Not all Christmas comedies have to be Home Alone: heartwarming to the core! Some simply avoid that space. “Dear Santa,” “Dear Santa,” or “Dear Satan,” the film in which Jack Black is an attempt at a sturdy imp with a white beard, premiered in December on Paramount+. It appears in the week of highest Christmas consumption, with an avalanche of movies on Netflix and other platforms, to steal some laughs in the key of acid humor.
“Dear Santa”
Synopsis
Liam Turner (Robert Timothy Smith) moves out of his house with his parents to a new suburb. Among the wishes of his Christmas letter, poorly written due to his dyslexia, he sends a special message to “Satan”, instead of referring to “Santa”. Then, a horned imp (Jack Black) appears in his closet and prompts him to wreak havoc during the Christmas season. Meanwhile, the little boy's parents don't stop fighting over insignificant details, and the boy suffers in silence because he has other ordinary childhood doubts, like talking to the pretty girl in class. With all this, he has to endure a supposed Satan, who tries to steal his soul.
Watch the official trailer for “Dear Santa”:
For brothers Peter and Bobby Farrelly, creators of “Mad About Mary” (1998) and “A Couple of Idiots” (1994), it is the first time working with Jack Black. The actor, from a usual crazy time code for youth comedies — remember “School of Rock” (2003), and the next in “Minecraft” — plays a black god in “Dear Santa.” He has magical powers closer to the genie in Aladdin's lamp than to Santa Claus, and he is funny to a certain extent, because he acts with the same flexibility, with jumps and grimaces, that distinguishes him from children's comedies in which he has always felt at ease.
Robert Timothy Smith, Jaden Carson Baker, Jack Black and Post Malone make up the cast of “Dear Santa.”
In a different facet to the alien Neel from Star Wars, Robert Timothy Smith adds the comedy with Jack Black to the list of his first films in Hollywood. Both share leading roles. However, the 11-year-old actor feels more honest in the character of Liam, a boy with great self-esteem who has Christmas wishes that he is not afraid to ask the devil, in order to take care of his loved ones.
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Following the formula of most Christmas stories, screenwriters Ricky Blit, Peter Farrelly and Dan Ewen make room for the drama of a child surviving dysfunctional parenthood. At times, Liam's mother (Brianne Howey) seems to know what she's doing best. Other times, his father (Hayes MacArthur) enters into the aspect of the inconsiderate macho. In most scenes in the first half of the film, they are accepted and judged by the audience. The truth is that the secret behind overprotecting her youngest son comes from a melodramatic series of events, such as the death of a family member or moving to avoid divorce, but the situation is even more painful. The fact cannot be revealed, because it would be a spoiler. Let's just say that there's a lot of intrigue surrounding Liam and his parents' relationship before Christmas, and that's interesting.
Since “To the Devil with the Devil” (2000) and other humor classics with the figure of the devil, Satan is always portrayed as a scoundrel (or scoundrel) of unpaid bills and bad deals. This case is the exception. The defiant character of Jack Black grants the boy three wishes under the deception of stealing his soul at the end of the road. It happens that, instead of turning around their requests, as the devil would do, he supports their happiness and that of their loved ones.
Christmas comedies and dramas focus on love and nostalgia, but “Dear Santa” plays with the imperfection of the story. Like in “Shrek,” if the wolf has to be the bad guy, he better be sweet and kind. From the premise of the play on words, “Santa” and “Satan”, the joke was that the devil comes instead of Santa Claus, how scary. But in this case, Satan is not the Grinch of Christmas. What's more, he enjoys it. And he uses the timelessness of his life as an advantage to make and break situations. In a clumsy way, humans end up benefiting from it.
So at what point is he the devil? The thing is that Jack Black would only lend himself to jokes about diarrhea, sensitive jokes about “guys harassing children” and some complaints about the new generations in a film like this. Which, by the way, did very little promotion in Latin America. In an iconic scene from the film, the cameo of accused misogyny and pro-gun rapper Post Malone says it all. Putting him in a context where a group of children praise him as their favorite singer; That comes from a politically incorrect production, which follows the script, and is willing to play with fire to make people laugh.
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By the standard of high-quality streaming series, “Dear Santa” begins as a family film that projects good expectations, but falls short at times. It has a fun script and good actors, but the use of the camera and direction, in the case of Bobby Farrelly and his team, is nothing out of this world.
There is a scene where Liam meets the devil in a hotel. This is done without greater ambitions than to see Jack Black dressed in red lycra and wearing his devilish Halloween makeup. Other moments border the techno-spore sets of “El Chavo del 8” with some extra lights and computer effects. Or maybe it was all an elaborate green screen with basic shadows.
The final message of the film is one to scratch your head. Is the devil capable of doing good acts, just because it is Christmas Eve? Because, despite being a stupid and bad character, he reinforces Liam's self-esteem and invites him to have fun. It almost works as if he were Santa Claus, the supportive figure of the season, but in his misunderstood version. Perhaps a 10-year-old Christmas audience will only laugh at the evil character, but those who go beyond the story will be able to argue that the plot evokes the duality of good and evil in people, and also parodies it.
The invitation is made. It may be debatable, a poorly made caricature of the devil, but it is curious to see Jack Black in a family Christmas comedy written by the creators of “Family Guy” (Ricky Blitt) and other stories of acid humor. If you are one of those who laugh at the controversial, some scenes are worth the time invested. In fact, “Dear Santa” is a film that is lucky, since it has a low profile. This crazy attempt to discredit Santa Claus with the figure of a demogorgon, as charismatic as it is impertinent, is moving without being judged too much.
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