12/8-A Very Sunny Christmas (2009)

I know what you're thinking.  "Really, Ben? A day after watching the already-questionable made-for-TV movie, you watch what's essentially an extended episode of TV?"  Well, two things.  Number one, I mentioned in 12 Dates of Christmas about what a staple of the holiday season TV Christmas specials are.  And number two, this was released direct to DVD a year before it aired on TV, so it's basically a real movie, just half the length.  But within those 45 minutes, there's every bit as much Christmas cheer as any full-length movie.  Maybe even more so.

In short, A Very Sunny Christmas explores the Christmas traditions of the gang, and we see that most of their childhoods seem to explain parts of their character.

The plot is separated into two storylines; Mac and Charlie get back to their roots, but realize that their idyllic Christmas memories are not so perfect, and on the other side of things, Dennis and Dee try to get back at Frank using a Christmas Carol type haunting, but of course nothing goes right.

In the opening scene, we see Mac and Charlie putting up decorations on Christmas eve, because their tradition every year is to drink to much egg nog, pass out, then put everything up at the last minute.  Dennis an Dee on the other hand, hate Christmas because Frank would also do what he called "fake outs" on them, which included either wrapped, empty boxes or buying himself the presents the kids wanted.  This comes to its ultimate culmination at the beginning of this special when Frank pulls up to the bar in a Lamborghini Countach with some fancy designer bag, Dennis and Dee's respective dream gifts.

Matching leather race suit and all

Again, Frank does this to rub his wealth in his kids' faces, insisting that nothing in life is free or will be given to you, you have to work for it.  This, of course, comes from a man who made his fortune by stealing from his business partner, whom he thinks is dead.  Dennis and Dee use that fact to organize their Christmas Carol ploy, with the presumed dead partner as their ghost of Christmas past.  Of course Frank has no scruples, so none of their emotional pandering do anything to change his mind.

On the other side of things, Mac relives an early Christmas through an old home video he finds.  You see, he loved the south Philly tradition of every Christmas, you'd go house to house, taking one present from each home and then the next family would come in.  As it turns out, this is not a neighborhood tradition, it's more of a tradition only done by criminals.  Yes, they were simply stealing from the other homes.

Shaken by this realization, they head to Charlie's mom's house to really get the spirit back.  Here, they are greeted with cookies and music.  Charlie even mentions his excitement for the Santas to come.  As in more than one.  When Mac asks him to elaborate, Charlie explains that when he was young, a parade of Santas would come to his house, each bringing a gift and then visiting with his mom to cheer her up.  But as Mac quickly points out, "I think your mom was a whore; I think she banged all those Santas so you could get presents."  This leads to a truly magical scene that can unfortunately can only be found online from someone filming their TV, so the quality is not up to the same standards as the scene itself.

In addition, the special also includes a scene in that classic holiday special claymation, which I know is not actually clay, but easier than saying weird polymer-mation.  Anyway, there's a lot to like in this special, even if you are mostly just reminded at how horrible these people are.  And because of that, it makes this one a tricky video to rate.  On one hand, it's not particularly heart-warming from a sentimentalist's standpoint.  On the other hand, laughter is the best medicine and this jabroni is hilarious.  So in a first for this blog, I will actually give it two ratings!

Rating on the feel-good-o-meter: 3 out of 10 hugs, 8 out of 10 laughs