Kirk Cameron's "Saving Christmas" is a faith-based comedy movie directed by Darren Doane. It was released by Samuel Goldwyn Films on Nov. 14 for a two-week limited engagement. The movie combines a comedic tale with educational features but received generally unfavorable reviews.
"Saving Christmas" is a sloppy 80-minute feature film that encompasses almost 50 minutes of actual moving footage. According to an A.V. Club review, Kirk Cameron narrated that "materialism doesn't go against Christmas because it celebrates the son of God being made material himself." The review added the movie echoed "a defense of any kind of cheap, poorly made holiday crap."
The movie, "Saving Christmas," started with a fireplace dialogue in which the friendly star shares his love of everything Christmas while addressing the worrywarts who insist Dec. 25 has lost its significance. In a Los Angeles Times review, the movie "is an unholy mess co-produced by Kirk Cameron's faith-based Camfam Studios."
"Virtually everything about this production feels thrown together," Michael Rechtshaffen wrote on his LA Times review. "Even with that extended musical interlude (performed by the God Squad Dance Crew) and an end-credits blooper reel, the package barely cracks the 80-minute mark."
"Kirk Cameron's 'Saving Christmas' is a glorified infomercial in defense of the holiday that contains about 15 minutes of actual content padded out with almost an hour of filler," Michael O' Sullivan said on his Washington Post review. He also added that some parts of the movie would be "all well and good if the film were simply a short YouTube clip."
Ben Kenigsberg of The New York Times wrote on his review for Kirk Cameron's "Saving Christmas saying the movie has been "minimally edited."
"The movie further stalls with pregnant pauses, broad comic mugging, an endless dance routine and outtakes," Kenigsberg stated. "'Saving Christmas' seems determined to win any perceived war on Christmas through brute force."
In a movie review by The Wrap, Alonso Duralde said the director of Kirk Cameron's "Saving Christmas" offered no storytelling style, adding "the lighting is careless, the pacing is deadly, the occasional stabs at comedy fall flat."
"Ultimately, 'Saving Christmas' has nothing to share that Linus Van Pelt didn't already say better on 'A Charlie Brown Christmas,'" Duralde's review added. "And give me Vince Guaraldi's holiday jams over Kirk Cameron bringing on the funk any day of the Advent calendar."
Kirk Cameron's "Saving Christmas" is rated PG or Parental Guidance. The unfavorable reviews warned of "coerced merriment" and have "some thematic material that might be mildly upsetting to very small children, particularly those who believe in Santa Claus."
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