Christmas Countdown: Santa Buddies (2009) vs. Eight Crazy Nights (2002)

Today I'll take a look at two of the most terrible holiday films I've seen, and the tie that binds them.

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Santa Buddies is a film churned out off the Disney conveyor belt of "Buddies" movies. These are films that feature talking dogs, who are probably related to "Air Bud" somehow.

There is a family of five dogs, each with it's own personality and stereotype that it personifies. The main story is a pastiche of Christmas classics, and reminiscent of Elf: Christmas spirit is running low, and the deer can't fly. There is also a cheezy Christmas Carol-esque subplot about a dog catcher called S. Cruge, apparently put in to fill the film out to feature length.

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Eight Crazy Nights is another terrible holiday film. The motivation for this film seems to be the same as Sandler's Hanukkah song: to fill the dearth of Hanukkah-related holiday media.

Sandler is renowned for his whorish adulation of product placement (even the otherwise serious Punch-Drunk Love had a plot point that revolved around acquiring brand name pudding). In Eight Crazy Nights, Sandler walks further down this path, and devotes large amounts of screen time to corporate logos.

The movie is terrible, and not even worth recounting.

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These two films are both a cynical attempt to cash in on the holiday phenomenon. It's a clever ploy because people are generally willing to accept lower quality films if they are holiday themed. These two films excel at lowering quality.

These don't just represent a low point in holiday film, but film in general.

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