The Library: Christmas
Three new reviews from my home library.
The Library is my attempt to watch at least 50% of the films in my DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K Ultra HD home library. It’s almost Christmas, so this edition focuses on unwatched discs from the Christmas shelf!
To be included in this column, I can't watch it streaming or catch it at a repertory screening - I have to watch the disc.
Current Count: 701 of 1,721 - 40%
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand one another, without realising that they are falling in love through the post as each other’s anonymous pen pal.
Watched on the TCM Greatest Classic Legends: James Stewart four-pack that includes The Stratton Story, The FBI Story, and The Spirit of St. Louis. It is, of course, the only of those four films from Jimmy's career pre-WWII. His leading man days were reaching a peak, having recently done You Can't Take It with You and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, with The Philadelphia Story around the corner.
And he's really doing what he does best here. He's so unbelievably charming, you don't even notice that he's basically blackmailing Margaret Sullavan's character.
Kinda sorta a Christmas movie with only the emotional climax taking place on Christmas Eve, but damn - what a scene. I'll take the Christmas vibes from them working retail around the holidays and the appearance from Frank Morgan, who is just one year removed from The Wizard of Oz - and that feels Christmasy to me.
All Is Bright (2013)
Two ne’er-do-wells from Quebec travel to New York City with a scheme to a get rich quick selling Christmas trees.
There's nothing like New York City around Christmastime. Unless, of course, it's just an overgrown corner lot inhabited by two Canadian ex-cons (the Pauls: Giamatti and Rudd) selling $20 Christmas trees.
Giamatti, fresh out of the joint, heads back home to see his young daughter. Turns out his ex-wife told her that he died of a long-suffering and very painful cancer. And to make matters worse, she's sorta-kinda engaged to his old pal Rudd. The least Rudd can do in return is get Giamatti a job, so he smuggles him across the border (breaking parole) into the City to sell these trees.
With a premise like that and a duo like that, you would expect this movie to be a lot funnier. It has some pretty good moments, but drags in the in-between.
You would also be surprised how heartwarming it is - I genuinely started to feel for these guys towards the end.
A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (2011)
Six years have elapsed since Guantanamo Bay, leaving Harold and Kumar estranged from one another with very different families, friends and lives. But when Kumar arrives on Harold’s doorstep during the holiday season with a mysterious package in hand, he inadvertently burns down Harold’s father-in-law’s beloved Christmas tree. To fix the problem, Harold and Kumar embark on a mission through New York City to find the perfect Christmas tree, once again stumbling into trouble at every single turn.
Remember the 3D craze that cradled the late 2000s and early 2010s? It seemed like everything was in 3D.
Blockbuster tentpoles, sure. Captain America: The First Avenger, Final Destination 5, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Those all make sense.
But then there was everything else. Dolphin Tale, Glee: The 3D Concert Movie, and...A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas.
I saw the first Harold & Kumar on a plane recently (review coming soon - when I noticed it was a 2004 movie, I realized I could do a 20th Anniversary TLDR in just a few weeks) and I have to say: it's a terrible plane movie. There's so much nudity, it's very visually inappropriate. Basically, it's not the kind of movie you should watch in public and potentially subject children to.
Anyway, while I'm still torn on that movie's politics, I was really impressed with how well-made it was. It's got perfect story structure, nothing was choppy, and Kal Penn and John Cho have great chemistry. I thought I would give the other entries a shot.
Unfortunately, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay and this Christmas entry come with diminishing returns. The joke batting average slips and the bit has aged faster than the guys.
Penn and Cho's back-and-forth is the best part and this movie makes the lethal mistake of making them mad at each other the whole movie. Why do movies do this? Why do they think we want to watch movies about best friends fighting?
And did I mention it's in 3D? It's pretty funny watching what would've been the 3D gags at home on Blu-ray.
Credit: Each plot synopsis comes from Letterboxd via TMDb.