Ernest Saves Christmas

He's back! And this time...

MPAA Rating: PG

IMDB Rating: 4.9 / 10

Length: 95 min

Tags: comedy, family, fantasy

Director: John R. Cherry III
Writers:

Cast:

Ernest P. Worrell
(Jim Varney)
Santa
(Douglas Seale)
Chuck
(Oliver Clark)
Bobby
(Noelle Parker)
Joe Carruthers
(Oliver Clark)
Harmony (as Noëlle Parker)
(Noelle Parker)
Mary Morrissey
(Billie Bird)
Marty
(Robert Lesser)
Immigration Agent
(Key Howard)
Businessman
(Jack Swanson)
Pyramus
(Buddy Douglas)
Thisbe
(Patty Maloney)
Agent Skippy
(Beecher Martin)
Cab Passenger
(Barry Brazell)
Mr. Dillis
(George Kaplan)

Editor Review

Once again, Jim Varney is Ernest P. Worrell, who is our bumbling, but well-meaning lead who drives a taxi in Orlando, Florida. The peculiar plot begins with an ageing man claiming to be Santa Claus seeking a local celebrity, Joe Carruthers, who has been chosen as his successor. Things quickly go awry, however, when Carruthers' agent begins to meddle, and Santa's mind goes wandering. It's up to Ernest to find a successor if he wants Christmas to continue as normal.

The character began as a promotional tool, advertising such national products as Coca-Cola's Sprite, TaB and Mello Yello, before getting a television series "Hey Vern, It's Ernest!", and then his span of fourteen films starring Varney in the role of Ernest. Many of these were direct-to-video releases, but Ernest Saves Christmas was a big break.

There are as many pure comedy moments focussed on Santa Claus as there are on Ernest, such as his orchestrating a full-scale sing-along with convicts in his prison cell. And they say fingerprints are like snowflakes; each one is unique, but Santa goes one further and has snowflake shapes in his fingerprints. Ernest isn't outdone, however, with a get up as a crazed snake handler, attempts to fly Santa's sleigh up and over a travelling aeroplane, and of course the all-too-familiar catchphrase "KnowhutImean?" crops up to help us on our merry way.

I never embraced the Ernest franchise as a child, perhaps by chance, perhaps by the sight of Ernest's face, although I did cross paths with him in the 1993 class comedy The Beverly Hillbillies as Jed Clampett. Now that I'm familiar with the character he doesn't seem too far away from an over the top Farrelly Brothers character, such as Lloyd Christmas from Dumb and Dumber, albeit a more crudely drawn version. Maybe a little plainer drawn, but if you learn to accept Ernest as he is, he can be likeable in his strange, clumsy way.

Then again, times were different in the late eighties and production values were of a different standard. That said, the film managed to reel in five times its budget in the box office, and nostalgia helps keep love for the film alive.

Fun Fact:

During filming, production ran into trouble when the reindeer began to shed their antlers, so replacement antlers had to be obtained.

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