The Heist Before Christmas (2023)

I've observed in the past that Great Britain tends to be noticeably good at producing family Christmas movies. Granted, some of this could be sample bias - presumably most of what makes the jump is at least pretty good, so I'm likely being spared their equivalent of the worst US media (well, most of the worst anyway) - but I do think there are elements common to their holiday films that make them at the very least refreshing to those of us used to American productions. While British Christmas media tends to share America's portrayal of Christmas as a melancholy time, it's far less fixated on nostalgia. Modern American Christmas is tied to a post World War II shift from urban to rural America, coupled with a regressive shift in politics. For various reasons, this results in media recycling themes and symbols from 1940s Americana. There are exceptions, of course, and it's worth noting we're starting to see more variation, but on the whole US Christmas movies tend to be fairly conservative in their politics and social framing.

Britain obviously isn't tethered to our preoccupation with small-town USA. Instead, the bulk of their Christmas media (or at the very least the bulk I've come across) has tended to follow in the tradition of Charles Dickens. Again, there are exceptions - there are also plenty of examples of farcical Christmas media without any clear political leanings whatsoever, possibly a throwback to Christmas pantomimes and the like. But when their media is serious (or even half serious), it tends to promote progressive viewpoints, which in turn lend themselves better to family movies.

Do I need to explain that statement? I mean, yes, that adheres with my own political ideology. But before you write me off as inherently biased, I'll add that I also believe themes aligned with a libertarian viewpoint (which I absolutely despite politically) tend to work better in action and adventure movies. Good entertainment isn't the same as good politics, but in the case of family Christmas media, I think they overlap.

All of which is a longwinded way of circling around to the point of this article: that the 2023 British made-for-TV movie, The Heist Before Christmas, is very good. Not perfect, mind you, but absolutely worth watching, and not only because it realistically explores wealth inequality and its effects on children and families. This is a funny, touching, entertaining movie with some great performances: just a good movie all around.

But also that wealth inequality commentary thing is a nice bonus. Could we get more of that in US Christmas movies, please?

The last act is a little uneven, with some out of place Home Alonesque antics, an ending that doesn't quite wrap everything up as well as I'd like, and an out-of-place final shot. The tone is uneven throughout the movie, though the pieces work both on their own and together so well I wouldn't call it a flaw. I do think this would have benefited from a larger budget and improved production values, but they manage to tell the story effectively with what they had to work with. The largest issue with this might be a handful of artifacts left over from it being edited for television: on occasion, this includes title cards showing you the name of the movie before cutting back to the story. Jarring, but hardly a deal-breaker.

In case it wasn't clear, that adds up to a recommendation, something I'm bringing up prior to the synopsis in case anyone reading would like to watch this before I start spoiling the whole damn movie.

The story centers around Mikey (Bamber Todd), a troubled boy being raised along with his younger brother, Sean (Joshua McLees), by a struggling single mother (Laura Donnelly, who played Elsa Bloodstone from the Werewolf by Night Halloween special) trying to make ends meet by working as a cashier in a small grocery store. The movie opens with Mikey getting into trouble for a variety of pranks and petty crimes, which have a bit of a proto-heist vibe to them. Meanwhile, we see a man dressed as Santa Claus (James Nesbitt, who in addition to playing one of the dwarves in the Hobbit trilogy had a significant role in Millions, one of my favorite British Christmas movies) rob a bank at gunpoint and use the presence of a Santa Run to escape into the woods. Mikey catches a glimpse of him heading into the forest but isn't yet aware of the robbery.

His mother, Patricia, is meanwhile dealing with the stress of raising two boys while holding down a job, none of which is helped by her boss being an authoritative bully. Her store is also running a Christmas drawing for a kid's bike, which is coincidentally what her younger son wants. When the police show up with Mikey after catching him in an act of vandalism, it sheds some light on their living conditions (limited food and heat). This means a visit from civil services is scheduled, which Patricia knows could result in her losing the boys.

Mikey, now aware of the bank robbery, heads into the woods and encounters a old man (Timothy Spall) dressed as Santa with a bump on his head claiming he's the real Santa, he fell off his sleigh, and that Rudolph will be back for him. We know this isn't the robber, but Mikey concludes otherwise, chocking up the rest to amnesia. He collects some blankets and food for the man and promises to help him hide out from the police in exchange for half the money (the old man is very confused but welcomes the help).

While gathering said supplies, Mikey gets in a fight with his mother, who strikes him. She immediately feels awful but is unable to make amends immediately. Instead, she returns to her job and works on a heist of her own: stuffing the box for the drawing in an attempt to win the bike for Sean using a friend's name and phone number. This should have worked but doesn't: she soon discovers the eventual winner was a similar plant chosen by her boss, who stuffed the box, as well. She finds proof and confronts him. He pleads with her not to contact his superiors, offering her quite a bit in exchange for her silence. But all she wants is time off to apologize to Mikey for striking him and for her boss not to open the store on Christmas, as he'd been planning.

By now, Mikey's adventures have picked up steam... and he's not alone. Sean followed him into the woods and quickly concluded the kind old man claiming to be Santa is the real deal. And for good reason: he looks and acts the part, and it gradually becomes clear he has some abilities we'd expect. In particular, he approaches and speaks to a police dog searching the woods, and the animal listens to him as if it understands.

But remember how there's two Santas in this movie? The actual robber comes across Mikey, Sean, and Santa and learns what Mikey's after. He also learns Mikey knows the location of a house belonging to a wealthy family on vacation he might be able to hide out in. This kicks off the last act, which involves a series of events where the robber leverages the brothers' disagreements to play them off of each other, and Santa does all he can to encourage everyone to be kind and not escalate the situation.

Mikey, however, just wants the money. He eventually steals it, resulting in a chase sequence involving the police, Santa, and the robber. The police catch up with the wrong Santa and one of them - against the orders of his supervisor - shoots. Fortunately he misses, but Santa falls over and hurts himself.

At this point, we learn "real Santa" isn't really Santa. He's a former cop with dementia who the more experienced police officer recognizes. He was able to seemingly speak to the police dog, because training those dogs had been his job for years.

This... actually counts as a twist in a movie like this. Spall instills the kind of offbeat wisdom this kind of thing typically uses to signal a character is the real deal. But this reveal is better suited for the tone of this movie - it's a nice change of pace (though, in the interest of full disclosure, there's a cheesy red light in the sky at the end to imply maybe he is the real deal to young kids). But we're not there yet.

First, we get a somewhat climatic battle on construction equipment between Mikey and the robber. Fortunately, Patricia shows up and lends a hand: they wind up with the bag of cash, the robber runs off, and Mikey gets a concussion. Patricia donates the money to charity rather than keep it, despite the fact the police officer in charge - the same one who brought Mikey in at the beginning - all but gives her permission to hold onto it (she wants what's best for the kids, and is willing to sweep everything under the rug to protect everyone involved).

All this works because the movie pulls off the drama. A lot of the credit belongs with Donnelly, who has to sell her character's exhaustion and manage to hold the audience's sympathy even after slapping her son (she pulls this off by conveying how bad she feels).

As you'd expect, there are parallels between Patricia and Mikey's arcs, as both struggle with cruel antagonists who they begin to resemble before correcting course. It of course helps the comedic sequences are funny and engaging, particularly the opening bit with Mikey's antics and the robbery. We're supposed to have fun with all this until it's time to assess whether we've been celebrating the wrong stuff.

The ending feels a touch abrupt - we never really get confirmation that things work out for Patricia or that the danger of the government splitting up the family doesn't materialize. The movie just sort of implies everything's fine with a credits sequence showing Sean playing with his bike, which... I don't know... maybe Santa got him? It's unclear, but movies are supposed to be impressionistic so let's not overthink it.

I love that this had the courage to make it relatively clear that Santa wasn't who he believed. Even with the silly shot at the end, the movie was pretty clear it wasn't reverting to magic or miracles: that's not the way these typically go. That's not really why I'm recommending this, though. The real factor here is this delivers effective drama and whimsical comedy in a grounded setting. It all adds up to an enjoyable, moving experience you'd be wise to check out.