An interesting concept but only so-so as a film, this documentary, produced by Super Size Me's Morgan Spurlock, examines consumerism using Christmas as a focus. Reverend Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping travel from New York to California during the high holy days of shopping to raise consciousness concerning the move of Christmas from giving to recieving (Didn't the Puritans complain that Christmas was just an excuse to get drunk?).
The choir bits were interesting as they had a few mishaps on the way to Disneyland for Christmas day, but that wasn't enough to hold the film together. A few facts about American spending and debt, loosely titled sections combining Christian iconography and social satire, and interviews with three families about Christmas spending habits just didn't work as glue to make for compelling viewing.
I suppose the highlight was the climax as Reverend Billy and his choir sneaked in to Disneyland and then began their call to "Stop Shopping!" and Billy's subsequent arrest. The bewildered looks of visitors on Christmas day to the American Mecca was priceless, but still . . .
A tighter focus of some kind would have greatly helped this film. Again, very interesting concept, some entertaining parts, but it lacked cohesion.
Comments
I like how Gary North describes it in "The Magnificent Wastefulness of Christmas" (http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north148.html)