Rick Santorum Produced A Movie! It Is A Big Stinky Flop.

[DonRedwood]

From the Guardian U.K.:

The power of prayer has failed to save The Christmas Candle, the new release from Rick Santorum's faith based film studio, EchoLight.

The Christmas Candle, set in the fictional English village of Gladbury and billed as "a timeless holiday film for the entire family", attracted widespread critical scorn as well as dismal box-office results, having grossed just over $1.6m (£988,000) after two weeks on release.

The bad reviews were perhaps predictable, with the New York Daily News saying: "This odd Dickens-meets-Sunday-school movie is as artless as the setup is muddled", while the New York Post judged: "This throwback, made-for-TV-style film takes the easy way out in a cheesy climax, but its resolute quaintness may appeal to the kind of viewers who regard electricity as disturbingly newfangled." The Arizona Republic called it "resolutely stiff and hollow".

Former presidential candidate Santorum, who took to the media shortly before the film's release to lambast Hollywood as "the devil's playground" will presumably find it easy to shrug off critical brickbats; less easy to swallow will be the ignominious box office results. Its opening weekend, on a small "platform" release on just 5 screens, took a respectable $68,000; but in its second week, when it expanded to over 390, it took less than $1m. The crucial screen average was an extremely moderate $2,500, putting it below the likes of The Best Man Holiday, Narco Cultura, and bodybuilding doco Generation Iron - and far beneath Catching Fire and Philomena.

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/nov/25/christmas-candle-movie-flop-rick-santorum

Wait, What?? Rick Santorum produced something out of touch with the American people? Something that they have no interest in being a part of? Are we talking about his presidential run?

Happy Monday people.

[SoCalDem]

1. This kind of schlock belongs on the Hallmark Channel

or one of the MANY "family" channels we now have. It is NOT theater material.

[Turbineguy]

2. Probably should have included

a few public hanging scenes. Santorum's type of Christians eat that shit up.

[Blanks]

13. It might have helped his reviews anyway. Eom

[Laelth]

3. Profound art is cutting-edge and speaks to reality.

Neanderthals who live in a false-reality construct are incapable of producing profound art.

-Laelth

[hatrack]

4. "Gladbury"? I'll certainly be glad when his political ambitions are buried

Beyond that, I wasn't aware that the world was crying out for the next incarnation of "Love's Turgid Silence" or "Love's Lumbering Symbolism" or whatever the hell they are.

Sounds like the cinematic equivalent of a Thomas Kinkade painting.

[Control-Z]

18. Ha! I had the misfortune of

hearing Santorum talking about this new film on some talk radio show. I swear, he did describe it as a Thomas Kinkade painting!

[hatrack]

22. The movie does sound like a festive, frothy mix of Yuletide joy, I must admit . . . .

[Ian David]

5. This is all Obama's fault. n/t

[Douglas Carpenter]

6. poor Ricky Santorum, he just can't do anything right.

I do think he would make a wonderful Republican nominee for President in 2016 though

[Javaman]

7. I don't think anyone could have predicted this!

except for most of America.

[yeoman6987]

10. Santorum movie

I wonder how much it cost to be made. That would at least show how bad the movie did. If it was made with 20 grand then not bad. If it was made with 5 million then total failure. Not enough facts and the story does not match the article title.

[Blanks]

14. Just the cost of providing an entire fictional community...

With those silly ass sweaters of his - probably cost more than they're ever going to recoup.

[JHB]

19. Even your high guess lowballed it:

“The Christmas Candle” had a tight budget of just $7 million, but it does have some modest star power — Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle has a speaking role. It was produced by another outfit; EchoLight is distributing it in the U.S.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/rick-santorum-film-christmas-candle-debuts-theaters-article-1.1526208

[KamaAina]

25. Oh, so Susan Boyle wasn't working directly for Frothy Mixture

BIG sigh of relief!

[Arkana]

8. Yes, much like Santorum himself.

[JitterbugPerfume]

9. He was talking about it last week with Colbert

it was one of the few times that I did not finish watching one of Colberts interviews.

[KamaAina]

24. Why did Colbert give him air time to promote that bilge?

[L0oniX]

11. Rick Sanitarium

[PassingFair]

12. Can't be as good as "Christmas with a Capital C". Evil atheist comes to town to wage WAR on Xmas!

This was actually made!

[progressoid]

20. It got 4.7 stars on IMDB. That's better than Sharknado!

Normally youtube comments are depressing, but these are pretty good:

Cthullu With a Capital C!

A movie so awesome, even Stephen Baldwin wasn't good enough for it. So they got Daniel instead.

Disclaimer: This trailer may make you want to stick nails in the palms of your hands. And not in a good way.

How the Strawman Stole Christmas

[Blanks]

15. I wonder how it stands up to my family's Christmas movie 'The Ref'...

With Dennis Leary. I expect 'The Ref' has just a smidgen more profanity, but I don't think I'll watch Santorum's flick to compare.

[malaise]

16. Choking with laughter

[Berlum]

17. ALERT: This film is Republicon Black Ops in the War on Christmas

Where is Billy O (R)? when he is not needed? AWOL again? Typical Republicon.

[FSogol]

21. LOL, Of course, all the critics are members of the godless liberal media hoping to derail

Santorum's righteous ascendancy to the Presidency of this Christian nation!

I'll never stop at Santorum. Blow some more cash, Santorum.

[Blue Owl]

23. As refreshing as froth on a dingleberry

n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

26. No one wants a holiday candle covered in Santorum?

Why not?

[DJ13]

27. Since its "Santorum"

Shouldnt that be a big stinky "PLOP"?

[Gothmog]

28. I am shocked, shocked I tell that Santorum could fail at this project

Rick is an idiot and so I am not surprised by this failure. Maybe Rick can use the rest of his financial resources on the third episode of Atlas Shrugs.

[tanyev]

29. See? PROOF that Christians are being persecuted in this country!

People should be forced to go see their crappy movies just to even the playing field!

[Nine]

30. So funny. I just read a description of this the other day.

I was just looking at IMDB's list of "now playing" for a family film. Here's the description:

http://www.imdb.com/showtimes/title/tt2739338

Deep in the heart of the English countryside lies the enchanting village of Gladbury. Legend has it every 25 years an angel visits the village candlemaker and touches a single candle. Whoever lights this candle receives a miracle on Christmas Eve. But in 1890, at the dawn of the electric age, this centuries old legend may come to an end. When David Richmond (Hans Matheson), a progressive young minister, arrives in Gladbury, the villagers discover a new formula for miracles: good deeds and acts of kindness. While David's quest to modernize Gladbury sets him at odds with the old world candlemaker, he finds an unlikely ally in the lovely skeptic, Emily Barstow (Samantha Barks). Now, the fiery candlemaker must fight to preserve the legacy of the Christmas Candle. But when the candle goes missing, the miraculous and human collide in the most astonishing Christmas the village of Gladbury has ever seen.

I couldn't make any sense of it. "Muddled set-up" sounds exactly right.

[MrScorpio]

31. I checked out the IMDB on this flick.

It's got more sockpuppets in the review and comment sections than I have socks in my sock drawer.

Apparently, Santorum's money is also being spent to counter bad publicity, of which, there is a lot of going around.

He'll probably try to palm this crap off to the rubes in the mega churches and to the religious networks.

I'm sure that he's losing his shirt on this boondoggle.

It couldn't have happened to a better right wing drooling bigot, whose knuckles are raw from dragging them around so much.