Santa in a Small Town
There is little cheer in the life of Sheriff Rick Langston (Dean Cain) as he lives in a town where the biggest crime is a drunk being disorderly or kids throwing snowballs at unsuspecting passers by making it tedious. Then there is his ex wife who can't stand him and always argues when he is around whilst he barely gets to see his daughter and has to rely on watching old home movies of her. But then on Christmas eve he finds himself dealing with an intruder in his own home who claims to be none other than Santa. Stunned this mysterious intruder causes Rick to think his views on life and his openly negative feelings towards Christmas.
Maybe I am becoming the reverse of what this movie is about but long before it had reached the half way mark it not only started to lose me but was making me feel like a bit of a grinch. Maybe it was the awkwardness of it all as "Small Town Santa" has a feel about it which screamed tight budget, small town actors and a lot of first take movie making. But then there is this story which is sort of like a play on "A Christmas Carol" with a few events making Sheriff Rick more miserable but then Santa causing him to re-evaluate his life.
The thing is that whilst "Small Town Santa" could have been good it seems to suffer from a lot of random ideas for scenes and subplots which make it feel incredibly messy. The upshot of this is that "Small Town Santa" starts rely over heavily on Dean Cain and his charm to keep you watching but unfortunately there is only so much Cain can do with such a random plot.
What this all boils down to is that "Small Town Santa" really didn't do it for me and this is one movie which ends up almost a series of misfires.
Tags: Santa Claus, Christmas Movies
