''Cup of Cheer'' is a Canadian comedy Christmas film, directed by Jake Horowitz and released in 2020. A parody of the

Hallmark Channel The Hallmark Channel is an American television channel owned by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., which in turn is owned by Hallmark Cards, Inc. The channel's programming is primarily targeted at families, and features a mix of television movies and ...

lineup of romantic Christmas

television movies Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, e ...

, the film stars Storm Steenson as Mary, a journalist who returns to her hometown of Snowy Heights to write a story about smalltown Christmas cheer, only to meet and fall in love with Chris, the owner of a hot chocolate shop at risk of failing due to the impending launch of a corporate chain competitor next door.Chris Knight
"Cup of Cheer is a naughty Christmas comedy, and that's nice"
''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

'', November 5, 2020. The cast also includes Liam Marshall as Chris's brother Keith; Jacob Hogan as Arthur, a British time traveller who insists that everybody must pronounce his name Authuh; and Helly Chester as town busybody Mrs. Clovenwitch.Jonathan W. Hickman
"Cup of Cheer: Christmas spoof is profane throwback"
''

Newnan Times-Herald The ''Newnan Times-Herald'', locally known as ''The Times-Herald'', is a newspaper published in Newnan, Georgia. History The paper was founded in 1865, which makes it the oldest news organization in Newnan and Coweta County, Georgia. It is a ...

'', November 6, 2020. The film's broad humour, and parody of genre tropes, have been compared by critics to ''

Airplane! ''Airplane!'' (alternatively titled ''Flying High!'') is a 1980 American parody film written and directed by the brothers David and Jerry Zucker, and Jim Abrahams in their directorial debuts, and produced by Jon Davison. It stars Robert Hay ...

'', ''

The Naked Gun ''The Naked Gun'' media franchise, also known as ''Police Squad!'', consists of several American crime spoof-comedies, based on an original story written by the comedy filmmaking trio Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker. The installments include one ...

'' and the ''

Scary Movie ''Scary Movie'' is a 2000 American slasher parody film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans and written by Marlon and Shawn Wayans (who both also star), alongside Buddy Johnson, Phil Beauman, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. Starring Anna Far ...

'' series.

Production and distribution

The film was shot primarily in

Orillia Orillia is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is in Simcoe County between Lake Couchiching and Lake Simcoe. Although it is geographically located within Simcoe County, the city is a single-tier municipality. It is part of the Huronia region of Cent ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

in early 2020, and was acquired for distribution by IndieCan Entertainment. With

social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious disea ...

protocols still in place at movie theatres due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the film had its theatrical premiere on November 5 at the 5 Drive-In in Oakville, as the first half of a double bill with the 2003 Christmas comedy film ''

Bad Santa ''Bad Santa'' is a 2003 American Christmas black comedy film directed by Terry Zwigoff and written by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa. It stars Billy Bob Thornton, with a supporting cast of Tony Cox, Lauren Graham, Brett Kelly, Lauren Tom, John ...

''. It was screened for the next three days at the Sunset Barrie Drive-In in Oro-Medonte between Orillia and

Barrie Barrie is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay, the western arm of Lake Simcoe. Although physically in Simcoe County, Barrie is politically i ...

, again as a double-bill with ''Bad Santa'', and was commercially distributed in the rest of North America with a two-week free screening period on

Tubi Tubi is an American over-the-top content platform and ad-supported streaming service owned by Fox Corporation. The service was launched on April 1, 2014, and is based in Los Angeles, California. In January 2021, Tubi reached 33 million monthly ...

Reception

Going by review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of with an average rating of from critics, based on reviews. Chris Knight of

Postmedia Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (also known as Postmedia Network, Postmedia News or Postmedia) is a Canadian media conglomerate consisting of the publishing properties of the former Canwest, with primary operations in newspaper publishing, news ...

rated the film four stars out of five, writing that "In the spirit of spoofs (and of Christmas!) Horowitz packs his movie with all manner of silly humour, from running gags to blink-and-miss-it background wackiness, and leaps of illogic. It’s also the first movie I’ve seen make comedic hay of the 1944 Morgenthau Plan for post-war German disarmament." He ultimately concluded that the film would be best appreciated by people who enjoy Hallmark Christmas films in principle, but need an irreverent break from them and want to spend some time with "the holiday equivalent of a tipsy relative telling off-colour jokes after dinner". For

CTV News CTV News is the news division of the CTV Television Network in Canada. The name ''CTV News'' is also applied as the title of local and regional newscasts on the network's owned-and-operated stations (O&Os), which are closely tied to the national ...

Richard Crouse Richard Crouse (born May 26, 1963) is a Canadian film critic for CTV News Channel and CP24. Life and career He was the film critic for ''Canada AM'' from 2005 until the show's cancellation in 2016. He hosted ''In Short'' on Bravo, was the host ...

rated the film three stars, opining that "Essentially ''Cup of Cheer'' is a series of bad puns strung together with tinsel. Its commitment to Christmas clichés, wordplay and double entendre gags is truly remarkable but Jake Horowitz, director and co-writer (with Andy Lewis), keeps things lively with quick pacing. If you care for a joke, don’t worry, there will be another one in ten seconds. Don’t be a Grinch. It’s a dizzying onslaught well delivered by a game cast. ''Cup of Cheer'' feels like a sketch blown up to feature length and may be best enjoyed after a glass or two of your own cup of cheer of choice (unless you’re going to the drive in!)."Richard Crouse
"CTV NEWS AT 11:30: MORE MOVIES AND TV SHOWS TO STREAM THIS WEEKEND!"

CTV News Toronto CFTO-DT (channel 9) is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside Barrie-based CTV 2 outlet CKVR-DT, channel 3 ...

, November 8, 2020.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 11650404 2020 films 2020 comedy films Canadian Christmas comedy films English-language Canadian films Films shot in Ontario 2020s parody films 2020s English-language films 2020s Canadian films

Production and distribution

Reception

See also

References

External links