''I'll Be Home for Christmas'' is a 1998 American

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Arlene Sanford Arlene Sanford is an American film and television director. Sanford has directed for several notable television series and several motion picture and television films which include ''A Very Brady Sequel'' (1996), '' I'll Be Home for Christmas ...

. The plot follows a college student who must make it from his campus in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

to his family's home in

Larchmont, New York Larchmont is a village located within the Town of Mamaroneck in Westchester County, New York, approximately northeast of Midtown Manhattan. The population of the village was 5,864 at the 2010 census. In February 2019, Bloomberg ranked Lar ...

in time for Christmas dinner in order to win his father's

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The company ...

. It stars

Jonathan Taylor Thomas Jonathan Taylor Thomas (born Jonathan Taylor Weiss; September 8, 1981) is an American actor and director. He is known for portraying Randy Taylor on ''Home Improvement'' and voicing young Simba in Disney's 1994 film ''The Lion King'' and Pinocch ...

Jessica Biel Jessica Claire Timberlake (née Biel ; born March 3, 1982) is an American actress and model. She has received various accolades, including a Young Artist Award, and nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awards. Biel b ...

Adam LaVorgna Adam Lavorgna (born March 1, 1981) is an American actor, known for his role on the television series ''Brooklyn Bridge'', and in the films '' Milk Money'', '' The Beautician and the Beast'', and ''I'll Be Home for Christmas'', and as Robbie Palme ...

Sean O'Bryan Sean Michael O'Bryan (born September 10, 1963) is an American film and television actor from Louisville, Kentucky. He attended and graduated from St. Xavier High School. Career He co-starred with William Ragsdale on the series '' Brother ...

and

Gary Cole Gary Michael Cole (born September 20, 1956) is an American television, film and voice actor. Cole began his professional acting career on stage at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1985. On television, he has had starring roles in the ...

and was released on November 13, 1998.

Plot

College student Jake Wilkinson attends tertiary studies in a prestigious

college but has not been home to

for any holidays following his biological mother's death and his father's remarriage 10 months later. A few days before

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...

, his father, learning that Jake has traded in his airline ticket to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

for two tickets to

Cabo San Lucas Cabo San Lucas (, " Saint Luke Cape"), or simply just Cabo, is a resort city at the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula, in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. As at the 2020 Census, the population of the city was 202,694 inhab ...

, offers to give him his vintage 1957

Porsche 356 The Porsche 356 is a sports car that was first produced by Austrian company Porsche Salzburg, Porsche Konstruktionen GesmbH (1948–1949), and then by German company Porsche, Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH (1950–1965). It was Porsche's first ...

if he arrives to their home by 6:00 PM on Christmas Eve for Christmas dinner. Jake's girlfriend Allie, who was against the trip to Cabo, agrees to ride with him to Larchmont, where her own family also lives. Jake helps a trio of jocks cheat on their midterm exam, but their comrade, Eddie Taffet, who is Jake's nemesis and rival for Allie's affections, sabotages the scheme. Eddie and the jocks leave Jake in the desert with a

Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnigh ...

suit, hat, and beard glued to his body. While Jake is stuck in the California desert with no way to contact Allie, she reluctantly decides to ride to New York with Eddie. Jake has only three days to get to Larchmont if he wants the car. He stumbles upon Nolan, a simple-minded thief who is driving stolen kitchen goods to his dealer near New York. A police officer named Max pulls them over in

Red Cliff, Colorado Red Cliff (sometimes spelled Redcliff) is a statutory town in Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The population was 267 at the 2010 census. The town is a former mining camp situated in the canyon of the upper Eagle River just off U.S. ...

for speeding, but Jake manages to convince him that they're donating the goods to the children's hospital. Max offers to escort them to the hospital, forcing them to give away the stolen goods. Seeing the children inspires Nolan to turn around and head west to see his wife, and Max to try to reunite with his wife Marjorie in

North Platte, Nebraska North Platte is a city in and the county seat of Lincoln County, Nebraska, United States. It is located in the west-central part of the state, along Interstate 80, at the confluence of the North and South Platte Rivers forming the Platte River. T ...

. Max asks Jake to accompany him, reasoning that his wife will listen to Santa. Jake, with the help of a traveling band, gets Marjorie to take Max back, and a grateful Max buys Jake a bus ticket to New York. Meanwhile, Allie and Eddie grow closer. Allie convinces Eddie to stay the night at a novelty hotel in a Bavarian village, the Edelbruck in Amana, Iowa. They are caught on TV underneath a sprig of

mistletoe Mistletoe is the common name for obligate hemiparasitic plants in the order Santalales. They are attached to their host tree or shrub by a structure called the haustorium, through which they extract water and nutrients from the host plant. ...

. Jake sees them kiss while he's waiting at the bus station in

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

and develops a scheme to convince the bus driver to drop him off at the Bavarian village. Allie explains the misunderstanding to Jake and they make up, until Jake mentions his deal with his father. Upset that Jake cares more about the car than about her, Allie storms out and takes Jake's seat on the bus. Jake hitches a ride with Eddie until the latter is suddenly driven by jealousy and decides to throw Jake out of his car near a

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

town. Reaching the town, Jake decides to enter a

race for a chance to win the $1,000 prize to buy an airline ticket to New York. Eddie is arrested after insulting (and possibly doing more to) two police officers dressed as

Christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas. The custom was further developed in early modern ...

s patrolling the race. While registering for the race, Jake meets a friendly local named Jeff Wilson, whom he barely beats in the race. But en route to the airport, the taxi driver informs Jake that Jeff is actually the mayor of the town; he usually wins the race every year and uses the prize money to buy food for the impoverished. Jake feels bad and gives the money to the Mayor. Jake talks to his sister, who arranges for an airline ticket for him from

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th ...

. A staff for his intended airline doesn't allow Jake board because he has no photographic identification, so he stows away in a dog kennel on a cargo aircraft with a large dog named Ringo. From the airport he hides on a train, tries to hitch a ride in a car, then steals a one-horse open sleigh from the local parade. When he reaches his street, he apologizes to Allie and they make up. Jake rides the sleigh home, arrives at 5:59 PM, and intentionally waits until 6:00 PM to go inside so he isn't in time to get the Porsche. When his father offers it to him anyway, he refuses. He also finally accepts his stepmother. The Wilkinsons and Allie get into the sleigh just as the parade arrives and join the procession.

Cast

as Jake Wilkinson *

as Allie Henderson *

as Eddie Taffet *

as Officer Max *

as Mr. Wilkinson *

Eve Gordon } Eve Gordon (also known as Eve Bennett-Gordon) is an American actress. Her television roles include playing Marilyn Monroe in the Emmy Award-winning miniseries '' A Woman Named Jackie'', Congressional aide Jordan Miller in the short-lived si ...

as Carolyn Wilkinson *

Lauren Maltby Lauren may be a given name or surname.The name's meaning may be "laurel tree", "sweet of honor", or "wisdom". It is derived from the French name Laurence, a feminine version of Laurent, which is in turn derived from the Roman surname Laurentius. ...

as Tracey Wilkinson *

Andrew Lauer Andrew Michael Lauer (born June 19, 1965) (also known as ''Andy Lauer'') is an American feature and documentary filmmaker, actor, and social activist. Lauer is the Founder President & CEO of ReelAid, a non-profit organization made up of filmmake ...

as Nolan * Lesley Boone as Marjorie

Production

In August of 1997, it was announced

was in final talks to star in a Christmas comedy film then titled ''I Won’t Be Home For Christmas''. While the script was positioned as a vehicle for a “twentysomething” actor, Disney had the script re-written as a vehicle for Thomas as a “a Ferris Bueller-type prepschool upperclassman”.

Release

Box office

''I'll Be Home for Christmas'' made $3.9 million in its opening weekend, finishing at 6th at the box office. At the end of its run, the film grossed $12 million, against its $30 million budget, making it a

box office bomb A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...

Critical reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

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 Wan ...

, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critical consensus says that "Neither parent nor child will find any merriment in this mess." Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave the film 1 star and described the film as '' Pleasantville'' made from "anti-matter", saying the film is about "People who seem to be removed from a '50's sit-com so they can spread cliches, ancient jokes, dumb plotting and empty cheerful sanitized gimmicks into our world and time."

Christopher Null Christopher Null is an American writer, film critic, and columnist. A former blogger for Yahoo! Tech, he was the editor of Drinkhacker.com, and the founder and editor-in-chief of Filmcritic.com, which operated from 1995 to 2012. In 2003, CNN cal ...

called the film "surprisingly engaging" and gave it 3 out of 5 stars.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:I'll Be Home For Christmas 1998 films 1990s comedy road movies American comedy road movies American Christmas comedy films Walt Disney Pictures films Films directed by Arlene Sanford Films shot in British Columbia Films shot in Alberta Mandeville Films films Films scored by John Debney 1990s Christmas comedy films 1998 comedy films 1990s English-language films Films produced by David Hoberman 1990s American films English-language Christmas comedy films