Not A Christmas Movie, But Would You Settle For A "Snow Day" ?

Snow Day (2000)

Rated PG

Starring Mark Webber, Zena Grey, Jean Smart, Chevy Chase, John Schneider, Chris Elliot, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Schulyer Fisk,

Directed by Chris Koch

The Story:

Upstate New York is hit with a massive snow storm. Natalie (Grey) wants to ensure the kids have something they've never enjoyed before: a second snow day! To do that, the kids will need to stop snowplow man (Elliot), but when Natalie's brother (Webber) bails for romance, it's up to Natalie to ensure Snow Day 2 happens for the neighborhood. Meanwhile, their dad (Chase) is the local meteorologist who is jealous of his rival station's weatherman (Schneider). However, before the Snow Day is over, maybe everyone in the family will get their wish.

From Nickelodeon Studios, I ran across this little gem for the first time a few years ago.

We watched it, and became huge fans.

It's a lot of fun watching the kids attempt to stop the evil of the snow plow and the great lengths they go through to stop his reign of terror!

Meanwhile, Hal spends the day trying to woo the popular girl in school, and yet the girl of his dreams is actually much closer than he realizes.

Perhaps the magic of the snow day will reveal his heart's desire.

Chase gets to have a little fun, Clark Griswold dialed back to about 7, but he does get to do another sled run pratfall.

His run-in with his on-screen rival at the end is pretty fun stuff.

As mentioned in the title, while this doesn't have any Christmas happenings, we've added it to our list of movies that get watched around Thanksgiving through January, though this one gets popped in whenever the mood strikes.
 
Available to stream instantly on Netflix as of this writing (but it's only going to last until New Years Day!)

Final Grade: A-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: This one gets watched at least once during Christmas time, and any other time we're feeling winter-y!

"The Kid" Is A Mixed Bag Of A Movie...

The Kid (2000)

Rated PG

Starring Bruce Willis, Spencer Breslin, Emily Mortimer, Lily Tomlin, Jean Smart,

Directed by Jon Turtletaub

The Story:

Russ (Willis) is closing in on 40. He's an image consultant that doesn't really like his job, nobody really likes him, and he frankly really doesn't care much about anything anymore.  One night he comes home to find a kid named Rusty (Breslin) in his house. As the mystery unfolds, it would appear that Rusty is the 8 year old version of Russ and this is the classic, what key moment in life does Russ need to fix in his youth that will make his life better.  Or is it?

Also known as "Disney's The Kid", that should pretty much clue you in on how this movie will unfold.

My problem with it, is that it runs very slow throughout much of the plot.

I often argue that comedies, and family movies included, should run just about 90 minutes.

This one goes 15 minutes beyond that, and you feel every minute of it, and then some.

I'm not sure exactly where or why this takes place, but to me, the film just feels too drug out for its own good.

Once they finally figure out that Russ and Rusty are the same person, the race to the third act begins to pick up some speed.

Then, when it is revealed who caused the meeting between the two in the first place, you sort of shrug and say, "okay, whatever."

Never an intended consequence I would imagine.

Not a horrible way to spend your movie watching time, but nothing I need to rush back to do again.


Final Grade: C

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: It had been 14 years since I last saw this one. Nothing screams that I can't wait another 14 to see it again.