The negative reviews, and from trusted critics that are held with admiration by me, really did dampen my expectations prior to watching 'Father Christmas is Back'. It was still watched however as someone who loves Christmas films and because of loving various members of the cast. Particularly Kelsey Grammer, John Cleese and Caroline Quentin. Was absolutely determined to at least like this film and have been known to go against the grain and find panned films not that bad or acclaimed films not that great.
'Father Christmas is Back' unfortunately for me was as bad as has been said and the criticisms it's garnered are deserved. One of my biggest peeves is waste of talent and there is some great talent wasted and badly, which does infuriate me actually. Is it the worst Christmas film in existence? No. But there were times where it did come dangerously close to being down there and of the Christmas films seen recently it is definitely one of the very worst. That is being said with regret.
Despite being a very, very poor film, there are redeeming merits. There are some nice shots and some nice scenery.
Quentin gives the best performance, being the only person who seems to know what type of film she's in without going over the top. Kris Marshall does play it straight quite effectively.
All that cannot be said for the rest of the cast. Elizabeth Hurley comes off worst, even in a film that can be quite campy she does overact embarrassingly. As does Nathalie Cox, if her goal was to make her character insufferably irritating she succeeded. Then we have Grammer, who seems to be sleepwalking and misses the chance to give the film any real heart, while Ray Fearon also gives up too early in an underwritten and borderline pointless role. Didn't care for any of the characters, with Hurley and Cox's being incredibly annoying. The chemistry also seems awkward.
Furthermore, the script is full of incredibly forced attempts at humour, the campiness reaching fever pitch bizarre levels, and the moments that are meant to be more heartfelt come over as too over sentimental. The gags are too few and all land with a thud, due to their predictability and how really forced they are. The story is very flimsy and what not enough there is is very predictable and dully paced. Too many things happen too conveniently too. The music is also unbearably schmaltzy sounding and is completely at odds with the film's tone. The direction is barely there.
Overall, very, very poor. 2/10.
