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Revision as of 08:51, 3 December 2023

Candy Cane Lane
Release poster
Directed byReginald Hudlin
Written byKelly Younger
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyNewton Thomas Sigel
Edited by
  • Jim May
  • Kenny G. Krauss
Music byMarcus Miller
Production
companies
Distributed byAmazon Prime Video
Release date
  • December 1, 2023 (2023-12-01)
Running time
120 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Candy Cane Lane is a 2023 American Christmas comedy film directed by Reginald Hudlin and written by Kelly Younger. The film stars Eddie Murphy, Tracee Ellis Ross, Jillian Bell, Thaddeus J. Mixon, Ken Marino, Trevante Rhodes, David Alan Grier, and Nick Offerman.

Candy Cane Lane was released by Amazon Prime Video on December 1, 2023.

Plot

A local neighborhood hosts an annual contest over who has the best decorated home for Christmas. Chris Carver is an experienced woodworker and has expertly crafted his own hand-carved decorations for the competition but has never won. However, his neighbor, who's decorations mainly consist of inflatables, has won the competition three times.

Chris soon finds out that due to reorganization at his company, he is being laid off. Chris feels hopeless about what the future holds for his family and doesn't tell the children about losing his job, while his wife cajoles him about unemployment. A local TV newscast announces that their street's annual Christmas contest will be televised and the winner of the competition will receive $100,000.

Desperate to win, Chris and his daughter stumble across a Christmas shop filled with beautiful decorations and buys an overflowing cart of them, as well as a twelve layer spinning tree where each layer represents one of the The Twelve Days of Christmas (song). When presented with the receipt, Chris says he doesn’t want to know the price. The cashier, Pepper, says that’s fine and who wants to read the fine print anyway. Chris signs the receipt and wishes for the decorations to make his home win the contest. Unbeknownst to him, the receipt, wish, and signature constitute a Faustian bargain.

Chris and his daughter setup the tree in their yard, transforming it into a Rube Goldberg machine animating the Twelve Days of Christmas. The tree stuns everyone in the neighborhood and stirs new commentary from the TV hosts. The next day all of the decorations are gone with Chris blaming the neighbors. Strange happenings begin occurring with the family starting with seven-swans-a-swimming in their backyard pool. Chris and his daughter return to the Christmas store for "spare parts" but learn that Pepper is an evil Christmas elf who has made similar deals in the past. Her victims are transformed into glass figurines that live inside the Christmas village in the store if they cannot break the curse. Pepper recites a short poem which Chris interprets that he needs to find the five golden rings from the song. On the way out there are two-turtle-doves on his car, with a ring. When he swipes the ring, the doves turn back into the decorations for the magic tree.

Slapstick shenanigans occur with the entire family encountering and defeating characters from the song until the live broadcast and judgment of the contest. When Chris presents five rings to Pepper, she laughs and twists the words to the deal to mean, "all the rings" in the song, which sings that verse eight times. Pepper has also cheated by moving the clock forward five minutes, which turns Chris into a glass figurine. Because of the cheating, Santa intervenes and gives them five minutes to end the contract. With only minutes to go, the family rallies to collect all the rings on live TV, with Chris helped by Pepper's previous victims.

Cast

Additionally, the Pentatonix band members: Scott Hoying, Kirstin Maldonado, Mitch Grassi, Kevin Olusola and Matt Sallee portray carolers.

Production

In July 2022, it was reported that Eddie Murphy would star in and produce a new holiday comedy film as part of a three-film first-look deal with Amazon Prime Video. Reginald Hudlin, who directed Murphy in Boomerang (1992), will direct, while Kelly Younger wrote the script, inspired by his childhood holiday experiences.[1] In January 2023, Tracee Ellis Ross was cast opposite Murphy.[2][3] Jillian Bell, Robin Thede, Nick Offerman, Chris Redd and Danielle Pinnock were cast in the film.[4][5][6] The film is produced by Murphy, Brian Grazer, Karen Lunder, and Charisse Hewitt-Webster, and executive produced by Doug Merrifield.[7]

Principal photography took place in Los Angeles from December 2022 to February 2023.[8][9]

Release

Candy Cane Lane was released on December 1, 2023 by Amazon MGM Studios on their streaming service Prime Video.[7]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 48% of 33 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.8/10.[10] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 46 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[11]

Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a score of two out of four, writing "Candy Cane Lane is a stunningly uneven film that careens between cornball family drama, slapstick comedy and special-effects-laden gimmickry".[12] James Dyer writing for Empire scored the film a three out of five saying, "Part It's A Wonderful Life, part Drag Me To Hell, this unholy concoction of ideas is unlikely to become a seasonal staple, but sift through the nonsense and there’s a surprising amount to enjoy in this bonkers Noel nightmare. In what other film can you hear the phrase, 'This chicken is trippin'', and watch a psychotic elf kick Black Santa in the nuts?".[13]

References

  1. ^ Jackson, Angelique (July 19, 2022). "Eddie Murphy to Star in Holiday Comedy 'Candy Cane Lane' for Prime Video". Variety. Archived from the original on February 5, 2023. Retrieved February 5, 2023.
  2. ^ Grobar, Matt (January 3, 2023). "Tracee Ellis Ross Joins Eddie Murphy In Prime Video's Holiday Comedy 'Candy Cane Lane'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on February 8, 2023. Retrieved February 5, 2023.
  3. ^ Jackson, Angelique (January 3, 2023). "Tracee Ellis Ross Joins Eddie Murphy in 'Candy Cane Lane' for Prime Video". Variety. Archived from the original on January 10, 2023. Retrieved February 5, 2023.
  4. ^ Grobar, Matt (January 4, 2023). "Jillian Bell Joins Eddie Murphy, Tracee Ellis Ross In Prime Video' Holiday Comedy 'Candy Cane Lane'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on February 5, 2023. Retrieved February 5, 2023.
  5. ^ Jackson, Angelique (January 5, 2023). "Robin Thede, Nick Offerman and Chris Redd Join Eddie Murphy's 'Candy Cane Lane' (Exclusive)". Variety. Archived from the original on February 5, 2023. Retrieved February 5, 2023.
  6. ^ Grobar, Matt (January 13, 2023). "'Ghosts' Star Danielle Pinnock Latest To Board Prime Video Holiday Comedy 'Candy Cane Lane' With Eddie Murphy". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on February 5, 2023. Retrieved February 5, 2023.
  7. ^ a b Complex, Valerie (September 5, 2023). "Prime Video Presents Candy Cane Lane Starring Eddie Murphy, And Tracee Ellis Ross; Film Premieres Exclusively On Prime Video This Winter". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on September 5, 2023. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
  8. ^ "Candy Cane Lane Production List". Film & Television Industry Alliance. October 31, 2022. Archived from the original on February 10, 2023. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
  9. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (February 10, 2023). "Eddie Murphy Prime Video Movie 'Candy Cane Lane' Adds Ken Marino, Anjelah Johnson-Reyes & D.C. Young Fly". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on February 10, 2023. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
  10. ^ "Candy Cane Lane". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved December 2, 2023.
  11. ^ "Candy Cane Lane". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved December 1, 2023.
  12. ^ Roeper, Richard (November 30, 2023). "Candy Cane Lane takes Eddie Murphy to some strange and unfunny places". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on November 30, 2023. Retrieved December 1, 2023.
  13. ^ Dyer, James (November 30, 2023). "Candy Cane Lane Review". Empire. Retrieved December 1, 2023.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Candy_Cane_Lane_(film)&oldid=1188095572"