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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>A friend called me to mention the new Kirk Cameron effort “Saving Christmas.” The film has ties to Moscow because the director, Darren Doake and one of his associates who I believe self identifies as <a href="https://twitter.com/chocolate_knox">Chocolate Knox</a>, have recently moved here. (Their families accompanied them as well.) Apparently there are strong religious ties and philosophical ties with local <a href="http://dougwils.com/?s=saving+christmas&submit=Search">interested parties</a>. I was curious what kind of reviews the film has received – little did I expect to end up howling with laughter over what I found. So, if it’s a slow afternoon at your home as well, check out <a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/kirk_camerons_saving_christmas/">this website</a> which includes reviews by the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times etc. – all of them funny, and none of them recommending it. Doug Wilson may claim that the reviewers are just mean minded anti-Christians, but I’m thinking that is probably not the case. It’s just a pathetic effort. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Rose Huskey<o:p></o:p></p><h3 style='line-height:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>FILM REVIEW<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p style='line-height:12.0pt'><strong><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>‘Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas’</span></strong><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='line-height:12.0pt'><b><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>1 star (out of 4)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p style='line-height:12.0pt'><strong><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>MPAA rating:</span></strong><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> PG for some thematic elements<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='line-height:12.0pt'><strong><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Cast: </span></strong><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Kirk Cameron, Darren Doane, Bridgette Cameron<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='line-height:12.0pt'><strong><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Director: </span></strong><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Darren Doane<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='line-height:12.0pt'><strong><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Run time:</span></strong><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> 80 minutes<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4009460/">Saving Christmas”</a> is not the “war on Christmas” polemic the title implies. Rather, it’s a justification of holiday indulgence hosted by smug quasi-evangelist Kirk Cameron, aimed squarely at the faith-based demographic. That Cameron – executive-producing via his Camfam Studios imprint – does not engage in annoying political debate is to the film’s advantage. He seeks to explain our engagement in holiday traditions such as Santa Claus and Christmas trees from his perspective. Spoiler alert: it’s all about Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>However, Cameron (whose previous theatrical release was 2008's Christian-themed drama "Fireproof") justifies materialism by interpreting the story of Christ’s birth as “the eternal god taking on a material body,” which feels like a slippery slope. The film begins with Cameron, or possibly his insufferable, holier-than-thou “Kirk” character – we can’t be sure – seated in a cozy chair sipping hot chocolate and addressing the camera directly. During a protracted monologue, he says he loves Christmas, because it’s a time to emphasize compassion, but quickly begins soapboxing about how some have put a wet blanket on the annual celebration. “This bickering is not good for our kids,” he says (read: THE CHILDREN? WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN?), and just as we prepare to wrinkle our noses at the mildewing stench of a don’t-say-happy-holidays-say-merry-Christmas rant, the pseudo-fictional narrative begins, and pulls the rug out from under us. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>The “Kirk” character is attending a family Christmas party. His sister’s mansion is bustling with people. Everyone’s happy except his brother-in-law Christian (Darren Doane, who also directs and co-writes the screenplay), a name the film assigns him with a hammer-on-skull sense of irony. He’s a cynical and disenfranchised believer who sees such celebrations as a twisted desecration of the story of Christ’s birth. For example, he worries that indulging in the Santa Claus myth is “elf worship,” something we all have pondered while staring into the inky void of an insomniac night, no doubt.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Kirk puts his arm around Christian and begins proselytizing and telling stories, depicted in cutaway dramatizations. Christmas trees represent the wooden cross of the crucifixion, Kirk says, and Santa is actually St. Nicholas, depicted as a hooded warrior who smited heretics. Christian’s jaw hangs slack. “Now you see Christmas through new eyes!” Kirk declares. Christian runs into the house to join the celebration, Kirk stands in a darkened doorway, backlit so he glows with a halo of light, and they join everyone for a feast worthy of Caligula and an inexplicable hip-hop dance-party sequence that eats up the run time like Jaws to a buffet of skinny-dippers.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>“Saving Christmas” is amateurish on all technical fronts: The acting, writing and direction are barely worthy of public-access television, and it’s all lorded over by the know-it-all Kirk persona, which is one step removed from Jerry Falwell-style televangelism. Bits of awful “comedy” are dropped in via minor characters, including an African-American man whose speech is peppered with Ebonics, veering dangerously close to stereotype. The desperately unfunny dance sequence nicely represents the film as a whole, in that it’s a twisted desecration of how real human beings act.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>The film aims for a specific audience that doesn’t necessarily include all Christians (or me). Some may find Cameron’s persona obnoxious and pushy. Others will look past its professional inadequacies and troublesome implications and deem the overall evangelical message worthy of emphasis. Interpret the film as you will, because that’s absolutely your right – perspective absolutely shapes our storytelling experiences. But keep in mind that Cameron’s preferred tool of engagement is a prybar, applied to your eyelids with an indelicate hand. Questioning his motive and message seems wise.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>