Christmas with the Campbells
When Hallmark holiday movies begin huffing.
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If ever you wanted a Hallmark Christmas Movie overlaid with jokes that seem like they were culled from greeting cards procured at Spencer’s Gifts then “Christmas with the Campbells” (opening in select theaters and available to stream on AMC+ beginning Friday, Dec. 2) might just be the flick for you.
Brittany Snow stars as Jesse, a young woman whose douche-y boyfriend Shawn (“Saturday Night Live” veteran Alex Moffat) dumps her right before Christmas despite the fact that they have plans to spend the holiday with his family in Ketchum, Idaho. As Shawn’s busy preparing for a big interview in New York City, Jesse decides to visit his folks – the titular Campbells (1980s sitcom staples Julia Duffy and George Wendt) – regardless.
It’s in Ketchum that Jesse meets David (Justin Long), Shawn’s sweetly folksy cousin. Sparks begin flying between the two before Shawn reinserts himself into the situation. Also thrown into the mix is Becky (JoAnna Garcia-Swisher), the town’s horny baker who wants to reignite the treehouse trysts she enjoyed with David as a teen.
“Christmas with the Campbells” is directed by Hallmark helmer Clare Niederpruem (she concurrently has her “A Royal Corgi Christmas” in rotation on the Hallmark Channel throughout the month) and written by Barbara Kymlicka, “American Vandal” showrunner Dan Lagana and Vince Vaughn. Kymlicka is another Hallmark hired hand who wrote a rote Christmas movie script upon which Lagana and Vaughn inserted a bunch of dick and fart jokes. (The movie’s produced by Vaughn and Peter Billingsley who are doing double duty this holiday season between this and “A Christmas Story Christmas.”)
It’s admittedly a one-joke premise and it wears a bit thin over the movie’s 88-minute runtime, but it’s also pretty damned funny and entertaining. Snow makes for a game straight woman. Long affects a hokey Western accent that was distracting at first, but grows funnier the more he employs it. (Hearing David utter his dog’s name of Polo never ceased to make me laugh.) Moffat’s Shawn is deliciously deplorable. Garcia-Swisher bravely drops double entendres about Becky’s vagina throughout much of her screen time. Wendt has a funny bit about huffing paint. The flick’s undeniable MVP has got to be Duffy. Watching the “Newhart” vet concoct and imbibe a beverage she refers to as drank, lean and sizzurp had me rolling.
“Christmas with the Campbells” will likely appeal in equal measure to those who adore and abhor Hallmark’s Christmas schlock. If you’re the sort who might slip a dildo or fake dog doo into someone else’s stocking, you’ll most assuredly find your fair share of holiday ha-has here.