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DVD: Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage (100 mins) (PG), Lions Gate Home Entertainment.
The true meaning of Christmas lies in a syrup of light, love, art, community and being an all-round deeply-wholesome person.
That's the message behind Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage, a film which all but drowns you in the festive goo it oozes.
Effectively subtitled How I Became Such A Warm And Wonderful Human Being, it is US painter Thomas Kinkade's tribute to the warm and wonderful human beings who made him thus.
Young Tom returns home for Christmas in 1977 to discover his dear old ma is deeply in debt and about to be evicted from her dear old tumble-down cottage.
Tom's response is to paint a town mural, fully knowing it will bring in just a fraction of the money his mother needs. But at least it will bring the townspeople together as he depicts them going about their business.
The warring neighbours, the grieving dad, Tom's own ne'er-do-well pa, the slightly-faded beauty queen and the upstart business leader are all there - as is the artistically-constipated artist that Tom idolises.
Can Tom's art spark the outbreak of goodness which will send everyone home happy? You bet it can. Do we care? Not particularly.
This is the kind of mush that gives Christmas a bad name - a self-glorifying ego trip which is supposed to have us all basking in the warm glow of small-town America. Its sheer earnestness will raise a few sniggers (not least when Peter O'Toole is at his hammy worst) - but that's as good as it gets.
The Kleenex won't be needed for this one, but a bucket just might.
Phil Hewitt
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Tuesday 14 February 2012
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