I'll Be Home for Christmas

Jake, a self-centered college student in California, has been avoiding Christmas with his family for years. His father offers him a classic Porsche if he shows up for Christmas Eve dinner in New York. Before Jake can set out, a prank by members of the football team leaves him stranded in the California desert wearing a Santa suit, with no money and no identification. He has to find his own way across the country before the deadline, while his girlfriend Allie, unaware of where he is, accepts a ride from his rival Eddie.

The film is a Christmas comedy directed by Arlene Sanford, working from a screenplay by Harris Goldberg and Tom Nursall. It was Sanford's second feature, following A Very Brady Sequel, and was released in November 1998. Jonathan Taylor Thomas plays Jake, with Jessica Biel as Allie, Adam LaVorgna as Eddie, and Gary Cole as Jake's father. The production, a Walt Disney Pictures release made with Mandeville Films and Kyra Productions, had a budget of about 30 million dollars and runs 86 minutes.

Reception was modest. On IMDb it holds a rating of 5.5 from more than eleven thousand votes, and on TMDB it sits at 6 out of 10 from a much smaller number of votes. A film critics' rating of 4 out of 10 from 43 reviews places it below even the middling audience scores. Sanford later returned to holiday material with Good Luck Charlie, It's Christmas! in 2011.