Soul Santa (2021)

(On TV, December 2021) I’m watching all of the BET-broadcast Christmas movies this year, and while the films themselves are not particularly good, I’m surprised at how the network doesn’t simply churn out endless variations on the same tired Hallmark formula. They could, and, in fact, did for a few movies, but their films tend to go in other directions… to the point of sometimes almost not being about Christmas. You can’t say that about Soul Santa, though — as a film in which the protagonist takes on the role of a mall Santa to make some much-needed money while on the run from organized criminals, it’s clearly a film that could only take place at Christmas. David Mann is not bad in the lead male role, as he runs to his ex-wife’s house in Connecticut to escape gambling debt in New York City, and finds himself pressed into service to replace Santa at the mall she’s working for. (She’s played by his real-life wife, singer Tamela Mann — who does get to belt a song before the end of the film.)  The protagonist’s first attempts at SantaClausing are terrible — you don’t constrain someone like David Mann in a jolly white man’s job—but the film works itself to a reconceptualization of Santa Claus and the mall is saved — whew! Along the way, even a stereotypical Karen mom-from-hell is rescued from racism and intolerance, so that’s cool too. (I’m being too harsh in my sarcasm — the about-face for that character, who could have remained a cheap joke, is one of the better aspects for the film.)  In many ways, Soul Santa is not a good film — clunky, low-budget, with unexplainable plot development and even poorer justifications. It exemplifies the kind of underdeveloped, underfinanced projects that BET should think twice about greenlighting. But it has just enough to it not to be a painful watch — or rather, it’s put together in such a way that even its shortcomings become part of the charm. At the very least, it’s not about a woman going back to her hometown and falling in love again with her high-school crush, which is already a relief.