Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
Estranged from his father, college student Jake is lured home to New York for Christmas with the promise of receiving a classic Porsche as a gift. When the bullying football team dumps him in the desert in a Santa suit, Jake is left without identification or money to help him make the journey. Meanwhile, his girlfriend, Allie, does not know where he is, and accepts a cross-country ride from Jake's rival, Eddie.
A formulaic late-90s holiday family comedy that hits all the expected beats: selfish protagonist learns a lesson, cross-country misadventure, rival for the girlfriend, reconciliation with estranged parent. Jonathan Taylor Thomas carries the film adequately for its target demographic but there's little distinctive here. The cinematography is functional TV-movie level work. The ending delivers the expected heartwarming redemption in a competent if predictable way. Novelty is low as this is a fairly by-the-numbers entry in the holiday road-trip comedy genre with nothing especially memorable in its execution.