Richard Foster | Through the Shattered Lens

In 2014’s So This Is Christmas, Eric Roberts and Vivica A. Fox play a married couple!

That’s really not the plot of the film but it is probably the main reason why most people will watch it. Roberts and Fox have been frequent co-stars over the past few years, thanks to the “Wrong” films on Lifetime. In this film, we get to see them as a couple and, while they don’t exactly have the greatest romantic chemistry, we do get to watch as the sing a duet of Mary, Did You Know?

Both Eric Roberts and Vivica A. Fox get to do more actual acting than they usually do whenever they appear in low budget films like this one. Roberts is the father of Ashley (Lexi Ainsworth), an alcoholic teenager who leaves the house in sparkly booty shorts and who has a best friend who is supposed to be in high school but who appears to be about 40 years old. Fox is the mother of Jason (Titus Mankin, Jr.), who has a pregnant girlfriend and a growing cocaine addiction….

That may sound like some fairly heavy stuff for a Christmas movie. What’s interesting is that the film still largely takes a Hallmark approach, even while the characters are getting drunk, cursing, and nearly getting killed as a result. Ashley starts to change her ways when a groundskeeper named Mac (Bryan Massey) recruits her to help direct the Christmas show at the local shelter. Jason learns an important lesson after his girlfriend is put in a coma as a result of his own stupid decisions….

It’s kind of an unpleasant film, to be honest. Scenes of Ashley earnestly working on the play are mixed with smokey scenes of drug dealers threatening to kill everyone. It’s a mishmash of styles that doesn’t come together and, at nearly two hours, the film drags considerably.

That said …. Eric Roberts and Vivica A. Fox! Singing!

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed: