Ernest Saves Christmas
This page contains spoilers. "Ernest Saves Christmas" is currently available on dvd. It plays frequently on cable, as do all the Ernest movies, especially around Christmas.
Released in theaters in 1988, this is the biggest feature to date that Noelle has starred in. This was the second full-length Ernest movie, based on the character created by Jim Varney. Though I haven't seen them all in their entirety, to my mind this is the best, in large part because of Noelle's character, who matches Jim Varney's energy level, but whose cynical reactions balance his nerdy over-the-top enthusiasm. It's also much wittier than you might expect, and Noelle's character has a lot of good lines.
It won't give away the plot to tell you that Ernest saves Christmas, in this case, Santa Claus, who's lost in Florida. But Noelle's first name in fact means "Christmas" ("Christ's Mass" in french is Noel, which means song, but came to also mean the mass sung on Christmas), and it's her character's innocence and belief in Christmas, and by extension, all the cynics onscreen and all the jaded, holiday-saturated viewers offscreen, that he actually saves.
The story has been widely imitated since its release, since it's a good way of showing Santa Clause in a modern, urban setting. Santa Claus (Douglas Seale) is about to retire, and needs to find his replacement. He comes to Orlando, Florida, where he's narrowed it down to a kid's show host (probably for the Disney Channel). The host, Joe Carruthers (Oliver Clark), is in a bind: his show's been cancelled, and he's been offered a role in a movie (a highly-anticipated slasher film, in fact). Should he sell out his audience for a successful movie career, or should he listen to some old fool offering him the chance to be Santa Claus?
Ernest is a cabdriver who picks up Santa from the airport. Since his own house looks like it's decorated with giant discards from a North Pole Workshop, suspension of disbelief is not a problem for him. Right afterwards, he opens his cab door for a teen runaway, Harmony Starr ("Remember that name, it's gonna be famous someday" she tells people), who's just scammed a free meal at a local diner, and is on the run. She jumps in Ernest's cab, and is introduced to Santa Claus. "Surprised!?" asks Ernest, with lunatic glee. "No, not really" says Harmony, cautiously eying them both.
Harmony is a real tough cookie who immediately starts grilling Santa about his credentials. But he sees right through her, spotting her for the runaway that she is. Harmony just denies this, though, sticking to her worldly posture.
Problem is, even though this Santa is right on the money when it comes to people's hearts, his ignorance of modern ways can undermine his credibility, especially when he uses toy cash to pay off Ernest.
This only makes Harmony even more suspicious, who knows a lousy scam when she sees one.
Santa gets separated from his new "helpers", apprehended by the authorities after making contact with the kids' show host and being misunderstood by shark-like TV executives. Left with few resources, Ernest and Harmony decide to pay a visit to Ernest's old "buddy" Vern, a regular of these movies who never appears on camera. Ernest gets close up to the lens and annoys the heck out of him (and us). This time, though, he has help. Harmony takes over for him while he's otherwise occupied. Just in case we thought we were safe, Harmony shows she can get in our face as well as Ernest can, not to mention our holiday hors d'oeurves.
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