I’m slightly more on track now, so on the 7th day of B-Movie Christmas…
‘Twas the Night (2001)
Director: Nick Castle | Writers: Jenny Tripp, Jim Lincoln, Dan Studney
Stars: Josh Zuckerman, Brenda Grate, Bryan Cranston
A mischievous 14-year-old boy and his irresponsible uncle almost ruin Christmas when they decide to take Santa’s new high-tech sleigh for a joyride.
-IMDB
Before he was Breaking Bad as Walter White and right around the time he was gaining traction as Hal Wilkerson on Malcolm in the Middle, Bryan Cranston was still making Disney Channel originals where he didn’t even get top billing over Josh Zuckerman.
In this case, he’s Uncle Nick (a name that may or may not pop up again on this list) and he’s arrived just in time to nearly ruin Christmas. Nick is into some shady stuff and he’s looking to escape his problems, so like any good uncle who’s in trouble, he brings that to his brother’s family.
Santa shows up eventually boasting some new tech and he’s even got a “guy in the chair” that helps run the show but his time freezing gadget is compromised and so Uncle Nick clubs him over the head of course.
What do you do when you’ve incapacitated Santa but happen to already have the suit handy? Well, you hijack his sleigh and go joyriding with your nephew who is in that moody stage with his own parents.
Shenanigans ensue as the guys after Nick hone in on his whereabouts and there’s some messaging about family and the moral of the story is doing the right thing and not being selfish. It’s a Disney Christmas movie, so of course, it heads in that direction. The upside is that you get to see Cranston as a comedic actor before he became hugely famous.
Recommendation: It isn’t the best or the worst movie on this list, but it’s different than the rest in its efforts to try and meld some competing narratives.
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