: Ernest Goes to Camp, Ernest Saves Christmas and Ernest Scared Stupid. (I have yet to re-watch Ernest Goes to Jail, and I will soon. I do have that on BluRay now, and that was my personal favorite as a child with this holiday special as #2.) And, boy, I can see how I liked them in my youth, and they do have some absolute humor that translates to adults, but they are over-the-top silly at times.That said, there's a purity to them. Ernest, er, the late and great Jim Varney, has such a heart and kept everything in his act and movies clean. I like that. In fact, I'm surprised these movies are rated as high as PG. Honestly, there's nothing, and rightfully so, in them that should offend anyone. Thank you, Mr. Varney.Here, in Ernest Saves Christmas, Ernest, the G-Rated, but somewhat unsafe, taxi driver gets mixed up with the real Santa Claus as he's on a mission to pass the torch onto a new Santa as the "magic is up."Naturally, things are a lot more complicated as they appear and Ernest screws up a lot, but in the end, there's the heart and soul of Ernest P. Worrell who brings it all together.While not perfect, you gotta admire it for its simplicity in a complicated film. One can criticize Varney's odd facial expressions and zoom-ins or even dislike them. But, he had a heart and he set out to make a (what I think should be a G-Rated) special Christmas movie. Mission: Accomplished.* * * Final thoughts: Don't get me wrong. This movie is way silly. And I had to endure a few too many "made-for-younger-crowds" scenes, like eyes darting back and forth as a gag. It's okay to get past that when you know the core audience. I wish these movies, the Ernest series, would come back for the next generation so they can appreciate more family-friendly, (should be!) G-rated fare.

I must confess that I love this film. It isn't high-brow entertainment: the plot is pedestrian, and the production values are minimal. That said, this is Jim Varney's magnum opus, and it is simply a delightful, affirmative and even inspirational statement about the power of belief and the dignity of the individual. Ernest is the epitome of, what St. Francis called, the great fool of God. His child-like simplicity and optimistic belief in the goodness of mankind and the benevolence of the Universe is rewarded with the revelation that Santa Claus does indeed exist. Along the way, he manages to showcase his considerable talent for character-acting and his incomparable comedic timing.Yes, Virgina. There is a Santa Claus! And this film gets played at least once a year in my household, a tradition now of almost twenty years standing. It is a cherished talisman of my family, along with A Christmas Story and the 1951 version of Scrooge.If, while watching this film, you don't find yourself laughing and crying and yearning for a world where Santa really exists, you simply are beyond redemption. (And this comes from a man who counts Unforgiven as one of his all-time favorite films).

This movie started off great; the first 30 minutes are very funny and clever with some interesting characters. That's the good news. The bad news is that the film then gets too repetitive and then it gets downright stupid. What we wind up getting is a Santa Claus with "magical" powers with a lot of New Age baloney thrown in the mix. It's just ridiculous and hardly the kind of "Christmas movie" I would expect from Jim Varney's "Ernest."To be fair, it still had a decent amount of laughs and is profanity-free but just not a film I could recommend.