Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Like all French film comedy dialogs are almost impossible to translate into another language, a pity because this is a comedy feast of humor, sometimes very dark. The story is simple, it is just an excuse to create a series of hilarious situations in which actors are a pleasure to spread wickedness and stupidity from the sublime sometimes flirt with the excellent taste bad. I do not know if the French actors (Josiane Balasko, Thierry Lhermitte, Gérard Jugnot, Anemone, Martin Lamotte, Bruno Moynot, Anne-Claire Chazel, Christian Clavier, Jacques François) are known in the Anglo-Saxon world, they are famous France for their many comedies, often acidic. The American remake is a true abomination, that it is better never see.

A huge French comedy classic that is available to English speakers on amazon.co.uk. The story revolves around 5 main characters...all weirder than the next: a psychopath dressed as Santa, his dumb pregnant girlfriend and 3 volunteers working for SOS Distress (a help line). It all takes place on Dec 24th and goes really wrong in an extremely funny way. It's definitely a dark comedy but it's simply hilarious. The awesome dialogues just keep coming and it all escalates to even darker and funnier moments. The actors were all part at that time of "Le Splendid" comedy group. They made a few movies together including "Les Bronzes font du Ski" which is excellent too (also available on amazon uk). Anyway, for anyone interested in French comedies, this one is one of the best!!

This is probably the first time I've read all the previous comments for a given movie and found not a single pan so far be it for me to go against the consensus. I've long been a fan of 'Splendid' both as a group and later as individuals (in fact I'm just about to add my comment on 'Monsieur Batignole' a comparatively new film by triple-threat Gerard Jugnot, the 'Felix' from pere noel) and this represents them at their very best, which is saying something indeed. I missed, alas, the original stage version of Pere Noel but the good news is it's now available on DVD so it's automatically on my 'must have' list. It's also going to be difficult to improve on the raves already posted here so really the best one can do is add to them. I think it's fair to say that this movie gives a new meaning to the old gag 'the Samaritans call ME', given that the main setting (it started out as a play, remember) is the run-down offices of SOS distresse amitie, the French equivalent of the Samaritans which is invaded - against the no-face-to-face contact Rule, natch, by three assorted fruitcakes - four, if you count Felix-and-how-could-you-not - the santa claus-suited, gun-toting boyfriend of the slightly enceinte Zezette (Marie-Ann Chaval). The most rational thing you can say about this is that it's difficult to separate the fruitcakes - Gerard Jugnot, Bruno Mayot, Marie-Ann Chaval, Christian Clavier, from the 'staff', Anemone, Thierry Lhermitte, Josiane Balasko, in fact the title of the pathetic American remake 'Mixed Nuts' says it all (but don't rush to see it, it's light years away from the original on the wrong galaxy side). Incredibly they pack all the mayhem into one hour twenty eight minutes and that includes the best part of a minute on Establishing Shots. To attempt to describe the labyrinthine plot is a new way to grow schizoid so suffice it to say this is THE surreal comedy they all have to beat. 10/10

There are some movies that you can watch several times and each time you find them better. Le père noël, after a play of the same name, is definitely among these. The dialogs are so rich (and always funny), that every watching reveal you a reply you didn't notice. Every character is well defined and written by/for the actor who plays it with a rare intensity. That's a movie you can't describe or quote out of its context and just have to watch. If you're French, you might already have seen it several times, so this movie is popular here, otherwise I suggest you to watch it, hoping you'll share this typical French "humour".