Everyone’s belief in a real Santa fades away as they age, assumedly, and yet billions of people never stop believing in Satan or any other number of conceptual entities we learn about in childhood. And so we live in a world where an adult’s firm belief in the Devil is normal, but an adult’s belief in Santa Claus is bizarre at best and mentally unstable at worst. This is said not to belittle believers in Satan or any variations thereof, but to rather interrogate why certain beliefs are universally ridiculed while others are generally accepted. If this introduction makes you think that Dear Santa has an ideological bent or is theologically inclined, don’t worry — it’s a goofy family comedy, but it does make you think.
Dear Santa, the Farrelly brothers’ new film on Paramount+, has a simple premise but draws it out in sweet and funny ways. The movie follows an 11-year-old boy named Liam who is on the cusp of tweenhood with a waning belief in Santa Claus. Nonetheless, he writes a letter to the North Pole with his Christmas wish. “I know he’s probably not real, there’s maybe a 1% chance,” he says.
Unfortunately, Liam’s dyslexia ends up swapping some letters and addressing the envelope to Satan, not Santa. So when a large, bearded, and jolly man (Jack Black) emerges out of his closet with his letter, Liam excitedly confuses Satan for Santa. Just like Mr. Claus, Satan is able to fulfill Liam’s wishes; unlike Mr. Claus, the ultimate price for these holiday gifts will be young Liam’s soul.
A Funny Jack Black Raises Hell in ‘Dear Santa’
Due to a mix-up, young Liam, a dyslexic 6th grader, sends a letter to Satan instead of Santa, leading Satan to appear at his door, delighted by his first-ever fan letter and interested in acquiring a portion of Liam’s soul.
- Release Date
- November 25, 2024
- Director
- Bobby Farrelly
- Cast
- Jack Black , Robert Timothy Smith , Brianne Howey , Hayes MacArthur , keegan-michael key , Post Malone , P.J. Byrne , Jaden Carson Baker , Kai Cech
- Writers
- Ricky Blitt , Peter Farrelly , Dan Ewen
- Jack Black pours everything into his very funny and interesting performance.
- Dear Santa is surprisingly thoughtful and wise about the nature of belief, Christmas, wishes, and selfishness.
- A cheesy and cringe section at a Post Malone concert goes on way too long.
- The ending is just too saccharine and ridiculous, and the film as a whole can’t withstand any logical scrutiny.
Robert Timothy Smith is charming and naturalistic as young Liam Turner, who we meet as Christmas approaches. It doesn’t seem like it will be a good one this year. He and his parents have recently moved to a new town, and his mother and father seem to only communicate through bickering. Liam has yet to make any friends except for the down-to-earth young Gibby (a wise-beyond-his-years Jaden Carson Baker), another social outcast and one with a dental condition he is ashamed of. All the while, Liam and his parents seem to be suffering from whatever recent event sent them packing from their last city to this one.
Dear Santa wastes little time before getting to the meat of the narrative and introducing the movie’s greatest asset, Jack Black. The intelligent but dyslexic Liam sends his letter, erroneously addressed to Satan, and before he knows it, Jack Black’s fun twist on the Devil shows up. With twisty horns, bushy facial hair, and an elaborate fluffy red coat, this anthropomorphic iteration of Satan feels like a cross between Jack Nicholson, Nick Nolte, and Orson Welles, but is still 100% Jack Black. He (ironically) puts his soul into the performance, deconstructing the popular mythology of his character with a sociopathic goofiness and layers of charm that hide his manipulative machinations. It’s his best performance since Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot, or Bernie before it.
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Before Liam can realize who he’s dealing with, he quickly accepts the offer to make three wishes, first wishing for a shot with the girl of his dreams, Emma (Kai Cech). Suddenly, she breaks up with her boyfriend and has doe eyes for Liam, and Satan has gone all out. They now have VIP concert tickets to see her favorite artist, Post Malone, who is promptly cast under Satan’s spell and dedicates the concert to Liam, praising him effusively before inviting him and Emma to the stage. It’s clear that Satan isn’t kidding around. Liam could have anything.
A Perceptive & Thoughtful Film About Belief, Family, and Desire
The rest of Dear Santa has Liam grappling with friendship, romance, his parents, selfishness, and selflessness. He discovers that he’s dealing with Satan, which doesn’t really bother him too much (kids these days). Apparently, though, as long as he doesn’t make his third wish, his soul is safe. That doesn’t bother Satan, though. After one wish, Satan is absolutely sure that Liam will want to wish for more things, even though Liam doesn’t believe it. It’s an interesting insight into the human condition (and the nature of childhood or immaturity) — things will go wrong in life and get ruined, and you will be upset about what you can’t control; you will wish things could be better.
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There are several other examples of the subtle perceptive qualities of Dear Santa, something that sets the film apart from most holiday fare. It’s a film that really explores the three meanings of Christmas (family, belief, and desire, be it selfish or selfless), and does so without being too on-the-nose or maudlin. It uses its whole “make a wish” structure to accomplish this. What do you ask of Santa? What do you pray for? Is it something that will make you happy, and in what way? Is it something for another person, and do you sign your name on that gift? Who are your wishes for?
Lumps of Coal: Cringe Concerts, Childishness, and the Wish Paradox
While intelligent on a sort of philosophical level, Dear Santa obviously can’t withstand any outside logic, and the film doesn’t pretend to be believable. Audiences might immediately think of the wish paradox — why not wish for infinite wishes, or for one’s soul to never be sold no matter what they do, and so on. Instead, Liam is wishing for things like a date with a girl.
Additionally, it’s just strange how relatively nonchalant Liam is after realizing that he’s dealing with Satan and not Santa, and that he’s made a literal deal with the Devil to sell his soul and will spend eternity burning in Hell as a result. Credit to Jack Black, who makes such a likable Devil that you can almost understand Liam’s chummy attitude.
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Dear Santa also gets derailed when it really leans into the “wishful thinking” of kids. The dreadfully long Post Malone concert sequence becomes truly embarrassing by the end, for instance, and ends up being a solidly awkward and ridiculously long 15 minutes. Likewise, the ending of the film is very cheesy and kid-friendly at the expense of the characters, the narrative, and the film’s internal logic. It’s almost insulting, though the very final punchline is pretty hilarious.
Dear Santa is the first Farrelly brothers film with a child as the lead protagonist, which likely explains most of the aforementioned awkwardness; it sometimes feels like the filmmaking duo are not sure what to do with that. They want to make a family holiday movie for pre-teens and up, but it’s about Satan and has some heavy material. Perhaps the cringe comes from their overcompensation to ensure that the movie is kid-friendly enough to balance out the darkness.
A Special Movie That May Not Find an Audience
Either way, it almost seems like a losing battle for the Farrellys. There aren’t too many parents who will put on a movie about a Santa-impersonating Satan for the kids or the whole family. Which is a shame, honestly, because there are some valuable lessons and thoughtful material here. On the scale of Farrelly brothers’ films, Dear Santa is light and positive, much more an Osmosis Jones than a Kingpin. Even that will probably rub some people the wrong way, though; presenting Satan as a funny buddy of sorts will go against certain parents’ belief systems.
Which, again, is one of the lasting themes of Dear Santa. Why do you still believe what you do? Or why did you grow out of it? In some ways, Dear Santa seems to suggest that you’re no longer tethered to certain beliefs or ideas when you find the same thing they provide hidden within yourself. You can grant your own wishes; you can fix your own mistakes. Not many kids’ Christmas movies will leave you with thoughts like that, so despite recoiling at its most cringe moments and finding some aspects totally ridiculous, Dear Santa is still somewhat of a Christmas miracle. You can stream Dear Santa on Paramount+ starting today.