User reviews

I liked the film, although I didn't really find anything about the family to be so terribly hellish. Compared to my family, these people were Gandhi. Also, I thought the script could have been a little more subtle. As in, have the audience figure a few things out for themselves. However, I laughed a lot and did not want "Jingle Hell" to end. The acting was great - good choice of ensemble players. I loved the living room scene where the family was playing Trivial Pursuit. That was a hilarious scene. Overall, I recommend the film.

Please ignore the title, which would lead one to believe that this is a slasher film. This is really a film about family who comes home for Christmas and finds forgiveness and redemption. In several ways it is a modern day prodigal son/daughter story in which a family of grown children find themselves and learn to forgive each other. The movie also deals with some of the issues that modern Catholics struggle with and how those issues are face across two generations. Jingle also has some moments of comic relief and it is an all around joy to watch especially at Christmas time.

Don't be faked out by the title. This is domestic comedy -- and a very funny one, not a Santa-as-Claus-as-Slasher-Movie. The only hell here is the kind your mom, who loves you very much, can inflict on you.

The various adult children reluctantly come home for Christmas, and their various issues are to family peace what the Enola Gay was to urban planning. See it. You'll laugh.

Why the film-makers chose to stick with "Jingle Hell" as a title, is a decision that ranks second only to that of Hitler's insistence that he open a second front against the Russians.

It's a wonderful little movie, all the more remarkable for the fact that it's a first time effort by some young independents. It compares very favorably with Jodie Foster's 1995 thematically-similar Home for the Holidays with its all-star cast. The writing is top-notch, the direction is polished, the editing seamless, and there's not a single mis-step by the cast of unknowns.

Jingle Hell did well on the smaller festival circuit, but never obtained a general or even limited release. While it's listed here as a "TV" movie, there's no information about who might have televised it or where, and in this age of untold numbers of cable channels with their voracious appetite for any sort of "content" (which term sounds a whole lot better than "filler"), the fact that the film isn't on someone's year-end holidays schedule, is all the more inexplicable.

I'm of the unalterable opinion that the problem starts with the title; it's impossible to hear it and not dismissively flash on, as an earlier comment suggests, "slasher-in-a-Santa-suit." If there's a God-of-Celluloid anywhere, this is a movie which will somewhere along the line, gain some just recognition. Fortunately, the film-makers are all relatively young, and might be able to wait it out in terms of some richly deserved artistic recognition.

Sadly, none those behind the camera seem to have done anything in the field since Jingle Hell. More's the pity.

This is a nice holiday film that a lot of us can relate to. It's well written and nicely directed. What a great cast. They all compliment each other's performances. I love having this relatively unknown picture in my collection.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much because it was a Christmas movie... BUT It goes into so many different real life issues between families that it really touched my heart! I would recommend this to any and all people who want a serious yet beautiful Christmas film.

10 out of 10 hands down!

This came out around the same time as "Home For The Holidays" (the Holly Hunter vehicle), but, despite the totally misleading title, is a delightful holiday romp for any of us with semi-dysfunctional families (and really, who ISN'T nowadays).

Excellent ensemble cast and an especially riveting and scenery-chewing performance by Ramona Floyd, who deserves to be in much larger productions. I've seen her do stage work before, but this is the first film I have seen her in, and she steals the show. That being said, with the 2004 holidays coming up, try to get your hands on a copy of this film. I managed to get one thru the film's website a year ago, but the site isn't up anymore, so I have no idea how you would get one, but it's well worth whatever effort it might take.

I have this same movie, but on a DVD copyrighted 1999 under the title "Christmas Present". The DVD "Christmas Present" has similar cover art background, but instead of the family, has a large green Christmas ball with a lit fuse coming out of the top as though it was a bomb about to explode. I can't find any birthday in the bio information for Pete Barker who played Seamus Fitzgerald in this movie. At the start of the movie, his wife says he's 64 (he says he's in his 65th year), but he looks much older. Does anyone know Peter Barker, the actor's birthday?

great movie! more calming than weeks of seasonal therapy! clever writing, independent film making at it's purest. if you liked "home for the holidays" you'll love "jingle hell". but don't watch it with your parents

I bought this with the alternate title "Christmas Present." I doubt I'd have picked it up with the "Jingle Hell" title, lol. It seemed somewhat poorly done, but entertaining. Then each time I watched it over the years it grew on me more & more, kind of like a home movie of familiar relatives. Every one of them is a neurotic bundle of problems, yet entirely realistic.

If you have the usual messed up crazy family that most of us do, you too will relate to at least one or more of the characters. Every time I watch, I laugh, I cry. And I feel a sense of relief that holidays with family is a universal train wreck that we all deal with. Merry Christmas!