Browsing a while ago for Christmas films, I came across recommendations for ‘The Town that Cancelled Christmas’. It sounded intriguing so I put it on my wishlist, and was given it for Christmas. We decided to watch it last night, with little idea what to expect.
(Amazon UK link)
The story starts when a couple called Norbert (Matt McCoy) and Maddie (Jane Sibbett) move into a house in a small town (I would have called it a village) called Greenlaw, in the United States.
They and their young teenage son Kevin (Hunter Gomez) are quickly welcomed by their neighbours, most of whom I had a hard time remembering, but the significant one is Donny (Adam Ferrara) who is very proud of having won a Christmas award, every year, for the best decorated house.
When Norbert hears this, he says that he has previously won a similar award in other towns - it’s fairly obvious that he’s either making this up or exaggerating, since he and his wife can’t even agree where they last lived; his son later mentions to Donny’s daughter that his father actually hates Christmas and has never decorated anywhere.
Norbert is a writer, although he doesn’t seem to get much writing done and Maddie is becoming increasingly frustrated with him. His book is about human behaviour, but he tells his new neighbours that it’s about orang-utans, not wanting them to be nervous around him.
There’s a lot of humour in the film, including a couple of places where we chuckled aloud - it’s ridiculous, of course, as is the increasing bizarreness and tawdriness of Donny’s outside display, as he determines to retain his title and crown. And when nobody can agree whose decorations are best, the story becomes increasingly silly, but still quite amusing as everything to do with Christmas is banned, and a truck drives through slowly removing trees, decorations, and everything else that might be connected.
It’s not the greatest acting; I don't think we had ever previously heard of any of the cast. But as a light evening’s entertainment it served its purpose well. The plot certainly isn’t predictable, and if some of the situations are increasingly unbelievable - including the ending - it doesn’t much matter; it's light-hearted, warm, and amusing.
I’m a bit surprised to realise that the rating is 12 as I don’t recall any bad language, nudity, or violence other than a few minor (and evidently choreographed) incidents. I can’t imagine it would be of any interest to children; other than two teenagers who are probably about fourteen, the cast are all adults. But I would have rated it PG.
Overall I thought it a good film to add to our Christmas collection, one that we’ll almost certainly watch again in two or three years’ time. It was apparently made in 2006 but feels older, somehow. I had a hard time tuning into the accents for the first few minutes of the film, but don't think I lost anything before I was able to understand them.
(The film is called ‘A Merry Little Christmas’ in some parts of the world).
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