Christmas is a time for TV schedulers to remind the public of the good old days when holiday-centred entertainment involved grinches learning the error of their ways, children poking their eyes out with BB guns and how wonderful a life it really is, as opposed to now where the cinematic Christmas diet consists of Tim Allen donning a fat suit every few years and the annual putrid festive comedy starring Vince Vaughn. There are quite a few good Christmas films amid all the crap over the years. Particularly festive examples such as A Christmas Story and The Shop Around the Corner still hold up very well. Some of my favourites, such as Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Proposition and Eyes Wide Shut, simply use the holiday season for setting purposes.
That’s all well and jolly good, but what I want to talk about is high quality scenes concerning Christmas from films that are not actually set primarily around the holiday season. I’ve decided to share with you, my potentially enthusiastic audience, some of my favourite Christmas scenes from non-Christmas films. Let’s get merry!
American Psycho (Mary Harron, 2000)
Not only does this Christmas party scene showcase Bale’s brilliant performance, it also contains the amusing image of yuppie psychopath Patrick Bateman wandering around with fake reindeer antlers. In addition to this, an important message is provided: women do not want breast implants for Christmas. That’s something I’ve certainly kept in mind over the years.
