‘Saving Christmas’ Review: Kirk Cameron targets Christian Scrooges
Kirk Cameron is back preaching to the choir with his new film Saving Christmas. The latest from the Growing Pains star targets Christians and not atheists, Muslims or Jews, as many might expect.
Set against the backdrop of a family get together, Cameron narrates to and then instructs Christians on celebrating and enjoying Christmas. Objections to Santa Claus, materialism instead of spirituality, the nativity and Jesus’ birth all take their turn in the hot seat as Cameron debunks the secular highjacking of Christianity.
Darren Doane, who co-wrote and directed the film, plays Christian, Cameron’s brother-in-law who escapes the holiday party to sulk in the privacy of his SUV and bemoans that Christmas has lost its focus: “That money spent—how many kids could we have fed? How many wells could we have dug?”
Cameron indulges the various arguments but offers “You’re all wrong—you drank the Kool-Aid” and details explanations that should encourage the Christian, challenge their views on the Christmas tree or nutcrackers and paints St. Nicholas in a different light than the jolly old elf kids have come to love.
The film is not a war against a “Happy Holidays” movement or atheist lawsuit against a nativity scene, but rather a therapy session for his born again brothers and sisters who have gotten distracted by the Winter Solstice arguments.
“Last I checked, God made the Winter Solstice,” Cameron rebuked during the scene.
Read the critics’ reviews and you will see how Cameron has still insulted the masses. “The result is perhaps the only Christmas movie I can think of, especially of the religious-themed variety, that seems to flat-out endorse materialism, greed and outright gluttony,” Rogerebert.com writes, missing the point.
The target audience is a very niche group of Christians upset over the druid worship of trees and seeing Jesus take a backseat, but here Cameron delivers a call to ministry…missionary work if you will – enjoy the season by seeing Jesus Christ in the world.
You will struggle to find a fair assessment of the film, which is pretty enjoyable and somewhat “insightful.” The Wrap explained it well while bashing the film: “The oft-repeated formula here is to take something that exists and is beloved, and then work backwards to find a way to make it Biblically-inspired.”
Yep. Attention Christians, take up the challenge and enjoy the Christmas season a little bit more.
The film ends with a long (unnecessary) dance sequence to Angels We Have Heard On High prior to the credits rolling . The comic relief by David Shannon and Raphi Henly may have been the highlight that people will talk about beyond Cameron’s message.
Overall Saving Christmas receives 2 1/2 out of 5 stars.
There isn’t much plot here and many viewers just don’t have “a dog in the fight” per se. For the faithful; however, this is a great film to energize and think about Biblical ties to Christmas differently. Yes, Kirk Cameron endorses presents and a big juicy ham, but not without warning against overspending or missing the spiritual rewards.
For the faith-based audience, this is a 3 1/2 – 4 star film.
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