Written by: John Ducey
Starring: Christina Moore, John Ducey, Violet McGraw, Sachin Bhatt, Lateefah Holder
Rating: [2.5/5]
Believing in Santa Claus for every child represents a distinct period in life where the idea of this magical old man delivering toys exists. A time that varies for each child but eventually gets broken upon them learning the truth of him not existing. This revelation may transpire by kids sneakily noticing their parents but the gift under the trees they claim Santa delivered, or some scornful kid at school tells them about it. With that in mind, I Believe in Santa posits what would transpire if a grown man truly believed Santa Claus exists with all sincerity.
Working as a columnist centered on holidays while hating Christmas, Lisa (Christina Moore) begins dating the very kind Tom (John Ducey), who feels like the perfect man for her to the point where she begins to question where his flaws lie. As an adamant hater of Christmas, she shockingly learns that Tom not only loves Christmas emphatically, but also, in fact, believes wholeheartedly that Santa Claus exists.
Truly one of the most bizarre and mind-boggling ideas for a film that I’m actually impressed it exists, I Believe in Santa has quite the mountain to climb in regard to its believability. Trying to make us buy this man genuinely believes Santa Claus presents such dumbfounding circumstances and ultimately the direction it takes completely caught me off guard as it takes its silly idea and genuinely tries to provide some rationale behind it.
Setting up the eventual reveal, we get this exciting relationship established between this pair. They get along great, which carries incredible importance because this man needs to represent the perfect man in order for Santa Claus reveal to not completely torpedo the relationship. The film certainly tries its very best in doing that and we can see this coming, seeing as she genuinely hates the Christmas holiday for comedically traumatic reasons. Once the reveal occurs and the shock begins to set in for all involved, this film begins its genuine devil’s advocate performance in presenting Tom’s case.
For that the film deserves plenty of credit where Tom makes the case that Christmas has this magic over everyone where one does not need to be a practicing Christian in order to celebrate it. Tom undoubtedly makes a good argument about the season itself and how it brings people together in ways no other holiday can but when he draws the final conclusion of Santa Claus existing, it never stops being a ridiculous idea for him to believe. Tom continues to make this case to the degree where we have his Muslim friend Assan (Sachin Bhatt) compare his friend’s belief in Santa Claus to his personal religious beliefs, which ultimately feels like a bridge too far in this overall argument. The movie shifts from this silly belief to it making a genuine argument on faith that took me by complete surprise.
Having this happen to Lisa, who hates Christmas more than anyone around her just makes for a hilarious situation and ultimately does not make me hate this movie even in the slightest. I appreciate the audaciousness in trying to wholeheartedly make this a viable story that well and truly pushes the boundary on what love can overcome and what Lisa would allow in continuing to see this man. With Christina Moore and John Ducey starring in the two leading roles and being married it meant to add onto the chemistry at hand but man it certainly did not pop through the screen, mostly because everyone in this movie continually gave off crazy eyes. Something that did not help when having these genuine discussions about the existence of Santa Claus.
Even long after watching this film and writing about it, I still giggle at the arguments held in the film and genuine way they try to pass this off as anything other than a ridiculous idea but I am glad it exists just to have experienced a sincere attempt of trying to pass off a movie like this one. By no means does it work well overall as a feature film, but the pure audaciousness makes me appreciate its overall existence. I almost feel obligated to tell others to watch it with the preparation of the dumb central premise and even with its many glaring faults, I genuinely had a great time watching it all play out.
Films with Josh 
