Fatman Is Lean on Wokeness

Not enough people have seen this movie. I love traditional Christmas films, but if you want to add something unorthodox to the usual classics, I highly recommend Fatman (2020). It's a unique black comedy with fantastic turns by the always-great Walton Goggins and an on-his-game Mel Gibson as the titular Santa. It's a bit bloodier than Miracle on 34th Street, but it actually carries a good message and honors the Christmas spirit.

I consider myself very sensitive to wokeness, but nothing about this movie bothered me. Some may be annoyed by the fact that Mrs. Claus is played by a black actress with a British accent, citing forced race-swapping. Perhaps, but I really enjoyed her performance, and found the relationship between these Clauses to be very charming and "realistic." The only other thing worth mentioning is a scene which shows photos of some parents whose kids got gifts from Santa. We see a female firefighter whose daughter received a toy fire truck, and then a male chef whose son received a toy oven. A little eye-rolly maybe, but no major crime. Otherwise, just your run-of-the-mill, violent dark comedy starring "Chris" Kringle.