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*I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus*
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
	French film poster
Written by	Steve Jankowski & John Shepphird and Mike Sorrentino & Randy Vampotic
Directed by	John Shepphird
Starring	Dylan and Cole Sprouse; Eric Jacobs; Connie Sellecca; Corbin Bernsen
Music by	David Reynolds
Country of origin	United States/Germany
Original language	English
Production
Producers	Shawn Levy; Steve Jankowski; Jeffrey Schenck
Cinematography	Neal Brown
Editor	Geno Foster
Running time	100 minutes
Production companies	Regent Entertainment; ACH; Medien Capital Treuhand
Original release
Release	October 23, 2001

I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus is a 2001 made-for-TV family film, based on the classic holiday song of the same name. The movie's tagline was "Christmas is coming, and Santa's a dirty rat."

The film was directed by Craig Clyde, who had a cameo appearance as Major Titanium, and stars Corbin Bernsen and Connie Selleca. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus first aired December 9, 2001, on the PAX Network where it aired until 2007. As of 2008, it is shown in the 25 Days of Christmas programming block on Freeform.

The film is one of Sellecca's final performances before her retirement from acting. She didn't act again until The Wild Stallion in 2009.

Plot

Young Justin Carver (Dylan and Cole Sprouse) is having Thanksgiving dinner with his family, only for it to end with the news that his best friend Bobby's (Eric Jacobs) bickering parents are finally deciding to divorce. When he overhears his own parents, Stephanie and David Carver (Connie Sellecca and Corbin Bernsen) having a heated argument, Justin retreats to his bedroom. A few minutes later, Justin peeks downstairs, only to see his mother Stephanie locked in a warm, romantic embrace with none other than Santa Claus (his father in a Santa suit). He takes a photo, shows it to Bobby the next day, and then sends it to Mrs. Claus. Fooled by Bobby's own situation with his parents, Justin jumps to the conclusion that his mother is having an affair with Santa. So he decides to behave as badly as possible in an attempt to prevent Santa from coming to his house on Christmas Eve night for him to make off with Justin's mother.

The resulting hi-jinks include Justin setting traps and throwing snowballs at a street Santa, and even getting himself in trouble at school. Then, on Christmas Eve, Justin's mother receives a letter from the post office. Inside is the photo, which didn't get sent. In the end, Justin finds out that Santa was his father, apologizes to the street Santa and gets the toy he wanted from the real Santa.

Cast

Dylan and Cole Sprouse as Justin Carver
Eric Jacobs as Bobby Becker
Connie Sellecca as Stephanie Carver
Corbin Bernsen as David Carver
Sonny Carl Davis as Santa/Floyd
Tony Larimer as Grandpa Irwin
David Millbern as Felix Becker
Shauna Thompson as Marie Becker
Joan Mullaney as Ms. Crumley
JJ Neward as Jaine
Paul Kiernan as Sal Jenkins
Caitlin EJ Meyer as Mary Poindexter (as Caitlin Meyer)
Jeff Olson as Principal Hoke
Frank Gerrish as Sidney

Reception

Andy Webb from "The Movie Scene" gave the film two out of five stars and stated: "What this all boils down to is that "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" is a misguided movie. It's misguided because the fact it basically debunks Santa Clause means it doesn't have a target audience and those who are young enough to find the jokes funny are the ones who don't need the magic of Christmas spoilt."^[1] Justin Oberholtzer from "Freakin' Awesome Network" gave it a D+ and wrote: "It baffles me that it took four men to write this script. How hard is it to knock out such a simple premise? Maybe they were all friends and simply started exchanging ideas for the Santa chases. Those pranks are the only thought put into the film and they become redundant. They try to instill some heart into the film, but it comes off like a cheesy Hallmark card. Which is the best way to describe this film."^[2]

References

^ Webb, Andy. "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus (2002)". The Movie Scene. Archived from the original on 10 June 2017. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
^ Oberholtzer, Justin. "Cinemasochist's Dungeon of Horrors #47: I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus". Freakin' Awesome Network. Archived from the original on 10 April 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2017.