The Real St. Nick (2012) starring Torrey DeVitto, Callard Harris, Matt Felker, Kenneth Choi, Roma Maffia, Alix Elizabeth Gitter directed by Penelope Spheeris Movie Review

The Real St. Nick (2012)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Callard Harris in The Real St. Nick (2012)

One Flew Over the Christmas Tree

I am in shock as I have just read a collection of reviews about "The Real St. Nick" which think it is worse the movie ever made when in fact it is amusing in a typically corny kind of way. Basically "The Real St. Nick" is another cutesy Christmas movie with good looking people, some utterly daft comedy and of course romance. It isn't amazing and at times feels more like a collection of set pieces but it is easy to watch and those set pieces are fun.

When pretty psychiatrist Kate (Torrey DeVitto) is almost hit by a boulder she is saved by a man dressed in a Santa outfit who ends up being hurt in the process. When he comes to he says his name is Nick Claus (Callard Harris) and is Santa which leads Kate to take him to the hospital where she works, a less than jolly place due to hospital administrator Spaulding Tyler (Matt Felker) who dislikes Christmas because having been born on boxing day Christmas has always over shadowed his special day of the year. But having been admitted to the psychiatric wing Nick's infectious spirit works wonders especially on Kate who starts to fall for him, although she also has an admirer in Spaulding.

Torrey DeVitto in The Real St. Nick (2012)

So as I said "The Real St. Nick" is quite a stereotypical made for TV Christmas movie with lots of cute, lots of daft and little originality. Basically you could sum it up by saying that the mysterious Nick brings joy to the hospital and romance beckons for Kate and Nick as she tries to work out who he really is. There is not much more to it than that and it certainly isn't going to make you think hard about things.

But what "The Real St. Nick" is is a movie of set pieces from Nick and the fellow patients getting up to mischief when they sneak off at night to the cuteness of Nick brightening up the lives of the children who are in the hospital. And it is also about the daftness such as Isabel a patient dressing up as moth girl or Kenneth Choi who plays Jack a patient who thinks he is R.P. McMurphy from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". In fact Choi's performance is one of the movies true highlights and he never fails to brighten up a scene.

Then there is Torrey DeVitto as Kate and Callard Harris as Nick and they certainly conform to the usual good looking people you tend to see in cute made for TV Christmas movies. But in the case of Harris he is also quite amusing as Nick and certainly has an infectious spirit which is why the movie works.

What this all boils down to is that "The Real St. Nick" is nothing more than a typically cute made for TV Christmas movie. It isn't great but it is amusing with plenty of fun set pieces.

Tags: TV Christmas Movies, Christmas Movies


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