Eddie Garrick (Ludacris) has always hated Christmas since 30 years ago when a mall Santa robbed their home and broke up his parents' marriage. He's a divorced social worker in Atlanta and Christmas is here once again. He is with his daughter Charlotte when he goes over to his neighbors to check on their cat. He finds Nicholas Sinter-Claus (Lil Rel Howery) stuck in the chimney. There is a snowman (Ravi Patel), an elf (Marcus Lewis) and a toy soldier (Mary Lynn Rajskub) stalking Nick for a notepad.
I'm not a big Lil Rel Howery fan, but I do like him as the black Santa. I like the initial premise. I thought the three stalkers are actually from the North Pole. That may be funnier. The second half does lose a bit of steam. Santa should do more magic as the movie goes on. He could talk to animals and Eddie can continue to dismiss it. He could help the downtrodden and that would win over Eddie. The second half just needs some more happy magic.
I'm not a big Lil Rel Howery fan, but I do like him as the black Santa. I like the initial premise. I thought the three stalkers are actually from the North Pole. That may be funnier. The second half does lose a bit of steam. Santa should do more magic as the movie goes on. He could talk to animals and Eddie can continue to dismiss it. He could help the downtrodden and that would win over Eddie. The second half just needs some more happy magic.