I'll Be Home for Christmas (1998)
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23% of critics liked it
(43 reviews) -
45% of users liked it
(44,094 ratings)
Teen heartthrob and Home Improvement star Jonathon Taylor-Thomas stars in this Disney Christmas film that is a teenaged variation on the Planes Trains and Automobiles theme. Jake has missed Christmas in New York with his family these past few years, so as an incentive, his father promises him a 1957… More Teen heartthrob and Home Improvement star Jonathon Taylor-Thomas stars in this Disney Christmas film that is a teenaged variation on the Planes Trains and Automobiles theme. Jake has missed Christmas in New York with his family these past few years, so as an incentive, his father promises him a 1957 red Porsche if he makes it home by Christmas Eve. No sweat, until an unexpected twist blows up in poor Jake's face. It seems that the "cheat sheet" he supplied the college football team was incorrect, and the whole team is out to get him. For revenge, they leave him in the middle of the California desert in a Santa Claus suit (his hat and white beard are glued to his face) with no wallet, no cash, and no identification. To make matters worse, Eddie, one of the football players and Jake's arch-nemesis, is now hitting on Jake's girlfriend Allie. What's poor old Jake to do? Well, if you guessed hitchhike, freeload, con, fly, crawl, race and bully an array of colorful characters, you guessed correctly. ~ Chris Gore, Rovi
- Directed By
- Arlene Sanford
- Written By
- Harris Goldberg, Tom Nursall
- Genres
- Comedy, Kids & Family
PG,
- In Theaters
- Nov 13, 1998 Wide
- On DVD
- Nov 9, 1999
- Studio
- Buena Vista Pictures
Critic Reviews
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Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
This family comedy finds unearned laughs in old women and dog flatulence.
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Lael Loewenstein, Variety
Arrogance gives way to humility, making this an appropriate, if thoroughly cliched, Christmas morality tale that's sugar-coated with an attractive cast spouting sitcom-quality dialogue.
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Louis B. Parks, Houston Chronicle
None of the cast comes off well, but they have little to work with, since the dialogue sounds like it was made up on the spot and performed without rehearsal.
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Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail
A Christmas turkey.
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Ted Fry, Film.com
Adequate in every way and oddly subversive in spots, but that's about it.
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Cast
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Jonathan Taylor Thomas
as Jake
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Jessica Biel
as Allie
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Adam LaVorgna
as Eddie
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Gary Cole
as Jake's Dad
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Eve Gordon
as Carolyn
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Lauren Maltby
as Tracey
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Andrew Lauer
as Nolan
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Sean O'Bryan
as Max
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Lesley Boone
as Marjorie
