Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
El Camino Christmas tries to be a lot of things; the Netflix original film seemingly should be a crime comedy with a seasonal twist, but instead, its tone gets muddled up with its inconsistent pacing and aimless storyline. Starring Luke Grimes, Vincent D’Onofrio, Dax Shepard, Jessica Alba, Tim Allen, and more than a few more familiar faces, the David E. Talbert-directed flick kicks off when honest Eric (Grimes) comes to El Camino in search of his long lost father. He’s down on his luck, and thanks to one particularly selfish sheriff’s deputy Carl Hooker (D’Onofrio), Eric is framed for drug possession and by no fault of his own winds up barricaded in a liquor store with five other people on Christmas Eve.
The dark comedy doesn’t give us anything particularly fresh right out of the gate; the setup feels largely standard for films of the same genre, and there are certainly a few laughs to be had from this kooky cast of characters. What begins as something seemingly innocuous (at least as far as this kind of movie goes) soon escalates in its second half to a high-stakes, emotional climax, eventually bringing us to a shockingly violent ending (even if we do sort of expect it). It’s hard to call El Camino Christmas a Christmas movie because it’s mostly just a inadvertent hostage situation gone-wrong dressed up with a few wreaths of garland and twangy takes on classic holiday tunes.
If you’re the kind of person that prefers flicks like Die Hard over typical Christmas fare, you may very well enjoy El Camino Christmas; the film is not without redeeming moments, and the cast really does give it their all. (It might just be one of Tim Allen’s best performances in years). This isn’t the kind of movie you’ll be shelving as a Christmas classic for years to come, but its twisted nature and mildly tragic themes make it a mildly interesting watch. Buried deep beneath all the booze and bullets, there is some humanity here – it just takes a little digging to unearth it all.
