Christmas Every Day (1996) Robert Hays, Bess Armstrong, Erik von Detten, Yvonne Zima Movie Review

Christmas Every Day (1996)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Erik von Detten and Robert Hays in Christmas Every Day (1996)

Billy Feels Like a Murray

Billy (Erik von Detten) is on a real downer; he hates basketball because he can't shoot, he hates Christmas because he has to help out at his dad's shop and star in the Christmas pageant and he also tells his sister that Santa doesn't exist. And to add to his misery his wealthy uncle and his brash family have shown up and are behind a new Mall being built which will put his dad out of business. So what else could make Billy's life any worse when he is already suffering a distinct lack of Christmas spirit; well his sister wishes it could be Christmas every day and somehow it comes true.

So yes "Christmas Every Day" is not only another made for TV Christmas movie but another which reworks the "Groundhog Day" theme. But before I get to that reworking of "Groundhog Day" there is the set up and it is one of those typically forced in style set ups from Billy not being good at sports and being humiliated in front of the girl he fancies to his filthy rich uncle showing up and chucking money about all the time. Now admittedly this set up did little for me but when you consider the target market for "Christmas Every Day" is families then its forced styling kind of works ot at least for the children in those families.

But then we get the reworking of "Groundhog Day" with Billy living in Christmas hell as he has to relive Christmas Day again and again which goes from suffering the humiliation again as well as causing trouble at the Christmas pageant. Now anyone who knows their movies will know what happens next as initially Billy is angry, he then takes advantage of the situation for himself and then as he realises there is more to life than what he wants he starts trying to do good for others. I could go on but you know how this sort of movie plays out.

What this all boils down to is that "Christmas Every Day" is okay, it is an amusing distraction if you are looking for something for the entire family to watch at Christmas. But with its forced style and reworking of the "Groundhog Day" theme it only ends up incredibly familiar.

Tags: TV Christmas Movies, Christmas Movies


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