Despite others saying contrary I actually think Arnold Schwarzenegger is not that bad when it comes to comedy with his exaggerated, strained facial expressions that make him look a little constipated as well as a knack of poking fun at his on screen persona of being a big tough guy. It's more a case that he's made some poor decisions when it comes to the comedies he's chosen to appear in, which is most definitely the case when it comes to the one gag marathon, "Jingle All the Way", a movie so lacking in storyline that anyone above the age of 13 will probably find it excessively repetitive and drawn out.

Howard Langston (Arnold Schwarzenegger - Eraser) is a very busy mattress salesman, so busy that he forgets to go and watch his son Jamie's (Jake Lloyd) Karate lesson. Desperate to make it up to his son he learns that Jamie has asked Santa for a Turboman doll, something which he had also forgot and failed to get. Unfortunately it's Christmas Eve and with Turboman being the must buy toy all the stores are sold out. So Howard must search all over town to find one competing with all those other parents who have left it too late, especially postman Myron (Sinbad) who is equally as desperate to find a Turboman.

On the simplest level "Jingle All the Way" is entertaining even amusing but suffers for the simple reason that it only has one joke, the desperate antics of two fathers trying to get the present their child wants having left it till the last minute. It's an amusing premise, maybe better suited to a sitcom episode than a full blown movie because it ends up just a repetitive onslaught of the same joke worked into a range of set piece scenes. It's a shame as it is an amusing premise, and the over the top antics of Schwarzenegger as well as Sinbad are indeed mildly entertaining, until you realise that's all there is too the movie.

Saying that there are moments in "Jingle All the Way" that are indeed funny such as Schwarzenegger being attacked by a less than friendly reindeer, except that these moments are few and far between. What we do get is an onslaught of slapstick and madcap antics which will probably amuse a young child but fail to deliver anything in the least bit entertaining for any adults.

It's sad really that a movie which does show a sort of glimpse of the commercialism of Christmas with children demanding a certain gift for Christmas, the insane marketing of the toy as well as acknowledging the state of modern family life where the father is too busy working that it ends up being just a slapstick farce. This could have turned into a clever and witty look at modern Christmas rather than the one joke wonder it ended up as.

As performances go well as already said I like Schwarzenegger in comedies and here again he happily pokes fun at himself with his ineptness, it's just he suffers because of the repetitive nature of the movie. The same can be said for Sinbad, who whilst was never one of my favourite comedians suffers because of the one joke humour. Strangely the characters although completely different due to their back grounds come across as being indistinguishable because they end up the same, two frantic dads willing to do anything to get the present.

As for supporting performances, well they are just that, supporting and fall into the background. Rita Wilson is underused as Liz Langston and Jake Lloyd comes over as quite an annoying brat as the son Jamie, or that may be because the movie lacks so much that he comes over this way.

What this all boils down to is that "Jingle All the Way" is slightly amusing, but it's also repetitive because it uses the same old joke over and over again. I am sure young children will find the slapstick and face pulling good fun but other than that it has very little too offer especially to any adults who end up suffering the repetitiveness of it all.