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Bit 1
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Junior wiseguy Jake (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) seems to have it made for a
California college man. Whatever forgery, bribery, theft, and
fast-talking can get, he either has, or can provide for other students
-- for a consideration -- aided by his nerdy minion.
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Bit 2
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He even has the perfect scheme to score the girl of his dreams, Allie
(Jessica Biel). Exchanging the plane ticket his father (Gary Cole) send
him to return home for Christmas enables him to make an offer he thinks
Allie can't refuse: a perfect resort holiday à deux.
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Bit 3
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But Allie wants to spend Christmas with her family, a prospect Jake is
trying to avoid for himself since he resents his new
stepmother. The matter is settled by the revenge of four self-styled
campus hipsters. Already stinging after the fake IDs they've paid Jake
for fail to get them into the Viper Room, the dudes take action when
Jake's scam to feed them test answers collapses.
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Bit 4
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They abandon Jake in the desert, clad in a Santa Claus suit with
glued-on beard and hat. Allie meantime accepts a ride back east with
super-sleaze Eddie (Adam Lavorgna) and the action progresses with Jake
trying to (a) escape his situation and (b) follow the trail of babe and
sleaze.
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Bit 5
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Jake's journey of discovery sets up a number of situations for Home
Improvement alumnus Jonathan Taylor Thomas to do what he does
best, namely act like a little old member of the Friars Club -- quite
logically, since he played George Burns to Tim Allen's Gracie
for the last seven years. His encounters include a group of geriatric
Tom Jones groupies heading for Las Vegas, including Kathleen Freeman,
stalwart of Jerry Lewis pictures and still projecting forcefulness after
about 50 years of character roles.
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Bit 6
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There's also the dumb van driver forced to play elf to Jake's Santa,
with a stolen cargo destined to make wildly unsuitable Christmas gifts
at a children's hospital; a lovelorn patrolman seeking a reunion with
his wife who waits table at the Turf 'n Turf restaurant; the contestants
in an annual 5 km Santa run; and the operetta-ish denizens of the
Strudelstrasse Inn at Edelbrück, "Iowa's Largest
Bavarian village", where Jake catches up with his hoped-for squeeze and
his rival.
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Bit 7
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The trail leads back to Jake's family home, but there's still no
resolution until he has dispersed a group of costumed carol singers in
the most novel manner since Arnold Schwarzenegger kicked a flaming Wise
Man's head into a warbling Dickensian crowd in Jingle All the Way.
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Bit 8
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With the wiseguy finally getting wise to the idea that there's no place
like home, I'll Be Home for Christmas succeeds in its modest
aim of providing a bonbon box of jokes for the holiday season and a
showcase suitable to the age and experience of its teenage star.
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Bit 9
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Details
I'll Be Home for Christmas, by Buena Vista International, 1998.
Director: Arlene Sanford.
Screenplay: Harris Goldberg, Tom Nursall.
Cinematography: Hiro Narita.
Production Design: Cynthia Charette.
Costume design: Maya Mani.
Cast: Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Jessica Biel, Adam Lavorgna, Gary Cole.
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Bit 10
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Citation reference for this article
MLA style:
Shane Lewis. "Finally, a Wise Man: 'I'll Be Home for Christmas'." M/C Reviews 3 Jan. 1998.
[your date of access] <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/reviews/screen/wise.html>.
Chicago style:
Shane Lewis, "Finally, a Wise Man: 'I'll Be Home for Christmas'," M/C Reviews 3 Jan. 1998,
<http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/reviews/screen/wise.html> ([your date of access]).
APA style:
Shane Lewis. (1998) Finally, a wise man: 'I'll be home for Christmas'. M/C Reviews 3 Jan. 1998.
<http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/reviews/screen/wise.html> ([your date of access]).
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![[image]](http://members.aol.com/swj23456/private/jonathan/jttsanta.jpg)