CANDY CANE LANE is a light, pleasant little holiday treat, much like the candy its name suggests. The family comedy takes place on one of those streets nearly every town has, the one where neighbors out-do each other with the decorations, competing for the neighborhood honor of being named the annual winner. This story centers on one of those suburban families, headed by dad Chris Carver (Eddie Murphy). Chris Carver does indeed carve, in this case, handmade holiday decorations, which are overlooked for the prize every year. He is married to Carol (Tracee Ellis Ross), and they have three kids, Nicholas (Thaddeus J. Mixson), Joy (Genneya Walton), and Holly (Madison Thomas). Seeing a pattern here?
In case you missed, the film thoughtfully points that Christmas naming theme out for you in one scene.
For CANDY CANE LANE, director Reginald Hudlin pretty much throws in anything that would fit for a Christmas movie, and then goes for some other genres too, like family comedy and even horror. Hudlin’s “everything and the kitchen sink” approach doesn’t really add to “more is better” but there is some fun in this very busy film. And the director also adds subversive little tidbits too, turning holiday movie stereotyping on its head – like making the Black suburban family the film’s main characters instead of supporting ones.
Eddie Murphy’s Chris Carver really wants to win the neighborhood Christmas decorating contest, in part because he just lost his job and the contest has a cash prize this year. Looking for a way to up his decorating game, he stumbles across a holiday shop he never saw before, run by an impish woman named Pepper (Jillian Bell), who has a whiff of something scary about her. She sells Chris an impressively large yard-decor Christmas tree, festooned with the characters from the song “12 Days of Christmas,” and requires him to sign a receipt that as a lot of fine-print. “Just standard,” she says, hurrying him along. Pressed for time, Chris does sign without reading it. You know that can’t be good.
Some very crazy things start happening once Eddie Murphy’s Chris gets the huge decoration home, and there is more magical stuff involving those little Christmas village models, with Nick Offerman as one of the figurines. David Alan Grier shows up later too – as Santa.
Eddie Murphy plays his role straight and leaves the comedy heavy-lifting mostly to Jillian Bell, who chews up some scenery in a most entertaining way. While Murphy plays it straight, Jillian Bell gets the comedy spotlight, as a mischievous elf you don’t want on your shelf. (See, this stuff it contagious.) Still, its fun to see Eddie Murphy on screen again, playing a dad determined to give his kids the best Christmas ever – no matter what gets in his way.
The comedy has a bit of fun with breaking some Christmas movie rules too. For one, this suburban “candy cane lane” is in Southern California, so there is no chance of snow. When Santa rolls his sleigh down the lane, one of the homes is decked out for Hanukkah. As Santa passes, he points at houses to signal the homeowners to switch on the lights – or in case, inflate the army of inflatable figures clogging the yard. And there is a running joke about the clueless neighbors who serve box wine – in wine-growing California, gasp!
If you absolutely love Christmas movies, you should put this on your holiday list. If you are cooler to the genre, know that this isn’t the worst holiday movie – plenty ahead of it there – but it isn’t a must-see holiday future-classic either. Just a bunch of familiar holiday and family film tropes along with a few more surprising ones – a 12 Days of Christmas display come to life – but ideas well within the lane (ahem) of holiday fun.
Every character gets their moment, and the humor is broad and over-the-top. Nothing subtle here. But if Christmas excess is your holiday treat, CANDY CANE LANE might be the stocking-stuffer for you.
CANDY CANE LANE debuts streaming Friday, Dec. 1, on Amazon Prime.
RATING: 2 out of 4 stars
