David Farnor | On 24, Dec 2023

Director: Tim Story
Cast: Chris Bridges, Lil Rel Howery, Oscar Nuñez, Madison Skye Validum, Teyonah Parris
Certificate: TBC

Is he Santa or isn’t he? That’s the age-old question at the heart of Dashing Through the Show, as a dad and his daughter wind up accompanying Nick Sinterklaas (Lil Rel Howery) for a night, trying to avoid being captured by bad guys, navigate the excitement of Santa superfans and stop a corrupt mayor from closing a homelessness shelter. Oh, and there’s a marriage to rekindle plus a whole thing about breaking and entering. If you’ve now got more han one question knocking around your noggin, nobody would blame you,

Chris “Luadcris” Bridges plays Eddie, a guy who asked Santa for a fisihing rod to get his parents back together when he was a boy – only for Santa to turn out to be a guy from the mall with a beard who broke into their house to steal some stuff. As an adult, he’s definitely on the Grinch side of life, although he harbours a heart of gold as a social worker who – when we catch up with him again – talks people down from high ledges.

So when he comes across Nick Sinterklaas, he spies someone who needs a doctor and some support. The problem is that he stumbles upon him while spending the night with his daughter, Charlotte (Madison Skye Validum), and needing to get her back to his unimpressed (and seaparated) wife, Allison (Teyonah Parris).

There’s the kernel of something decent in here, mostly thanks to Chris Bridges, who does downbeat-but-caring with real charisma. But unfortnuately, at some point in the production, that got swamped by a million other things the film decides to throw at the screen instead. The henchpeople following Nick across the city – watch out for 24’s Mary Lynn Raskjub having a lot of fun – don’t get explained initially and, when they do, the twist-reveal is illogical at best, involving an iPad that we’ve not seen before. The superfans are a pointless addition that belong in another movie. A musical comes straight out of The Christmas Chronicles playbook, and the mad dash from one set piece to another recalls The Hangover.

But without the wit or structure to hold the chaos together, Dashing Through the Snow is an exhausting sprint that wastes all its good ideas and leaves the cast hanging to try and make up the shortfall. Lil Rel Howery is improvising like Christmas depends on it, but his comic chops and chemistry with Bridges isn’t enough to redeem the script. The always-brilliant Oscar Nuñez proves that he’d be an inspired choice for the bad guy more often, but his storyline feels like it comes from another film entirely. Meanwhile, Parris is relegated to sitting by the phone and saying the word “peppermintinis” more times than is healthy. Full credit goes to the adorable Madison Skye Validum for trying to convince us all at home to believe in Santa Claus. As for the question of whether this is a Christmas movie worth unwrapping, the answer is sadly a clear no.

Add to Watchlist