Day 23: Knowwhutimean Vern?

For the day before the day before Christmas, I thought I would focus on yet another film from my childhood, one I don't think I've seen since before I turned 10. This was a film spawned by the popular television appearances made by the late Jim Varney in his most famous character alter-ego, Ernest P. Worrel. This film was to be called Ernest Saves Christmas and it is one of his most popular and humorous film outings in his repetiore.  In this film, Ernest has the good fortune to pick up Santa Claus at the Orlando Airport in his taxi and thus begins a crazy adventure where he must help Santa convince both a cynical teenage girl, and a middle aged nice guy that he does in fact exist.  The man is the important one to convince, as Santa wants him to take over the business so that he can retire, but the girl becomes a factor when she steals Santa's bag for her own use.  Its a cute film, and one that I can't really find too much fault in (unlike the less funny and more silly outings like Ernest Goes to School and Slam Dunk Ernest).  Its a sweet story about the innocent love of Santa and Christmas and how the magic of Christmas is in all of us.  It is also notable that this is the only film (that I know of) that features Vern, the offscreen pal of Ernest.  Ernest, of course, destroys Vern's house when he tries to decorate it and so its understandable why Vern would slam the door in Ernest's face.

There's not much else to say about this entry, and its perfect for pre-Christmas family viewing.  No gross out humor, not too much slapstick, just good old fashioned 80s fun.

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