Christmas Karma (2025)

While there are good and bad things in Christmas Karma, one of my favourite things wasn't really to do with the film itself. I was most amused the the potential reaction to the film by red-faced "patriots" who might find their noses put out of joint as they started to moan about "bloody foreigners, coming over here, and repurposing our classic Dickensian Christmas tales." Considering the constant attempts to get everyone worked up over some (non-existent) war on Christmas, and considering the recent extra toxicity surrounding discussions on immigration, asylum seekers, and national identity, Christmas Karma feels almost deliciously well-timed.

You know the story, which means I can just go through the main players. Kunal Nayyar plays Eshaan Sood (uttering "Bakwaas!" as the Hindi/Urdu equivalent of "Bah, humbug!"). Leo Suter and Pixie Lott are Bob and Mary Cratchit, respectively, complete with a set of children that includes a Tiny Tim (Freddie Marshall-Ellis). Danny Dyer is a black cab driver who helps to bookend things, Eva Longoria is the Ghost Of Christmas Past, Billy Porter is the Ghost Of Christmas Present, and, ummmm, Boy George is the Karma Chamel . . . I mean . . . the Ghost Of Christmas Future. Hugh Bonneville is hard to recognise as Marley, Allan Corduner is Mr. Fezzywig, and Charithra Chandran is a lost love named Bea Fernandez.

Adapted from the source material and directed by Gurinder Chadha, Christmas Karma doesn't get off to the best start. It feels a bit clumsy, and may well make others cringe as I did. The songs aren't great, which is an extra stumbling block for a musical, despite the whole thing being worked on by Gary Barlow, Shaznay Lewis (also onscreen very briefly), and Nitin Sawhney, and there are some major weak spots in the casting of the supporting players. Things pick up once Sood is whisked away by the Ghost Of Christmas Past though, and the use of the familiar tale to explore the immigrant experience, as well as wealth disparity, allows for everything to feel like a very worthwhile wander back through this well-trodden path. Then it sadly gets stuck again when Boy George appears and just looks as if he's loitering around until enough people notice that he's sulking.

It's always clear to see what Chadha is aiming for, which makes it even more of a shame when a few of the sequences just don't work, either due to the cast, the staging of a musical number, or just the familiarity of certain moments working against it. While I don't remember any of the tunes right now, there is at least one decent number in the beginning, middle, and end of this. That helps, and it's interesting that it's the more uplifting and celebratory songs that work best, perhaps due to them requiring some more choreography and . . . fun.  

It's a bit jarring to see Nayyar playing older than his actual age, and he is unsteady in the earliest scenes when he has to be miserly and mean without viewers seeing any of the background, but the performance really starts to work better once Sood is free of normal laws of space and time. Suter, Lott, and Marshall-Ellis aren't very good, I'm sorry to say, and that makes this particular incarnation of the Cratchit family a bit harder to care for than many others we've seen over the years. Longoria is fun, Porter brings some essential colour and joie de vivre to his role, and Dyer at least feels like a standard cheeky London cab driver. Chandran is very good in her role, aka the one who got away, and there are a lot of cast members with less screentime delivering very good work as they help to show a backstory that involves our lead being forcibly wrenched from his home in Uganda to start life anew here in Britain.

This isn't a new classic, compared to other Christmas movies and compared to other interpretations of A Christmas Carol, but it's a good attempt to mix the old and the new, and the way it reworks the backstory of the main character is admirable. I would rewatch it, but only if others had decided to hijack my TV for a couple of hours.

6/10

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Prime Time: Oh. What. Fun. (2025)

One of the bigger Christmas movies to appear at the end of 2025, Oh. What. Fun. has a wealth of talent on both sides of the camera. It's directed and co-written by Michael Showalter, comedy fans should already be familiar with his name, and makes use of the likes of Denis Leary, Felicity Jones, Jason Schwartzman, Chloë Grace Moretz, Dominic Sessa, Joan Chen, and Eva Longoria. All while boasting another leading role for the great Michelle Pfeiffer.

Pfeiffer plays Claire, a mother and wife who is starting to feel very unappreciated. All she wants from her grown children is a nomination that will get her some recognition and an appearance on her favourite daytime TV show (hosted by Zazzy Tims, played by Longoria). Sammy (Sessa) is too busy feeling sorry for himself after recently being dumped by his girlfriend (Mae-bell, played by Maude Apatow), Taylor (Moretz) is distracted by her latest new love, Donna (Devery Jacobs), and Channing (Jones) is considering how to transition to some new holiday traditions with her own family. There's also a perfect neighbour (played by Joan Chen) adding some pressure to the holiday season, and things snowball until Claire just decides that she has to take a break from her family. On Christmas.

This is a strange one. It will be enjoyable enough for some, and you would think it could hardly fail with everyone helping to fill out the cast list, but, contrary to the title, it's not really any fun. And, yes, I am aware that the title is supposed to be ironic. The tone of the film isn't though. It's supposed to be a mix of comedy and drama that does what pretty much every Christmas movie does: deliver a seasonal message about kindness and love. It just rarely works as well as it should.

First of all, despite the very true statements made by Pfeiffer about how many Christmas movies (and, let's face it, movies in general) are made about men/boys needing help in comparison to movies that celebrate all that women do . . . the fact that the central character here is seemingly motivated by her own need to be seen as so much better than others around her doesn't help to make her a very sympathetic lead. In fact, and maybe I am risking some wrath here by just commenting as a clueless bloke, Pfeiffer's character isn't very pleasant to her family, doesn't seem to have any friends to help her let off some steam, and generally demands some specific rewards and recognition for doing a decidedly average job, at best, of being the family matriarch. Her husband and children may be a bit selfish and inconsiderate, but so is our lead, despite her actions trying to prove otherwise.

Second, it's neither very funny, nor is it very Christmassy. Many won't mind the lack of laughs, but I was hoping for something to compensate for the lack of real drama (and I do mean a LACK of real drama, with a few things being presented here that end up being completely inconsequential as things quickly move from one scene to the next . . . try to argue with me on that point and then tell me why we had that shoplifting scene, and what that added to anything). There are Christmas decorations, of course, and some pleasant chilliness in the air, but the lack of any sweet centre, and an apparent reticence to fully lean into all of the holiday trimmings, stop this from feeling like something designed specifically to be appreciated in the run up to Christmas.

Sessa and Schwartzman give the two best performances onscreen, which is a real shame when you consider who should be the shining stars. The latter plays Doug, husband of Channing, and his general mistreatment in the family home is another mark against the film, especially when he's shown struggling to connect with Channing's siblings, but always willing to turn up and do his best for family time nonetheless. Another enjoyable turn comes from Havana Rose Liu, playing a cool daughter of Chen's character. Pfeiffer struggles with the unhelpful material, as do both Jones and Moretz. Leary fares a bit better, but is, much like his character, able to coast along without making any major effort. And as for Eva Longoria, she does almost well enough to make you forget her small role in War Of The Worlds. Almost.

The first screenplay from Chandler Baker, adapted from her own short story, Oh. What. Fun. just has far too many things wrong with it to get even close to feeling right. Whatever Showalter thought that he could bring to the material isn't clear. All he's managed to do is helm a feature that will rank as one of the worst mainstream releases for all involved. And that is saying something when you think of the collected filmographies of the leads.

3/10

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Prime Time: The Pickup (2025)

There have been many movies made that show people trying to rob an armored truck full of cash. Some are very good, some are not. The Pickup makes use of the concept to give us a crime comedy that partners up Eddie Murphy and Pete Davidson. I enjoyed it, but I tend to like Pete Davidson in most things anyway.

Murphy plays Russell Pierce, a man who just wants his workday done so that he can get to a dinner with his wife (Natalie, played by Eva Longoria) as they celebrate 25 years of marriage. Unfortunately, Pierce is saddled with the young and dumb Travis Stolly (Pete Davidson). Even more unfortunately, the armored truck that they're driving is targeted by robbers who seem to know what part of their route takes them through a dead zone that renders them isolated and helpless. Pierce and Stolly won't give up without a fight though, especially when they figure that the robbers will kill them when they get inside the truck anyway. Oh, there's also a woman named Zoe (Keke Palmer), someone Stolly had a very nice night with recently. She might be able to help our leads, but the whole situation is complicated by a lack of clearly-defined morality and some unexpected and messy emotions.

While I know director Tim Story better than I know writers Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider, I wouldn't say that I would rush to see any film just because his name was attached to it. This was a film that I was sold on by the cast, but I have to give it to Story, Burrows, and Mider for playing to the strengths of their cast in a way that makes it a lot easier to accept the predictable plotting and implausibilities while being amused by the many fun exchanges between the leads. 

Davidson does his goofy thing well enough, but his nervous energy works very well opposite a more relaxed and mature Murphy, who still gets a chance to utter one or two sentences that feel like the kind of thing you would hear from him during his peak movie years. Palmer remains a consistently brilliant and valuable addition to any film she graces with her presence, and there's a palpable feeling here of her loving every minute that she gets to interact with her comedic male co-stars, but particularly when she gets to be alongside Murphy (who, despite the many bumps in his career, remains a certified legend). Longoria does well in her much smaller role, Andrew Dice Clay is a horrible boss who you know cares much more about his trucks than any of his employees, and Marshawn Lynch makes a strong impression in his couple of scenes. Jack Kesy and Ismael Cruz Cordova are a convincing threat as two dangerous robbers, but they're also shown to have a main weakness when they consistently underestimate the people they're trying to rob.

Solid entertainment from start to finish, this has enough laughs and a few decent action beats. The laughs are executed better than the stunts, but the two are blended just about to perfection. You can take points off if you dislike any of the leads. Everyone else can go to this as an easy viewing choice when looking for some new comedy. The fact that the runtime is only 94 minutes is also a plus. It might just be the little pickup that you need.

7/10

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Prime Time: War Of The Worlds (2025)

If I see anything worse than War Of The Worlds before the end of this year then I will be astonished. It's one of the most painful, but also laughable, movies I have seen in some time. Even the mega-flop of Megalopolis at least had some ambition, and a genuine feeling of someone trying to present a (misguided?) vision. This is just amateur-ish, uninteresting, and horribly cynical, especially when it comes to a third act that relies so heavily on some embarrassing product placement.

Presented as a "screenlife" feature (a film with all of the events depicted on one screen or another), although I am not sure it even manages to stay with that format for the 91-minute runtime, this shows a Department of Homeland Security officer (Will Radford, played by Ice Cube) doing his best to respond to unbelievable events when a bit of strange weather turns into an alien invasion. Tripods rise up, an attack begins, and Will tries to figure out counter-measures, while also trying to keep his adult children safe. 

The feature directorial debut from Rich Lee, a man who has directed a multitude of music videos and worked on the visual effects on some big blockbusters through the past few decades, this is staggeringly incompetent in almost every way. The biggest problem is the screenplay, written by Marc Hyman and Kenny Golde (credited as Kenneth A. Golde). Obviously believing that they are being clever and relevant with their updated version of the classic tale, which has the alien invaders looking to gobble up massive amounts of data, Hyman and Golde show that they cannot manage to do well with either the dialogue or the plotting. Having Ice Cube in the lead role allows for him to blurt out some "Ice Cube-isms" (even if nobody else would describe them in that way), but that's all this has going for it. And that's nowhere near enough.

I tend to enjoy Cube in movies. He can do good work. Not here though. It's almost painful to watch him overreact and over-explain in every main sequence, making up for the fact that almost all of his activity is moving between a variety of windows and typing things out on his keyboard. Iman Benson and Henry Hunter Hall are the endangered family members, and both benefit from the fact that they don't have to carry so much of the movie on their shoulders. Which isn't to say they're actually good. Eva Longoria makes an appearance that amounts to a brief cameo, Andrea Savage is an expendable FBI Agent, and even Clark Gregg highlights the mishandling of the material in the moments that have him acting like a parody of his NSA Director character. It's also worth mentioning Devon Bostick, although his character is responsible for the worst parts of the film.

However bad you think this is . . . it's even worse. There's no real sense of spectacle or scale, no actual tension, and most of the runtime has the cast members acting as if they're just taking part in a table read before delivering the full performance at another time. As for one of the main turns taken by the plot at about the halfway point, it's just as cringe-inducingly bad as everything else. 

There's a moral here about surveillance and the use of data, but the main moral I would offer people is to avoid surveilling this particular travesty. 

1/10

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Overboard (2018)

I tend to like Anna Faris. She's always amused me and I get the feeling that she never takes her success for granted. In fact, like many other actors, she seems to spend most of her time worried about being found out as an impostor. I remember hearing her say some years ago that Overboard (1987) was her favourite movie of all time, which made the news that it was being remade just slightly more bearable when I knew she was bagging one of the main roles. Unfortunately, nothing else here really works, and it certainly doesn't get anywhere near the sheer fun nature of the original.

Eugenio Derbez is the rich, rude, person this time around. He plays Leonardo Montenegro, and ends up overboard in the first act, of course. Faris is Kate Sullivan, a single mother struggling to make ends meet. Her only encounter with Leonardo ended in disaster, as he not only refused to pay her for her time but also threw her cleaning equipment into the water. Which helps to motivate Kate when the news displays Leonardo as someone who has washed ashore with no memory of who he is. She is now going to make him a hard-working husband and father, just long enough for her to feel she has been given what she is owed. Well...maybe a bit more.

Based on the original script by Leslie Dixon, this update cannot do enough to maintain enough laughs while also staying self-aware enough to acknowledge the problematic nature of the main premise. Bob Fisher and Rob Greenberg, who also directs, don't help. If it was anyone other than Faris in one of the main roles then this would have been unwatchable. As it is, it meanders along from start to finish, sprinkling occasional amusing lines in between moments that show the two leads finding a "surprising" connection that will have to be broken in time for the big finale.

It's no surprise to see that Greenberg has a filmography full of various TV projects. Overboard certainly feels like a TV movie that somehow managed to sneak into cinemas, the material so flat and lacklustre that it can't even be saved by supporting turns from Swoosie Kurtz and Eva Longoria (who are, frankly, standouts in a supporting cast that is missing a required injection of personality, although John Hannah also does a decent job).

But the biggest lack of personality is felt whenever Derbez is onscreen. I didn't think I was overly familiar with the filmography of Derbez but it turns out that I have seen a number of films that have had him there, in supporting roles, and I have just never registered him. I was going to be charitable and consider the fact that Derbez wasn't used to comedy but it appears that most of his movie roles have been in comedies, making it more bewildering that he isn't any better here. He's lucky to be working alongside Faris, who carries the whole movie along the track and over the finish line, thanks to her sheer force of will and personality. And the child actors all do well too, I shouldn't forget about them.

This was always going to be a difficult film to remake, especially at a time when it is much more difficult to overlook the many egregious behaviours and stereotypes that are often seen in romantic comedies, but there's no excuse for delivering something THIS bland.

3/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy the movie here.

The Baytown Outlaws (2012)

I went into The Baytown Outlaws expecting to enjoy it, but I was being hopeful. I didn't really know much about the plot and I certainly had no idea who the main actors were. Eva Longoria and Billy Bob Thornton were the main names being used to market the movie, but I knew that they weren't in it for all that long. Thankfully, Clayne Crawford, Daniel Cudmore and Travis Fimmel in the lead roles are pretty perfect and they help make this into one hell of an enjoyable experience.

The three men I just mentioned play the Oodie brothers, gun-toting lads who are more than happy to kill any criminals that are working in their area. They get the satisfaction of being good citizens and also pleasing the local law enforcement (well, pleasing Andre Braugher's character anyway). When they are approached by the fine-looking Celeste (Eva Longoria) with a job offer that will see them a fair bit richer for getting her godson, Rob (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), back to her. It seems like an easy job, but they have to get Rob away from the dastardly Carlod (Billy Bob Thornton) and then avoid retribution from the people who will come after them, including some dangerous women played by Zoe Bell and the gorgeous Serinda Swan, among others.

Directed by Barry Battles (who also co-wrote the movie with Griffin Hood), The Baytown Outlaws is a near-perfect slice of entertainment for fans of this particular style. But what particular style is it? Well, that's the beauty of it. You get a choice. If you want rednecks arguing with each other then you can enjoy the many moments in which the Oodie brothers get on each other's nerves (though Lincoln, played by Daniel Cudmore is mute unless talking through a speech synthesising device, but leader Brick, played by Clayne Crawford, and McQueen, played by Travis Fimmel, more than make up for his relative silence). If you want something that's more violent and confrontational then don't worry because there sure are plenty of moments that will make the grade for you there. Want something rough and rugged that also has real heart? It's got that. The movie covers all bases, really, and expertly blends thrills with comedy and some real emotion.

This is thanks in no small part to the script and direction, of course, but everything is also given a major boost by the top-notch cast. The actors playing the Oodie brothers are absolutely superb. They carry the movie effortlessly and collectively make for the best anti-hero(es) that I have seen on-screen in some time. Billy Bob Thornton has some fun, Eva Longoria does well enough and did I mention the gorgeous Serinda Swan (who I last saw in the godawful Creature)? In fact, the cast is a veritable who's who of people that you will know from other movies even if the name escapes you. Andre Braugher is best known to many people for his role in The Mist. Michael Rapaport, who has a small, but memorable, role has been in plenty, from True Romance to Deep Blue Sea. Zoe Bell, who put in many years as a hard-working stunt-woman, is perhaps best known to audiences nowadays for her role in Death Proof and even Thomas Brodie-Sangster may make people scratch their heads while they try to figure out what else he has been in - he's been in plenty, but I remembered him most clearly from Love Actually (and it's fun to see that he's grown up, but his face just hasn't changed a bit). Paul Wesley, who plays a non-local officer named Reese out to upset the status quo, was the only face I didn't recognise from other movies, but he has an extensive filmography full of stuff that just hasn't passed before my eyes yet.

Overall, I can't think of any other 2012 release that has the mix of great characters, fierce violence, hot and dangerous biker chicks, corrupt police officers and even a cracking soundtrack accompanying everything. The fact that it also has one of the best title sequences I've seen in a long time is just the icing on the cake. Rent it, see it, consider buying it.

8/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Baytown-Outlaws-Blu-ray-Paul-Wesley/dp/B0090JBOZW/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1361165344&sr=1-2