I'll be Home for Christmas (1998): Dir: Arlene Sanford / Cast: Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Jessica Biel, Gary Cole, Adam LaVorgna, Andrew Lauer: Idiotic holiday adventure that ranks right up there with Jingle All the Way as nerve wrecking stupidity. The title represents promise, which Jonathan Taylor Thomas does when his father invites him home from college promising a Porsche if he arrives by 6:00 on a particular date. He is off and running until his peers beat him up. They are angry with regards to an exam that he was suppose to help them cheat on. He wakes up in the desert wearing a Santa Claus suit. The rest is your basic road movie as he encounters strange people on his way home. Oh yeah. On a side note, his worst enemy is driving his girlfriend home. Directed by Arlene Sanford who had no better success with A Very Brady Sequel. This ranks as one of the worst of holiday films, with the handling of Thomas's rival proving mean-spirited. Thomas looks like the bunt of a bad joke. Jessica Biel recites her Seventh Heaven role, not to mention that her good girl image here is as predictable as any other in similar roles. Gary Cole is reduced to sitting at home and waiting. Perhaps he is waiting for a better script to arrive. Andrew Lauer plays a thief whom Thomas encounters on his hideous venture home. The result is an unnerving pile of road kill. Score: 1 / 10

I was willing to suspend my disbelief until when he opens the napkin containing evidence of who kidnapped him and dropped him out in the desert to die, he then wads it up and throws it away (littering wilderness-concealing evidence of a crime) instead of putting it in his pocket so the authorities will be able to find his kidnappers-attempted killers if he dies. The recent DEAD DOLL episode 801 of CSI shows that Eddie & the boys' kind of behavior is anything but happy happy joy joy and worthy of a life sentence behind bars.When he spots Eddie with his girl friend, Eddie's reaction is also unbelievable - he should be remorseful by then, glad to see the TT is still alive and happy to give him a ride home. As with most Disney movies that try to be comedies, this one is seriously not funny at all and all of the crimes committed by the various idiots in this farce go unpunished without charges.

First of all I'm just thankful there's a holiday movie out there that isn't Jingle All the Way, Christmas with the Kranks and especially the Grinch..ugh. This movie is a great Christmas movie, why's everybody gotta bag on a good ol standard xmas flick just because there are no major stars, songs or special effects. Seriously. Get over yourselves. Johnathan is a great lead, he's effective emotionally and his cookie cutter transformation is warm and real. Honestly, I enjoyed the way the film made me feel. Without having to go through trashy sleaze to get to the nice ending. There aren't many quality Christmas films being made anymore. The last truly wonderful Christmas movie I saw in Theaters was The Preachers Wife. Denzel, Whitney, and tons of music. I'll Be Home, although not on the same scale, still shows plenty of heart.

Okay, It's easy to say this movie was not in the range of other classic holiday flicks like "Christmas Story", or "It's A Wonderful Life", but then it's not "Santa Claus Conquers The Martians", either.I watched it the other night and did actually laugh here and there. Yeah, it's hard to like Jonathan Taylor Thomas, at first. He cheats, and seems pretty shallow. I can see the concern voiced by a previous poster about this not being a family holiday move, as the main character is pretty unpleasant.+SPOILERS AHEAD!+As we see him dumped in the desert dressed as Santa and watch him cross the country, we are treated to some pretty amusing moments. The four old ladies in the Chrysler Imperial, are just the beginning. And being a fan of big 50's Chrysler's, that gave the movie a push in the positive direction! Add a goofy van driver, a sentimental cop, and a gassy dog.Is there a happy ending? Sure. Does JTT learn a lesson? Of course, it's a Disney flick. I didn't have too much of a problem with "Home", and would probably get the DVD if my daughters wanted it.5 out of 10 stars.Rent it, or buy it if it's the "FREE" in a "Buy One, Get One Free" DVD offer.