Review Round-Up: 'Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas'

Who was Saint Nicholas? Was Jesus really born on December 25? Is it OK to max out your credit card buying gifts for your loved ones to celebrate God's birthday? Can Jesus and Santa peacefully co-exist? Does an aging former Tiger Beat cover boy have what it takes to put the "Christ" back in Christmas?

All these questions and apparently more are answered in "Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas," the latest film produced by the gay-hating, evangelical christian former star of TV's "Growing Pains."

The website for the film, which opens in 400 theaters across America today, describes the movie as "an engaging story that provides a biblical basis for our time-honored traditions and celebrations, and the inspiration to stand strong against a culture that wants to trivialize and eliminate the faith elements of this holy season."

Here's what the critics had to say:

"How do you prove a horse is an animal? Because I like Sweden.

That's the style of absurd logic that happens in 'Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas,' an earnest movie that strives to show that the overflow of Santa hats, gifts and decked halls is in fact still keeping Christ at the center of Christmas."

Penny Walker - AZ Central

"His (Cameron's) account would constitute perhaps 10 minutes of conventional screen time, but "Saving Christmas" has been minimally edited. In a rambling introduction, Mr. Cameron reaches for his mug of hot chocolate three times. The movie further stalls with pregnant pauses, broad comic mugging, an endless dance routine and outtakes. (Mr. Doane tells an actor that the digital camera can "roll all day.") 'Saving Christmas' seems determined to win any perceived war on Christmas through brute force."

Ben Kenigsberg - The New York Times

"So maybe the movie sways more conservative Christians to put up a tree and buy a few presents. The real Christmas miracle is that non-believers have escaped the focus of Kirk Cameron's latest cinematic conniption. With 'Saving Christmas,' Cameron manages to piss off the only group left to offend: his own."

Brandy Zadrozny - The Daily Beast

"'Saving Christmas' is amateurish on all technical fronts: The acting, writing and direction are barely worthy of public-access television, and it's all lorded over by the know-it-all Kirk persona, which is one step removed from Jerry Falwell-style televangelism. Bits of awful "comedy" are dropped in via minor characters, including an African-American man whose speech is peppered with Ebonics, veering dangerously close to stereotype. The desperately unfunny dance sequence nicely represents the film as a whole, in that it's a twisted desecration of how real human beings act."

John Serba - MLive

"Although the film's title and posters of its star heroically brandishing a giant candy cane might suggest a holiday romp summoning the ghost of 'Growing Pains' past, 'Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas' has other random ideas. [...] Virtually everything about this production feels thrown together. Even with that extended musical interlude (performed by the God Squad Dance Crew) and an end-credits blooper reel, the package barely cracks the 80-minute mark."

Michael Rechtshaffen - LA Times