Help For The Holidays (2012)

Eva LaRue and Dan Gauthier play Sara and Scott VanCamp, a married couple who have two children, Ally (Izabela Vidovic) and Will (Mason Cook). They also run a Christmas shop, and their busiest time of year is, inevitably, on the run up to Christmas. What they don't have is any actual Christmas spirit. They've become too focused on the business, with their hectic schedule stopping them from spending as much time with the children as they might like. Thankfully, the kids have good old Uncle Dave (John Brotherton) to make life a bit more fun sometimes. And they're about to get a new helper in the house in the shape of Christine (Summer Glau), an elf sent there by Santa (Steve Larkin).

Written by Abbey Cleland Lopez (her first script) and Bob Sáenz, Help For The Holidays is a film that seems to hit all of the marks required for this type of thing, yet feels strangely lacking. It's like biting into a chocolate that is meant to have a flavoured centre and finding it hollow. All of the parts are there - the adults needing to be reminded of the true meaning of Christmas, a twinkly-eyed Santa who has faith in things working out well in the end, some elf magic, kids making big eyes, etc - but there's no feeling of any progress being made until you get to a final sequence that feels unearned and rushed.

Director Bradford May has done a few of these movies, unsurprisingly, but his filmography shows that he did very different fare both before and after this. Perhaps he wasn't as knowledgeable as others who have worked their magic in this particular, tinsel-adorned, arena, or maybe he just incorrectly relied on the script and performances to carry things along pleasantly enough.

Let's start with Summer Glau, an actress I have enjoyed in a number of other roles. She certainly has the look of a potential elf here, helped by some pointy ears that can be magicked away when she is masquerading as a normal human, but her performance is pitched at just the wrong level of naivete and over-exuberance. Brotherton does much better at striking the right tone, although it's easier for him to stay in "fun uncle" mode for most of his scenes. LaRue and Gauthier try their best, but they are hampered by a script that has them doing very little until things change, for no good reason, in time for the end credits. Vidovic and Cook are pretty decent child actors, both delivering the right level of moodiness and wide-eyed innocence, depending on what the scene needs. Last, but not least, Larkin is quite a disappointing Santa. He isn’t a bad actor with the role, he just doesn’t have that perfect look.

Although it lacks a number of the perfect ingredients to make for just the right Christmassy confection, Help For The Holidays at least has a nice sprinkling of magic throughout many scenes and benefits from a central performance that, while overdone, is at least delivered with plenty of enthusiasm.

4/10

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Teen Witch (1989)

I'm not saying Teen Witch killed the careers of those behind the camera, but it's the last film written by Robin Menken and Vernon Zimmerman, and the second-last narrative feature from director Dorian Walker. Some of the cast members have managed to continue their acting careers, which seems like a miracle when you see some of the stuff they have to do here.

Robyn Lively is Louise, a typical teenage girl who spends her time in the company of her friend, Polly (Mandy Ingber), swooning over Brad (Dan Gauthier), and wishing she was more popular at her school. After a bike accident leaves her a bit shaken up, Louise ends up encountering Madame Serena (Zelda Rubinstein), a woman that informs Louise that she's due to inherit some magical powers by the time she turns sixteen. When that happens, Louise finds that she can make herself popular, and put everything in place to give her a good shot with Brad, but at what cost?

Teen Witch is quite a mad film, and I immediately resented watching it as soon as the end credits started to roll. I may have been a bit too harsh though. It's very much a film from the 1980s, it's very much a film thinking it provides a story that teenage girls will identify with and enjoy, and it's unafraid to lean into the sillier moments (at least one of which, an impromptu street rap scene, is the stuff of cinematic legend).

Lively at least makes a good, personable, lead. Ingber is also very good, playing the typical best friend who has become resigned to accepting their station in high school, and at least enjoys the fact that she doesn't pander to her peers in an attempt to gain brownie points. Rubinstein is a lot of fun, and Gauthier, well, he just has to stand in the right spot and look like a handsome schoolboy/middle-aged yuppie. Dick Sargent being cast as Louise's father is a nice touch, Joshua John Miller is a pesky little brother, Shelley Berman and Marcia Wallace are teachers affected in very different ways by witchy powers, and Noah Blake and Megan Gallivan both get standout moments.

There are set-pieces here that have to be seen to be believed, and even then I cannot guarantee that you'll believe them, wild events that have no long-lasting consequences, and characters who learn an important moral lesson or two by the time everything ends. And these things irritated me while I was watching the film, but later struck me as elements typical to pretty much any teen movie. It still may not have worked for me (although I am far from the target audience), but it would be unfair of me to mark it down for elements that I have enjoyed in so many other teen flicks.

I was going to end this review by warning people away from Teen Witch. My view of the film has softened though. I think you should watch it at least once. You may even enjoy it. Whatever you think of it, you certainly won't forget it.

5/10

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