By Geno McGahee
I assumed that FINDING MRS. CLAUS would be pure shit by the cover art, but you know what they say about people that assume. I should have known that a film that featured the talent of Mira Sorvino and Will Sasso couldn’t be that bad. Remarkably, this made for TV holiday comedy turned out to be a really funny film that I enjoyed.
Mrs. Claus (Sorvino) isn’t very happy because her husband, Santa (Sasso), is too buried in his work and neglecting her. She confides in an elf, Anika (Meg Roe), and the film becomes very funny very fast. When Claus explains her situation to Anika, it’s taken the wrong way and it appears that she’s talking about sex, saying that she missed “rubbing his big …belly.” This is obviously not a Hallmark movie. This is a family film with enough adult jokes that go above the heads of kids but hit the adults straight on.
Hope (Aislyn Watson) is a young child that is trying to help her lonely mother, Noelle (Laura Vandervoort), find happiness. She sends a letter directly to Mrs. Claus for assistance and she sees it as an opportunity to help somebody and get away from her boring life. She goes to Las Vegas after forcing Calvin (Geoff Gustafson) to take her there and he’s another funny character in this.
When Mrs. Claus hits Las Vegas, the film gets even funnier with her misunderstandings and constant joy. Sorvino does a great job in this role and the continued innuendos are delivered incredibly well. Her comedic timing was spot on and her reactions were great. The same goes for Sasso. He is great in this role.
Noelle works at a casino for a total asshole, Duncan (Adam Greydon Reid), and he has withheld the Christmas bonuses of the employees, takes money on the side from the guests and tries to score with the attractive women. Duncan starts trying to score with Mrs. Claus and is also interested in the expensive necklace that she wears. He belongs on the naughty list for sure.
The quest to get Noelle hitched doesn’t go very well, initially, with Mrs. Claus inviting every single guy she meets to a party and encourages them to have “their candy canes out”. As this happens, a prostitute is sent to Santa’s hotel room and it was hilarious. She notes that she has toys in her purse and Santa smiles a huge smile and says “I love toys!” It’s one of two sex toy jokes. I would have liked to see more.
As her first attempt fails, Mrs. Claus notices that Myles (Andrew W. Walker), the bartender at the casino, is the right guy and that soon falls into place as Mrs. Claus and Santa start to rekindle their love. Andrew W. Walker was very familiar and I realized that he’s been in a shit ton of Christmas movies. I can’t place which one(s) I know him from, but I have to say that this is the best one he’s been in considering that thi one I won’t forget so easily.
FINDING MRS. CLAUS is a lot of fun. I typically don’t like holiday movies that have an actual Santa in it. It’s rare that I do. This is an exception. This film was done correctly and had plenty of laughs throughout. I give Sorvino so much credit for owning this role. She was so funny. Sasso also showed why he’s owned comedy all these years and why we should see him in more stuff now. This film was a huge pleasant surprise and I highly recommend it.
