I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus (Video)

Santa movies can't help straining credulity--they're about Santa. Where some succeed in making us wish we were 6 years old again, though, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus only makes us wish we were stupider. That way, we'd be able to buy its premise, which is about as shatterproof as a bag of last year's candy canes. Eight-year-old Justin is in the running for a spot at the top of Santa's nice list as the holiday season roars in. He's a model student, sweet natured, and, unlike his buddy Bobby, impeccably mannered. What is he to make of a smooch-filled encounter between his mom and a red-suited fellow whose lips are more traditionally associated with bellowing ho, ho, ho, though? If he were an ingenuous lad, which is what we're led to believe, he'd ask. Instead, he reports this mother-of-all-holiday indiscretions to Bobby, who advises him to change his goody two-shoes ways quick like, before Santa kicks off his snow boots and tries to slip into his dad's (Corbin Bernsen's) shoes. After all, Santa's famously averse to naughty kids, and his mom (Connie Sellecca) is "a lot hotter" than Mrs. Claus. The stage is flimsily set, then, for a snow-covered barrage of Home Alone-style pranks, all designed to send Kris Kringle packing. At the mall, Justin launches into a loudspeaker tirade about toy-delivering home wreckers. At school, Santa takes commando-style jabs to the midsection. At home, he falls for the ol' rake-in-the-snow booby-trap treatment. As you'd expect, moments of sugarplum sweetness emerge, and poppy holiday jingles punch up the setup and chase sequences. It's the soundtrack, in fact, plus a minute or two of hapless Santa scenes that salvage this movie. In a stocking-stuffer survey, it'd rank somewhere between a slab of fruitcake and a potato slicer. - Tammy La Gorce