A Holiday Heist (2011) starring Lacey Chabert, Rick Malambri, Vivica A. Fox, Jermaine Williams directed by Christie Will Movie Review

A Holiday Heist (2011)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Lacey Chabert in A Holiday Heist (2011)

Stealing Your Time

Jennifer (Lacey Chabert) is staying at college over Christmas and she is not the only one as there are a group of students who for various reasons have stayed behind. But those who stay behind this Christmas are volunteering at a local gallery to keep an eye on it during the day. What none of these students know is that Dean Erma (Vivica A. Fox) is up to no good and has arranged for two friends of hers to act as security guards to rob the gallery, except these inept security guards have plans of their own which end up with Jennifer and her friends ending up hostage and having to find a way to work together.

Lacey Chabert has a lot to answer for with those eyes and that cute smile she lured me in to watching "A Holiday Heist". So okay it's not all Chabert's fault as I am a sucker for Christmas movies and probably would have watched anyway but Chabert's cuteness was a huge draw. Unfortunately not even Chabert's cuteness can salvage this awkward, forced mess of a Christmas movie which comes across like "The Breakfast Club" turned into a Christmas pantomime with over the top characters and stereotypes which at times border on the offensive.

Rick Malambri in A Holiday Heist (2011)

So okay I mentioned "The Breakfast Club" and we have this varied bunch of students from the moody girl who doesn't want to be there to the geek and so on. Basically mismatched bunch who get to know each other better as they are forced to spend time together. But these characters are pantomime caricatures so we have Alfred the Indian computer science geek who speaks like he has come out of an episode of "It Ain't Half Hot Mum" and when he has a conversation with a Chinese teacher the humour from the language confusion as we have gawwery and garrery is painfully misjudged. It is also as painful as some gay stereotypes which are chucked in there when it comes to the gallery owner.

But then there is the pantomime side with the inept criminals who dress up in Christmas fancy dress which of course makes them more inept than ever. But their ineptness is so bad it isn't even funny and I don't think even children would find them funny. But here is the thing as I don't know whether I would want children to watch this anyway due to the offensive stereotypes.

What this all boils down to is that "A Holiday Heist" is bad on so many levels that other than alongside Lacey Chabert and some familiar faces as well as the image quality is good I can't find a good reason as to why you should watch. As such if like me you are a sucker for Christmas movies or Lacey Chabert be warned as you could end up seriously disappointed and even offended.

Tags: Christmas Movies


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