Dashing Through The Snow (2023)

A film in which Ludacris plays someone named Chris Kringle, obviously. Oh no, wait, he plays someone named Chris Bridges. No. No, no, no, that is also wrong. Chris “Ludacris” Bridges plays Eddie Garrick. That is how I wanted to start this review. It would seem, from his billing here, that Ludacris may be wanting to creep towards having a name that is a bit less, well, ludicrous. Which is all well and good, and understandable, but I am still going to refer to him as Ludacris for the rest of this review. It’s just much easier, it’s advantageous for him, and we will wait and see if he eventually drops the moniker completely.

So, to summarize, Eddie Garrick is a man who doesn’t really believe in the magic of Christmas. He tries his best to help others who might be struggling with the season though, using his skills as a social worker to help defuse any situation when someone is going through a crisis. Picking up his daughter for a Christmas Eve visit, Eddie then ends up encountering an individual who claims to be Santa. Whether or not he is, he is in trouble, having accidentally picked up an iPad that belongs to some bad people while misplacing his own (which has Santa’s list on it - tech changes, but the Santa basic’s don’t).

Written by Scott Rosenberg and directed by Tim Story, this is a film not lacking in talent behind the camera. Both of those men have been involved with some enjoyable blockbuster movies. They are tasked here with delivering not just a Christmas movie, but a Disney Christmas movie. This is fairly obvious and unsophisticated fare, mixing in some father-daughter bonding, a Santa who never feels like he might not be Santa, and the kind of inept criminals who would be outsmarted by a small child in the later Home Alone sequels.

Ludacris is fine in the main role, being as grumpy and cynical as he needs to be up until the inevitable turning point. Madison Skye Validum is also very good, playing the daughter who easily accepts the potential for magic and might help her dad see things a bit differently. She’s unfazed by the events unfolding around her, happy to be on such a crazy adventure with her dad. As for the Santa figure, that’s Lil Rel Howery in the red suit, and he’s a lot of fun in the role, being as jolly and carefree as expected, yet also slightly manipulative while helping teach someone a lesson. Teyonnah Parris is stuck in a very minor supporting role, Oscar Nuñez is the brains behind the criminal shenanigans for the evening, and there are one or two other familiar faces in the cast (including Mary Lynn Rajskub).

Although obviously a family film, this often feels like it  is trying to appeal to younger kids ahead of anyone else. That’s fine, especially in the scenes that work well (and most children will be very pleased by a finale that brings in a fun “cavalry” to help our main characters), but it’s clear sometimes that the film holds back from being as creative or silly as it could have been. Someone wanted this to “skew young”, but not at the same corner of more general appeal. Which makes it slightly less satisfying, because it feels like two tonally different films forced together like a couple of jigsaw pieces showing different parts of the same picture. You could say, mayyyyyybe, that it would have benefited from being a bit more ludicrous, ironically enough.

5/10

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The Lost City (2022)

To use the simplest shorthand available, The Lost City is, in some ways, an updated version of Romancing The Stone. It has a few tweaks, with the main one being making a potential hero/rescuer someone who is often quite useless and out of his depth, but the basic premise is a romance novelist (Loretta Sage, played by Sandra Bullock) who is kidnapped by people looking for mythical treasure. An escape attempt leaves her stuck in the jungle, taking her on the kind of perilous adventure that she usually writes about in her novels. Alan (Channing Tatum) is the handsome man who may be able to save her from her predicament. The only problem is that Alan is completely ill-prepared for such an undertaking, having spent years as a model, notably portraying the heroic Dash on the cover of Loretta's work. Meanwhile, her agent (Beth, played by Da'Vine Joy Randolph) is trying to locate her, without any help from authorities.

Although the balance isn’t quite right, and there are developments in the third act that feel a bit false (even within this fictional framework), The Lost City is easy entertainment that aims to please as many people as possible. That is both a strength and weakness. It’s a star vehicle for Bullock, who has proven how good she is at comedy on a number of occasions, but it also allows Tatum to remind people of how well he does in comedic roles.

Directors Aaron and Adam Nee may find themselves stuck once it comes to the finale, from a script that they worked on with Oren Uziel and Dana Fox, but the journey more than makes up for the disappointment of the destination. They do themselves the biggest favour by casting well, with the few supporting roles played well by Randolph, Patti Harrison, Oscar Nuñez, Daniel Radcliffe and a certified a-list star making a hilarious cameo.

Bullock is on great form here, playing someone jaded and tired. Starting the film being put into a purple-sequinned dress that she hates, the fact that she has to tolerate that same item of clothing for a large portion of the runtime serves as a reminder that she was unhappy even before the kidnapping. Now she is very unhappy, but arguably still most put out by still wearing that dress in an environment that makes it even more impractical. Tatum is doing dumb, and he does it brilliantly. Always happy to smoulder for any female fans, he soon shows that he is at least more sweet and considerate than you may think, and the film allows him to become less and less ridiculous as the adventure continues, which subsequently allows Tatum to round out his character a bit more. Randolph is a lot of fun, constantly in a state of great stress, Harrison is a fairly unhelpful assistant, and Nuñez helps to lift things slightly when his character appears just in time to help, and fall for, Randolph’s character. Then there’s the villain, a role that allows Radcliffe to pretend to be charming and composed as he becomes increasingly desperate, and dangerous, on the way to finding potential treasure.

A few set-pieces sprinkle just enough action through the film to remind you that this is a rom-com adventure movie, but most people should remain happy enough while Bullock and Tatum bicker, flounder, and generally distract one another while they really should be staying focused on the many dangers around them.

While everyone contributes to making this a glossy, wonderful, blockbuster production, I will also single out Pinar Toprak, who delivers a great score that manages to suit the material without feeling too derivative. 

In case I didn’t make myself clear, I really enjoyed this. Is it great? No. Nor is it very original. But it is consistently amusing and entertaining, and boosted by two stars who are perfect in their lead roles, and who also both work very well alongside one another.

7/10

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