the most underrated christmas movie of all time.

for about 2 weeks, my wife and i have had one movie on repeat in the background: the santa clause. em and i rented it, admittedly, only because most of the other movies we wanted to see were checked out. we got the muppet's christmas carol, too, which is also fantastic. but we had no idea what a treat we were in for when we got this movie.

you probably know the basic plot of the movie: santa slides off of scott calvin's (tim allen) roof, calvin puts on the santa suit and becomes santa. hilarity ensues.

now, home improvement was on when i was growing up, so it's not like i wasn't used to tim allen's type of humor. but i certainly didn't appreciate it as much as i do now. his delivery in this movie is exceptional. for example:

scott calvin: how come charlie says there's no santa claus?
charlie's mom: oh, charlie came home from school crying, saying that some older boy told him there was no santa. so neal talked to him, and explained that santa is more like a state of mind than a real person.
scott calvin: kind of like neal.

okay, it's not quite so funny in paraphrased transcript form, but it's easier to understand what he's talking about when you realize that "neal" is played by judge reinhold. i mean, the guy stopped believing in santa over an oscar meyer weenie whistle.

that's just a sampling. the trailer is down below. go rent or buy it. now. (and don't judge me if you happen to not like this particular movie. some people like ice pirates and wizards, but i don't judge them...too much.)