jingle all the way

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome Today five of the pop Culture Pedestal Advent calendar
of Festive Favorites. Okay, picture, this is Christmas Eve. The
malls are absolutely chaotic, and Arnold Schwartzenigger is frantically trying
to track down a Turboman Dol for his son. The
problem is everywhere is sold out. Yeah, you've guessed it.

(00:23):
Today we're going to be talking about jingle all the
way and you're probably know all that because of the
fun Maale. But regardless, this is another one of my
favorite Christmas movies. To me, this movie is just a fun,
ridiculous comedy with a smidge of Christmas spirit. Yeah. This
is definitely a slapstick adventure where we follow Arnold around
many crowded stores into the underworld of shady scalpers, with

(00:44):
James Belushi playing one of the many fake Santas selling
knockoff cheap toys. And we even get a Christmas parade
at some point, and a little bit of desperation as
Arnold attempts to steal a Turbo Maan from, wondering if
the tree of his neighbor stealing from and that neighbor
is a creepy woman is iSER who is trying to
move in on Arnold's wife. But still now. Despite this

(01:06):
movie kicking up a bit of attention back in the day,
some claiming it was just ugly consumerism, I've got to
say I absolutely love this movie, and I think it's
for one reason and one reason only, and that's Ernold Schwartznigger.
I'm a massive Ernold fan and I've seen him in
so many action movies where he solves most of his
problems with his fists or a machine gun, and it's
always a pleasure to see him return to comedy, which

(01:27):
I think he is pretty good at, especially in Twins.
But let's not mention Junior, and in this movie, I
think he's actually very, very funny and enjoyable to watch
as he has constant runnings with the insane Postman played
by Simbad, and he's also trying to desperately find a
Turboman doll, and he tries to foil Arnold at every
step and be the first one to get the doll.
My favorite scenes involved Ernold fighting his way through desperate

(01:48):
shoppers in so many different department stores, and of course
he's battled with the despicable, fraudulent Santas and his elves
who like to provide broken knockoff toys to children. And
of course, another one of my favorite scenes in this movie,
which probably doesn't paint me in a very good light.
I really like it when he punches out the reindeer. Ah,

(02:12):
you started it. I think there's something wrong with me.
And what, of course the favorite quote from this movie,
and I think there's only one, and no it's not.
It's Turbo Tide. It's put the cookie down, now, put
the cookie down now, hanld. It is not afraid to
make font out of himself and it pays off. It's
not an Oscar worthy performance by any stretch, but if

(02:32):
you're an Arnold fan it does not matter. We take
he's good with the bad. And did you know the
action figure Turboman wasn't just a gag for this movie.
Fox actually made real Turboman dolls to tie in with
this film to sell to us. And apparently this frenzy
mirror is the Tickle Me Elmo craze of nineteen ninety six,
when parents literally fought in stores for this toy. Somebody

(02:54):
in the crowd yelled, there's the almost and they rushed us.
Is why I think that this movie works despite Arnold's
brilliant comedy performance, and some of you might not agree
with me on this, but I think it's a movie
that actually shows us that we try too hard to
buy a perfect Christmas even when we're trying to buy
that must have toy and not let our kids down.

(03:16):
It's kind of delivering the wrong kind of message, but
that's why it works, because most of us have felt
that pressure at Christmas promising our love through shopping, and
that is what I think is the message they're trying
to get across here. That and just a whole lot
of fun. And this movie is just silly and absolutely bonkers.
It includes a scene where Arnold is mistaken for the

(03:36):
Tobo Man parade actor and he suits up and jet
packs uncontrollably around the city. It's a scene that's absolutely,
like I said, bonkers and ridiculous. But this movie isn't
afraid to lean into that and it just totally works.
But for me, I think the Christmas message in this
movie is just a little bit strained, but they do
actually pull it off. By the end of the movie,

(03:56):
Ernold Sun decides that he doesn't want a Tobleman figure anymore.
Because he is happy to have his father who just
so happens to be dressed as a turbo man, which,
like I said, it does work, and I, for one,
I really enjoy it. Thanks for joining me today on
the Pop Culture Pedestal Advent calendar as we opened up
another festive treat. Be sure to join me tomorrow for
another one.