El Camino Christmas

9 December 2017. Definitely not what the comedic trailer suggests. This drama thriller is much more dark and gets darker as the movie proceeds to its predictable ending. Those expecting a Christmas romance comedy will be in for a shock. Instead this is a movie about a young man in search for his father after his mom passes away and he discovers letters written from his father. What he discovers is a questionable small town with some questionable law enforcement officers, a pretty single mother with a mute son and whose mother's mother is questionable as well. There's a number of characters to dislike in this movie as it swerves from comedy to drama towards an attempt at action thrills and a soft landing. Too bad the movie didn't take itself more seriously, it would have been a much better show.

It's a comedy, a tragedy, with a small touch of romance, and thank goodness it's not a try-hard film that tries to go too far. The producers knew their audience, and knew them well. Clearly a low-budget film designed to tell a simple story in 90 minutes. Well done.

Dax Shepard played the best dumb cop I've ever seen for this type of R-rated content...he isn't an "idiot," nor is he a Barney-Five. He's just a normal dude, trying to do the right thing, that stumbles, and it's funny because it feels actually realistic, as in, police departments probably do have this type of guy.

It was fun to see Kurtwood Smith, for all you "That's 70's Show" fans. He's the tough Sheriff that, too, is trying to do the right thing, but, dag nab it, just is struggling to have a competent force in a small town...and it's funny, because again, you can sense that this type of incompetence exists out there.

Then you have Vincent D'Onofrio, known best for "Full Metal Jacket," and he comes out perfect in this film as just a low-life cop, whose only pleasure in life remaining is to watch other people become more miserable than him. He is pivotal in to the story and again, the writers kept him simple, nothing overdone, and he plays his role BELIEVABLY. Man, I always appreciate good writing. Kudos to Melfi and Wehner for not playing to any political crowd, but just creating dang good art.

Lastly, among the key dudes to the story, you have Tim Allen and Luke Grimes. It's a good pair. It was quite strange to see Allen in this type of role, but he gave it his all...sometimes out of place, but believable, still. Luke...yea, he was good. Real good. Very well casted.

Some of the best comedy came out of Jimmy Yang ("Silicon Valley") and Jessica Alba...they were the perfect pair for the comedic relief you needed at times. I'm excited to see what Jimmy Yang will be pulling off in the future, he's dang good and landing hilarious comedic lines. They never feel forced. In the movie, they play as the rookie reporters...and playing into that role hilariously.

The side story of single mother and potentially autistic son added to the tension, and even romance, which kept things interesting. And seeing good old Emilio Rivera ("Sons of Anarchy") playing the tough but cool and collected guy was fantastic.

Can we not appreciate simple, low-budget, great acted films anymore? Indy films are like this, and they are some of the greats. There was scarcely any CGI, heavy explosions, etc...this move REQUIRED on-point acting, and I was extremely impressed. Not your typical Christmas film, yet I'll be recommending this each year for people looking for something to enjoy, something that's different from the norm.

While the storyline told in this movie was rather predictable and very straight forward, actually to the point of being generic, then it still turned out to be a rather entertaining movie.

And that was because of the characters in the movie, because they were nicely fleshed out, and they had cast some very nice actors and actresses for perform the various roles and characters in the movie. and there was a good on-screen chemistry between them.

It was especially nice to see Tim Allen in a role such as the one he had in this movie, because he nailed it with his performance.

This was a nice surprise of a movie, because I had no expectations to it when I happened to come across it on Netflix, definitely worth a watch.

If you enjoy offbeat movies then "El Camino Christmas" is a movie for you, no doubt about it.

This isn't your average movie. It's almost chaotic as a rather bizarre set of circumstances spins out of control. There's lots of breaks with reality, otherwise I'd rated this movie higher. Still it's an entertaining movie worth watching. No big surprises as you can see all the plot twists coming a mile away, but that doesn't detract from the humor or the way the plot develops.

Will it win an Oscar or an Emmy? Heck no. Was it fun to watch? Yeah it was.

Kudos to Netflix for making this. Tim Allen really shined and it was great to see Kurtwood Smith also. It was a good time-occupier, had a good ending. Cinematography? Script? Sound? whatever, it was fun and well cast.

Hope Netflix can keep producing things like this and "Godless". You gotta swing the bat to make a hit and "El Camino Christmas" was a solid single (while Godless was a stand up double, maybe a slide-in triple).