Ernest Saves Christmas (1988) Jim Varney, Douglas Seale, Oliver Clark, Noelle Parker Movie Review

Ernest Saves Christmas (1988)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Jim Varney in Ernest Saves Christmas (1988)

You've Got to Love Ernest

Old Saint Nick (Douglas Seale) knows it is time to find himself a successor to the red suit and sleigh so flies to New York to track down Joe Carruthers (Oliver Clark) a children's entertainer with a good heart. Fortunately for the jolly fellow Ernest (Jim Varney), the Christmas loving, eccentric cabbie picks him up and takes him to where he is going. But things don't go to plan as Santa's sack is accidentally left in Ernest's cab whilst Santa ends up in the slammer.

I saw a review somewhere which was titled "You've Got to Love Ernest" and it was clearly written by someone who was a huge Ernest fan who believed that everyone should love Ernest. Well to steal the title I agree "You've Got to Love Ernest" when you watch "Ernest Saves Christmas" as unless you are a huge fan you will find the fun quickly running thin with the majority of the movie relying on the clowning around of Jim Varney as Ernest. In truth it is what you expect and if it wasn't dominated by the silly voiced, rubber faced antics of Varney then his fans would feel short changed.

So what happens if you take Varney out of the equation? Well what you have left with is a weak storyline surrounding Santa trying to find his replacement leading to a spot of bother when confusion abounds over who he is. And on top of that there is a subplot surrounding the young Harmoney who tries to use Santa's sack. But none of this is that entertaining and certainly nowhere near enough for those who are not major Ernest fans.

What this all boils down to is that "Ernest Saves Christmas" probably still entertains that crowd who grew up watching the whacky escapades of Jim Varney as Ernest. But for anyone else "Ernest Saves Christmas" offers up little and what little there is feels repetitive.

Tags: Santa Claus, Christmas Movies


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