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Chris Carver loves hand-carving his own Christmas decorations and aims to win his neighborhood competition for the best-decorated yard, which comes with the $100,000 grand prize. Unfortunately, Chris gets fired from his job days before Christmas and is determined to win, his greed driving him into an accidental devil’s bargain with an evil elf during purchases for fancy festive ornaments at a blindingly sparkly pop-up shop. It probably sounds a bit bizarre when someone writes down the plot like that, and the 2023 Christmas comedy “Candy Cane Lane” starring Eddie Murphy is quite weird, wacky and funny in parts.
Directed by Reginald Hudlin and written by Kelly Younger, “Candy Cane Lane” is driven by its fun cast, rather than the script because the plot isn’t able to convey the Christmas spirit of ‘caring & sharing’ like it intends to. Eddie Murphy is surprisingly measured in his performance as super-dad Chris Carver, who wants to do everything by himself and tries to hide the fact that he got fired from his kids because he doesn’t want to “ruin Christmas”. Madison Thomas plays Chris’ youngest kid, Holly Carver, and the two of them set out to buy ornaments to make their yard stand-out, when they discover a gorgeous shop run by a woman called Pepper (Jillian Bell). Chris buys a whole bunch of things from Pepper, including a giant spectacular Christmas tree, and when the large bill comes, he signs it without realizing it’s an agreement to become Pepper’s slave if he doesn’t complete a certain task set by her before a set time.
Jillian Bell is goofily malevolent as Pepper, her mischievous demeanor slightly reminiscent of the Sanderson witches from ‘Hocus Pocus’, a holiday classic. The plot also involves talking porcelain dolls, giving “Candy Cane Lane” a “Toy Story” like twist and the special effects for the animated dolls was pretty good. Chris Redd lends his voice to Lamplighter Gary, a feisty little doll who is always causing trouble and flirting with the ladies, not even sparing Chris’ wife, Carol Carver (Tracee Ellis Ross). Which brings one to the fact that “Candy Cane Lane” isn’t exactly very family-friendly and has a few jokes laced with sexual innuendos that aren’t even very funny and could’ve been knocked out of the script. For example, right at the beginning of the film, Chris has a conversation with his neighbor who decorates his yards with inflatable dolls, where the neighbor jokes about how his entire family likes to blow.
The cinematography is bright, colorful, rife with Christmas shades and sparkles, although some of the decor does get a little too tacky and loud. While the first-half of the film is well-paced, fun and comedic, the plot becomes slow, chaotic and stretched out in the second half. And sometimes, just one gross joke is enough to ruin the whole movie experience, and for me, it was this really creepy gag about a woman milking a cow that was just disturbing and inappropriate instead of being funny. With a 2-hour runtime, “Candy Cane Lane” gets too long for a fun Christmas comedy and could’ve trimmed its runtime by 20 minutes at least.
Madison Thomas as Holly Carver is the sweetest thing about this film. She is like a cute little elf who is always helping her dad and has a curious, sharp mind, and a kind heart. Candy Cane Lane” incorporates some traditional Christmas themes such as the importance of family unity, helping one another, and appreciating your neighbors. However, the film is densely populated with numerous characters and gags, preventing any single theme from truly shining through. Unfortunately, it fails to strike an emotional chord with the viewer. Nevertheless, it serves as a decent one-time watch, especially if you’re on the lookout for new Christmas comedies.
Rating: 5 on 10. Stream Candy Cane Lane on Prime Video.
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