The Critics Are Wrong. Red One Is Tons of Fun.
The best Christmas movies are wacky and imperfect—kinda like the holidays
The first time I saw the preview for Red One, a buddy action comedy packed with A-list actors searching for a kidnapped Santa Claus, I turned to my 10-year-old and said, “We need to see this movie.”
Sophie nodded in agreement.
Neither Sophie nor I are action movie fans, but we are holiday movie fans, and there's just something so absurd about a film where St. Nicholas of Myra is missing yet the entire cast acts it totally straight.
Take Santa out of the equation, and the trailer would look like a wild action flick.
Seeing how seriously everyone was acting in the trailer, I thought that Red One might be different from its predecessors like Jingle All the Way.
After all, Christmas films often get the TV movie treatment, where everybody overplays their parts in a frivolous manner. That's why it rarely matters if a holiday movie was made for Lifetime, Hallmark, Netflix, or any other streaming channel—they all kind of run together with similar cheesy vibes.
Plus, Christmas action films often revolve around a big holiday heist. Trying to get on the nice list, getting names off the naughty list, or trying to steal a bunch of money. Fake Santas trying to con a town.
Saving Christmas because Santa got kidnapped? It's not exactly Academy Award winning material, but I genuinely felt it would be entertaining, if only for the absurdity of it all.
Earlier this week, David Krumholtz, the actor who played Bernard in the Santa Clause franchise posted that he and his 10-year-old daughter attended the Red One premiere and both LOVED it. He also gave it his Bernard seal of approval as a new Christmas classic.
Since Sophie and I have been excited to see Red One for months, I saved up my AMC rewards and gift card money to make sure we could do it today.
Of course, I also couldn't help myself, so I did peek at some of the critic reviews last night.
Oof. Most of the reviews are terrible.
Critics complained that it's a testosterone- and cheap CGI-riddled slog—a joyless bore. One critic complained that the main villain's motivation was unclear. Multiple critics said the story made no sense, and that the film squandered an awesome cast.
The critics often get it wrong, however. So, I simply went into the movie hoping to have some fun, although I prepared myself to be bored. And do you know what?
We loved it, too. Weren't bored for a minute.
We laughed through most of the movie, but also reveled in a few jump scares.
It's much darker in the middle than the trailer suggested, and it's PG-13, so I probably wouldn't take a child under 10 to see it. Still, it hit the perfect mix of scary, creepy, and heart-warming holiday fun for Sophie. She turned to me, maybe 30 minutes in, and whispered, “This is my favorite Christmas movie!” Once it was over, she repeated the sentiment.
“Best Christmas movie, ever.”
“I wouldn't mind if this was a franchise, with sequels” I agreed.
Why do I think it works, even for us, two females who aren't usually into action films?
Honestly, I think it did something very different from most Christmas movies, something that really worked in its favor. First, they told a brand-new Santa story and created a high tech, almost alien-like North Pole.
Santa, played by J.K. Simmons, was kind and jolly, but also ripped and earnest in a way that I don't think we often see from other St. Nicks. I'd argue that he's also a far more benevolent Santa than we're used to seeing in most Christmas stories.
His part is limited as the kidnapped party who's unconscious for much of the film, but even in those small moments where he's awake, this Santa just radiates compassion and care.
The “elves” also don't look or behave at all like the elves in other Santa stories. I also chuckled a bit at the brief use of trolls in IT.
In Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s first fight scene, his abilities took a wildly unexpected turn. At the start of the film, Santa's right-hand man, Callum Drift (Johnson) is just so tired of seeing the naughty list grow that he can no longer see the good in humans that Santa talks about. And that's relatable, perhaps especially right now.
The film also works because they made lots of unexpected moves. I don't mean that the movie is filled with unseen plot twists, or that there was no predictability. It's just that the balance of predictable moments with unexpected plot points helped keep us on our toes.
During the first big chase, I was mesmerized by the wild Santa village and all of the “special ops” details that went along with it.
It's a very quirky action film that rides right along the edge of a (mostly) family-friendly thriller.
Part of the quirkiness comes from how seriously the actors play their parts, while the film itself does NOT take itself too seriously. That's an interesting balance, and it helps that most of the jokes are delivered deadpan and dry.
The plot is seriously stuffed, but that also works for an action-packed holiday film. The entire time, Jack O'Malley (Chris Evans) acts as the incredulous comic relief who almost can't believe any of this is real.
Say what you like about an overstuffed and sure, often ridiculous plot, but it all works because it invites the audience to relax and simply enjoy the quirky ride. It's a whole lot of fun for anyone who can get past all of the ridiculousness, and it offers plenty of joy for those who can accept that the best Christmases are probably the least perfect ones.
I'm not really sure what to say about the “testosterone” complaints. Yes, the main cast is made up of mostly men. But that doesn't mean it lacks heart. It did a nice job of showing men who care. Yes, even strong men who care.
There's an absent dad storyline that I wasn't prepared for, and I worried a bit as it unfolded how it might affect Sophie, but she's a positive child who seemed to appreciate the message of caring and giving the good your all.
Right now, Red One has an abysmal 33% (rotten) score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Yet the audience score is very different at 88%. Over on CinemaScore, audiences have graded it an A-.
I'd say that means most critics completely missed the point of this movie, and that they went into it with largely out-of-touch expectations.
Movies don't need to be perfect to be good. Holidays don't need to be perfect to be good, either. I can forgive the use of heavy CGI when the overall story takes me on a fun ride. Sophie’s the same way. One of our other favorite Christmas movies is the Grumpy Cat one, which to be fair, is absolutely ridiculous as an actual Lifetime movie. That doesn't make it any less enjoyable, though.
Sometimes, we get in the way of our own joy. That's what I think too many film critics do. And I'm sure many of us do that to ourselves over the holidays, too.
If you have a couple of hours to kill at a movie matinee, there are far worse films to see than Red One. If you let yourself enjoy the ride, I suspect you will.