‘Candy Cane Lane’ Review (Amazon Prime)

Stars: Eddie Murphy, Tracee Ellis Ross, Jillian Bell, Nick Offerman, Genneya Walton, Thaddeus J. Mixson, Madison Thomas, Chris Redd, Robin Thede, David Alan Grier, Ken Marino, Timothy Simons, Danielle Pinnock | Written by Kelly Younger | Directed by Reginald Hudlin

It seems streaming services have realised in the last few years that a good Christmas film is worth putting some money behind. Literally millions of movie watchers, and even people that don’t watch a whole lot of movies, are always willing to watch one at this time of year. Especially family-friendly films. Amazon Prime have got in experienced director Reginald Hudlin, and leading (and legendary) actor Eddie Murphy to headline Candy Cane Lane.

For almost the first hour, Candy Cane Lane feels like a rip-off of the ‘not exactly’ classic holiday movie Deck the Halls. As Eddie Murphy’s character – Chris Caver – loses his job and becomes desperate to win his neighbourhood’s annual Christmas house decorating contest. Especially when it is announced the winner will receive $100,000. How it differs from Deck the Halls though is when it becomes much more fantastical. Caver buys a giant 12 Days of Christmas ornament from a shop owner/elf that soon causes chaos around town and introduces us to a group of tiny but very much alive, human statues.

I honestly can’t decide whether the movie is better for going down the fantastical route or not. If it didn’t, it would have felt like dozens of other Christmas movies. But when it does, it gets very weird. Which is something I’d normally applaud. When a cow appears from nowhere and a maid starts squirting a character with milk, and leaping lords interrupt an athletic event, you’ll be wondering exactly what is happening.

I think the biggest problem with the movie for me, is that it lacks heart. It tries, don’t get me wrong but I was never really rooting for the family. The kids are fine, they are easy to pull for and feel sympathy for. But the mum (played by Tracee Ellis Ross) has a good job and is trying to get a promotion, while Eddie Murphy as the dad is the least sympathetic. You’d think you’d want him to do well after he loses his job just before Christmas but still wants his family to have a great festive time. But the first thing he does is splash out an audacious amount of money on Christmas decorations in an attempt to win a contest he has never won before despite his best efforts. Because of this, all the heart-warming moment attempts, just didn’t work for me.

There are some highlights in the performances though. Jillian Bell is always great isn’t she? She’s no stranger to Christmas movies either after appearing in The Night Before and Office Christmas Party. Here she plays the shop owner/elf and is camp and fun in the best possible way. Nick Offerman plays Pip, mostly with voice work as a tiny statue, but is probably the best character of the movie.

At two hours long, Candy Cane Lane does end up dragging a little. It’s just not funny enough for a comedy and it doesn’t work in a Hallmark Christmas movie feel-good way either, so it’s kind of hard to recommend. If you want to watch neighbours fighting over Christmas decorations, watch Deck the Halls. If you want a weird Christmas film, go with Rare Exports. Probably just don’t bother with Candy Cane Lane.

Candy Cane Lane is available to watch now on Amazon Prime.