Un Noël à El Camino

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.

Whether you think El Camino Christmas is a good film or not may depend on your expectations. Objectively, it's a long way from being a classic (Christmas or otherwise), but if you're looking for an easy watch with a bit of fun sprinkled in, then this film will fit the bill.

Luke Grimes is decent in the lead role, and the rest of the cast also put in a good shift. The action moves along at a healthy pace, and clocking in at just under 90 minutes it doesn't outstay its welcome.

The storyline is a classic "how did we get here?" tale, with one unfortunate incident leading to another. Only in the last half hour does it venture from the just-about plausible to the faintly ridiculous.

El Camino Christmas isn't a film that will change your life, but there's a good chance you'll finish watching it with a smile on your face.

Could have been better and only ironicly funny. Good premise for the story and good cast a bit wasted by plot and script.

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).