Jingle All the Way 2 is a 2014 American direct-to-video Christmas comedy film, and a sequel in name only to the 1996 film Jingle All the Way starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.[3] Directed by Alex Zamm, the film stars Larry the Cable Guy and Santino Marella, and is produced by 20th Century Fox and WWE Studios, the motion picture division of WWE, and was released straight-to-video by Fox on December 2, 2014. On-air promotion from WWE occurred on its weekly episode events. The film received negative reviews from film critics.
Truck driver Larry Phillips competes with the current husband of his former wife, the wealthy businessman Victor, for daughter Noel's affection. Larry tries to find out what Noel wants most by surreptitiously opening Noel's letter to Santa Claus by offering to mail it for her.
He then tries to buy what he believes is her heart's desire; a Harrison The Talking Bear toy, which also happens to be the toy of the season. However, new stepfather Victor sends his spy, a man he employs named Welling to follow Larry and find out what it is Noel wants, so he can be the one to fulfill her dreams. Victor is determined to make it impossible for Larry to get his hands on a Harrison Bear by having Welling buy every one he can find and thwarting Larry each time he tries to get his hands on one.
Victor stockpiles all of the bears he acquires in a room in his box company. Larry tricks Victor into giving away the location of the bears and follows him into the room where they are kept but accidentally locks them both in.
At the tree lighting ceremony in town, a savvy female reporter has investigated who bought all the bears (Welling) and outs him to all the parents at the ceremony who have tried to buy one for their child. She declares Victor as the true villain which causes the crowd to focus their anger against Victor and his box company instead of him.
Meanwhile, inside the box company, Larry and Victor have discovered what is going on and finally come together to save the situation. They decide to have Christmas together and give Noel the prized toy from both of them, only to find out Noel never wanted the toy at all. They question her not wanting the toy and point out it was in her letter to Santa Claus. Noel accuses Larry of betraying her trust regarding the letter, which Larry makes an excuse for finding and reading the letter which he then produces; the letter, to his and Victor's surprise, when correctly interpreted, says something completely different from what he had thought: she wanted her family all together as one.[4]
Jingle All the Way 2 was filmed in Fort Langley, British Columbia, Canada.[2]
Reception
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Critical response
Dave Schilling of Vice wrote, "What's actually insidious about the whole endeavor is that it's so good at being so bad."[5] Gavin Jasper of Den of Geek wrote, "In the end, Jingle All the Way 2 is about as bad as you’d expect it to be. The humor is beyond weak and any redeeming parts of the story (such as the last fifteen minutes) are offset by the never-ending series of incidents where Larry tries to find that doll. But you know what? If given the choice between watching this again and watching the Schwarzenegger version? Yeah, I think I’d rather get ‘er done."[6]
In 2017, critic Nathan Rabin called the film "just barely a movie" and possibly "too sappy and maudlin for its target demographic."[7]
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