Susan Granger's review of "I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS" (Walt Disney Pictures)
Curious coincidence: when Tim Allen of "Home Improvements" made a splash on the big screen, his movie was called "The Santa Claus," now his TV-son, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, dons the red suit to star in "I'll Be Home for Christmas." He plays a slick college kid whose nefarious plan to provide exam answers, using electronic pagers, to a bunch of jocks fails, and he gets stranded in the California desert wearing a red suit and black boots with a white beard glued to his face. Not only is his predicament unpleasant but it has unfortunate consequences. If he cannot make it home to Westchester by 6 P.M. on Christmas Eve, he cannot claim an expensive gift from his father: a red Porche. He's been avoiding going home since his dad re-married - perhaps in haste, he judges - after his mother's death. And, if that's not enough incentive, his girl-friend, Jessica Biel, is traveling home from college during the holiday break with his arch-nemesis, Adam LaVorgna, who fouled up his cheating scheme. Thomas accomplishes his cross-country journey hitching rides with various people - and learning more about himself along the way. He joins senior citizens en route to Las Vegas to see Tom Jones perform; discovers a van loaded with stolen toys, which he distributes to sick kids; wins a five-kilometer race and uses the $1,000 prize to feed the needy; and reunites a love-troubled state cop with his estranged wife at a roadside steak restaurant. All in all, we're supposed to believe that he becomes a better person for his troubles. Writers Harris Goldberg, Tom Nursall, and Michael Allin with director Arlene Sanford pepper a basic road comedy with sophomoric humor, including a farting dog. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "I'll Be Home for Christmas" jingles in with a 3. Bah, humbug!
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