It's bad enough that Crystal Bernard's boss is officious and demanding, but do we need to see it in the running of the North Pole? Santa has a right-hand man who is so officious that you want to see him turned into stocking coal. This creates a very unpleasant opening to a Christmas comedy that has a retiring Santa demanding that his son (Steve Guttenberg) get married. Just like that. Sweet Mrs. Claus is also as demanding, although jolly old St. Nick just seems like a little boy in a fat santa suit.

So now Guttenberg hits the big city, looking for miss right and finds it with the widowed Bernard who has a young son. Joyful Joyful. Christmas movies of the past 25 years have been a very mixed bag, and there is something about the new fashion that makes the old fashioned much more desirable. New trends aren't necessarily a good representation of the holiday spirit, and this is very depressing with the agenda it presents.

You get all of the Christmas joy in the music and in props oh, but there's a phoniness in modern society that just makes this irritating from the start. The acting for the most part create a bunch of obnoxious characters, and it makes me long for a sleigh that will take me through a Time Tunnel back in 1946 when I could find a wonderful life with James Stewart or hopefully a revival house starring Barbara Stanwyck taking me to Connecticut for Christmas. Guttenberg is fine but he has no chemistry with Bernard.

One wonders why Hallmark aired this Christmas-theme movie in the summer. "Christmas in July," perhaps? Whatever the reason, it's not a very good film. Much more fairy tale than romance, it's quite far out. It may appeal some to little kids and families. But it may have trouble holding older children and adults.

Steve Guttenberg's Nicholas, or "Nick," is a likeable and kind guy; but he's gushing over with it here ad nauseam. His "Ho, ho, ho" laughter a few times is terribly hokey. He even draws a somewhat scornful look from Beth the first time, as though this might not have been rehearsed and she thought it wasn't quite right.

Crystal Bernard plays Beth, who appears to be non-stop working in this film. She has a boss that doesn't let up. Yet, for all her nights and weekends of work, she still has time for her son and a friendship or two. It's a little hard to figure that out. Unless she may have to work nights because she's off so often during the daytime with Nick and others.

Anyway, if anyone worked as much as the movie tries to tell us she does, they would probably look a little haggard and show some physical signs of tiredness. But, Beth is perkier than ever after another light night of work.

This film just doesn't work, even with the dwarf people in the cast who serve as elves.

Made-for-TV, tame and lame. Must be the season of stupidity. Santa Claus(John Wheeler)is considering retirement and wants to turn over the reigns to his son Nick(Steve Guttenberg). But Santa is concerned because his son has yet to settle down become a family man. Ernst(Armiln Shimerman)actually runs the operations at the North Pole; and he hand picks three candidates for Nick to approve of. Nick surprisingly falls in love with a single mother Beth(Crystal Bernard),who has lost the Christmas spirit long, long ago. Will she be the next Mrs. Claus? Hokey deluxe. Also in the cast: Thomas Calabro, Dominic Scott Kay and Wendy Braun.