MOVIE REVIEWS

Review by Randy Dreammaker

**_How the Gringo Stole Christmas is a 2023 holiday comedy about a Latino father’s desire for a traditional Mexican Christmas that goes wrong when his daughter brings home her white boyfriend._** **This movie is similar to:** If you have ever watched the movie Father of the Bride starring Steve Martin, then you have the basic premise of this movie. It is similar in the over all theme of a daughter bringing home her boyfriend at Christmas, only to put her overly protective and idealistic father into a frenzy. Beyond that, the two movies are completely different stories. **A filmmakers perspective:** From a filmmakers perspective, the story is solid and easily flows without distraction from beginning to end. That being said, I believe this story could have been written a lot better. As for cinematography the quality is mostly solid with decent framing, though it does have some noticeable lighting issues that apparently were not able to be corrected during post production. It looks a little drab at places. **The acting:** The acting is decent, but could be a lot better, this may be due in part to casting choices. I found the lead actress to come across as stiff at times. Co-star George Lopez was not very funny and his acting seemed off. If you are a long-time George Lopez fan, you won’t find his best work here. **Content Warning:** For movie watchers who might be concerned about the connotations that the title of this movie may invoke, I think you will find that any concerns are mostly unwarranted. There are mild racial and gender overtones throughout this movie, so if you are sensitive to this kind of tension, you may desire to sit this one out. **Of interests to faith-based movie watchers:** Be aware that this movie contains a gay background character who is portrayed as a friend of the protagonist. This is not immediately revealed and is used to move the story forward while injecting curiosity about the relationship between this character and the protagonist. Other than the protagonist indicating the character is gay, there are no other references or mentions of the characters sexual identification. This movie contains no sex scenes or nudity of any kind. However, It does contain frequent use of explicit vulgar language and has been rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America. **Final thoughts about How The Gringo Stole Christmas (2023):** I approached this movie expecting not to like How the Gringo Stole Christmas, based on upon my knowledge of the racially triggering comedic history of co-star George Lopez. By the end of the movie, I found my concerns were mostly unwarranted and I was pleasantly surprised with how much I actually enjoyed it. I believe this movies title is an attempt to capitalize on the name of that traditionally popular Christmas movie called, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, replacing Grinch for Gringo. I do not feel it lives up to its appropriation. This would not be the first movie I would watch or recommend for Christmas family entertainment, it would be something I would watch after any other movies on my Christmas or holiday movie list had been watched.