Capturing a very particular slice of 90s American consumerism, Jingle All the Way is a madcap family comedy that sees the ever-muscled energy of Arnold Schwarzenegger playing Dad-on-a-mission, Howard Langston, pursuing the most sought-after Christmas toy – the mythic Turbo Man – for his son Jamie.
Festively administered like a slapstick shot of adrenaline, Jingle All the Way could be seen as the frenzied sibling to Miracle on the 34th Street; both films centre on how Christmas is lost in, or expressed by, the imperatives of escalating capitalism and the functions of the family as a template for happiness. That aside, it’s basically Arnie on a shopping spree racing a rival dad (Sinbad) for an action figure.
This is a riotous, ridiculous and gloriously entertaining caper across the festive cityscapes of Minnesota, in the malls and streets of waning collective sanity: the panic-buy stampede begins.