Based on a joke that seems to have been around at least since I was born, which is fast coming up on half a century now, Dear Santa is, in a way, exactly what you'd expect a Christmas comedy from the Farrelly brothers to be. It's also one of their weaker efforts.
Robert Timothy Smith plays Liam Turner, a young boy with dyslexia who struggles to make friends and avoid embarrassment in most social situations. His bestie is Gibby (Jaden Carson Baker), a young boy who has his own social obstacle, simply due to having some large upper teeth. When Liam writes a letter to Santa he mis-spells the name of the recipient, leading to the letter instead being delivered to the fiery underworld. Which is where a devilish Jack Black comes into the picture. Much like a standard genie, he will offer Liam three wishes. Is there any catch? Of course there is, but it's easy for Liam to forget about that when he can get a chance to ask Emma (Kai Cech) out on a date, be friends with Post Malone, and maybe even fix whatever has become broken in the marriage of his parents (played by Brianne Howey and Hayes MacArthur).
Director Bobby Farrelly really seems unsure of what he wants to do here. The screenplay, by Ricky Blitt and Peter Farrelly (developing a story they created with Dan Ewen), doesn't help. Not only is it weak when compared to other Farrelly brother outings, it doesn't even manage to have fun with the Christmas spirit of it all. It doesn't help that it makes no sense, with rules being carefully spelled out near the start of the movie that are completely ignored by the frankly bizarre final scenes. There's some fun to be had, but it's thanks to a couple of fun set-pieces and the sweet screen presence of Smith.
Black does his usual thing, and he's amusing enough with it, but the younger cast members get to steal the movie by simply emphasising their relative innocence. Smith is endearingly hapless, Baker is very sweet, Cech is just the right kind of loveliness to make her seem worth the effort that Smith is making, and Post Malone has fun playing himself. Both Howey and MacArthur do well enough as the parents who have clearly gone through some kind of trauma that has affected the whole family, and P. J. Byrne, Keegan-Michael Key, and Cate Freedman add some laughs. There's also a fantastic cameo from Ben Stiller, just about recognisable despite all the make up he is wearing for his one scene.
Maybe others will enjoy this more than I did, and maybe I had my viewing experience shaded by considering the real-life tragedy that Bobby Farrelly experienced over a decade ago. Maybe those things are inextricably linked though. It certainly seems as if this is a very pointed film, which is another thing working against the comedy and silliness, and there's a lot of pain and hurt at the centre of it that cannot be easily pushed aside before the end credits roll.
I guess that it sometimes takes more than a half-assed shart gag to counter-balance an exploration of the dark and deep wells of grief that we often have to carry around within us for far too many years.
4/10
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