My youngest son's favorite Christmas movie is Jingle All the Way. I have watched it more times on video than I can recall. He likes it for the superhero parts. I like it for Schwarzenegger's performance as a frustrated father at Christmas.

Arnold plays a work alcoholic father, Howard. To make up for his absences, he asks his son, Jamie, what he wants the most for Christmas. His son excitedly replies that he wants a Turbo Man action figure more than anything. However, on the night before Christmas Eve Howard realizes that he forgot to buy his son a Turbo Man.

On Christmas Eve, Howard ventures into the harried world of retail. His first stop is a toy tore with a huge line waiting for the door to be unlocked. Inside the glass door is a store manager swinging his keys around smiling at the cold shoppers. Hey, he may not have a lot of power in life, but what he does have, he relishes.

Once inside the store, Howard learns that Turbo Man is the hottest toy of the season and that they have been out of stock for days. The sales clerks and some other shoppers literally laugh in his face over his ignorance. After Howard intimidates the sales clerks, one of them tells him that a lady just got one out of layaway. Howard then races another father, a mailman named Myron, (Sinbad) out the door. Howard uses a remote control car to trip the mailman. Howard then looks down at the fallen postal carrier and says; "Poor baby." That became a catch phrase around my house. Whenever my son and I best each other in a wrestling match, one of us will undoubtedly use it on the other.

Anyway. Howard and Myron battle each other all over town trying to get a Turbo Man. Sinbad is great as the insecure mailman. In one scene Myron, who lugs his postal bag filled with mail the entire movie, runs down a street trying to catch up with Howard. To lighten his load he throws out some of the mail as he is running.

Another part has Howard trying to buy a Turbo Man from a shady Santa Claus (Jim Belushi). Howard ends up getting into a fight with a couple dozen Santas and their elves. One particularly large Santa looks menacingly down at Howard and says, "I m gonna deck your halls."

My favorite part of the movie is when Howard is at a mall toy store. The store manager, another one who is enjoying his temporary power, announces that they will have a lottery to decide who will get to buy from their limited supply of Turbo Man. The sales clerks, who were supposed to hand out colored balls, end up just throwing them in the air. Howard, Myron and dozens of other people leap into the air and go scrambling to get a ball. As this is going on, the soundtrack plays Johnny Mathis singing, "It's the most wonderful time of year..." How often in a movie does the soundtrack provide the punch line?

While Howard is going through shopping hell, his wife is at home fending off the advances of her single father neighbor, Ted (Phil Hartman). All of the single women in the area want Ted, but he only has eyes for Howard's wife.

Where as Howard forgot the Turbo Man, Ted remembers everything. He already bought his son a Turbo Man. Much to Howard's dismay, Ted puts Christmas lights on Howard's house. Ted even brings a live reindeer home for the neighborhood kids to enjoy. To which Howard sarcastically says, "You think of everything." Later the reindeer and Howard do battle as Howard tries to steal the Turbo Man from underneath Ted's Christmas tree.

The end of the movie has Howard dressed like Turbo Man in a parade. It definitely goes over the top. With the costume on, Howard actually has super powers. It is not a long scene and it ends on a good note.

Jingle All the Way is a great Christmas movie. It demonstrates the absurdities of contemporary shopping. Christmas is a joyful time of the year, just as long as you don't have to shop or work in a store.

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