‘Candy Cane Lane’ Boss on Jillian Bell’s Vengeful Elf in Eddie Murphy Holiday Comedy
Preview
If your holiday movie wish list includes comic great Eddie Murphy, jump scares, car chases and kung fu fighting, then Christmas just came early.
In the rambunctious comedy film Candy Cane Lane (premiering December 1 on Prime Video), Murphy plays holiday fanatic Chris Carver, whose seasonal celebrations with hard-working wife Carol (Tracee Ellis Ross) and festively named children Joy, Holly and Nick (Genneya Walton, Madison Thomas and Thaddeus J. Mixson) are threatened when he’s suddenly laid off.
Winning the Candy Cane Lane house-decorating contest, which offers a huge cash prize to the best-lit home on the block, could save the most wonderful time of the year—and Chris stumbles upon a building stocked with Christmas decorations that should guarantee he wins it all. But the wildly elaborate decorations are cursed by wayward elf Pepper (Jillian Bell), who has nefarious plans for those she deems naughty, like Chris.
“Pepper takes the coal-in-stocking punishment to absurd lengths,” says director Reginald Hudlin, who is reuniting with Murphy for the first time since the 1992 comedy hit Boomerang. “She’s out to penalize anyone she thinks deserves it, and that includes pretty much everyone.”
Some of Pepper’s victims in the live-action movie have been stolen from their various eras and transformed into living glass Victorian-style figurines—voiced by Nick Offerman, Robin Thede (A Black Lady Sketch Show) and Saturday Night Live’s Chris Redd.
“They don’t get along that well,” notes Hudlin. “But they are allied in their urgent need to escape from Pepper’s clutches.”
Soon, “Twelve Days of Christmas” comes to life (seven swans a-swimming and all!), and chaos erupts. And the competition? “Now, instead of winning it all, Chris could lose it all,” says Hudlin.
Candy Cane Lane, Original Movie Premiere, Friday, December 1, Prime Video
This is an excerpt from TV Insider’s December issue. For more in-depth, reported coverage devoted to streaming shows from the publishers of TV Guide Magazine, pick up the issue, currently on newsstands, or purchase it online here. You can also subscribe to TV Insider Magazine here now.
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