JINGLE ALL THE WAY

(director: Brian Levant; screenwriter: Randy Kornfield; cinematographer: Victo J. Kemper; editor: Adam Weiss, Will Henderson; music: David Newman; cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger (Howard Langston), Martin Mull (D.J.), Sinbad (Myron Larabee), Phil Hartman (Ted Maltin), Rita Wilson (Liz Langston), Jake Lloyd (Jamie Langston); Runtime: 94; MPAA Rating: PG; producers: Mark Radcliffe, Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan; 20th Century Fox; 1996)

“Did not make me feel the Christmas spirit.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Brian Levant (“The Spy Next Door”/”Snow Dogs”) directs one of these genial but brain-dead X-Mas movies. It’s written by Randy Kornfield as a family drama to show a dad’s love to his kid means more than getting a toy for Christmas.

On Christmas Eve the workaholic businessman Howard Langston (Arnold Schwarzenegger) decides he must get his son Jamie (Jake Lloyd) the season’s hottest selling action toy TuboMan that he promised but was too busy to get. His wife Liz (Rita Wilson) is not pleased he waited until the last minute to go shopping, as the toy is sold out. While at the Mall of America (in Minneapolis), Howard runs into the unbalanced mailman Myron (Sinbad), who also wants the toy for his kid and becomes his rival.

It becomes a question on how far dad will go to get the present for his kid.


At the shopping center they’re raffling off the last TurboMan at double the price. A kid gets the last numbered ball. Howard chases him through the mall to take the ball away from him but gets pounced on by some angry mothers and tells them “I’m not a pervert! I yust vas looking vor a TurboMan toy!”

The action hero Arnold playing a comical figure in this lighthearted seasonal comedy on how materialistic the holiday has become did not make me feel the Christmas spirit.

REVIEWED ON 12/21/2025  GRADE: C
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