Tinsel Town Review: Kiefer Sutherland gets into the Christmas spirit for an incredibly meta tribute to pantomime theater
Plot: After hitting a rough patch in his career, Bradley Mac (Kiefer Sutherland) signs a contract to appear in a British pantomime production of Cinderella. While navigating his decision, he reconnects with his daughter and discovers a love for live theater.
Review: When I sat down to watch Tinsel Town, I went into the experience thinking I’d get something halfway to Hallmark with a light dusting of hokey holiday cheer. Not only was I correct, but that’s exactly what I needed to get into the spirit as we approach the coming weeks of Christmas light displays, Black Friday sales, and charity barkers who strategically assault you as you’re walking into the local food store.
What I did not plan for was watching a film so incredibly meta that I’d tip my hat to how clever it is, as it has an Inception-like quality regarding its presentation as a pantomime within a pantomime with its over-the-top players, paper-thin plot, and love language for turning a Hollywood Scrooge into a staple of British theatrics.
In Tinsel Town, Kiefer Sutherland plays Bradley Mac, a Hollywood has-been not entirely unlike Sutherland’s real-life persona, who, in a fit of disbelief at the trajectory of his falling star, enthusiastically joins a British stage production, thinking it will reinvigorate his career. When he arrives, he discovers the production is a pantomime of Cinderella, a gig not as illustrious as he would have thought. After being left with little choice but to honor his contract for the show, Brad embraces his circumstances and castmates while also reconnecting with his young daughter, who lives in the area.
Tinsel Town paints Bradley as a real piece of work. He’s rude, dismissive, misogynistic, and above it all. Then, in traditional holiday film fashion, he begins to change, thanks mainly to the pantomime’s ragtag cast of kooky characters, and Jill, the production’s choreographer, played by Rebel Wilson. Through a series of personal interactions, entanglements, and embarrassing setbacks, Bradley eventually learns to accept his circumstances and even begins to love what he’s contractually obligated to do.
I’m not here to convince anyone to love Tinseltown, but I urge you to meet the film where it stands. At its core, pantomime is an exaggerated, hyper-sexual interpretation of British theater. It’s supposed to be extreme, mawkish, and more than a little suggestive. In that regard, Tinsel Town nails what it’s going for, even if the movie often feels like it revolves entirely around Sutherland’s character and little else. We rarely see any substantial work getting done to make the pantomime great, mainly because we’re dealing with Mac’s failings as a father and his inability to treat people like human beings.
Some players manage to break free from Bradley’s shadow, though, including Rebel Wilson‘s Jill, who has her own hurdles to clear, thanks to an intrusive ex and the demanding choreography of the show to manage. While my experience with Wilson is limited, she appears to play against type in Tinsel Town, allowing her natural charm to shine through. She and Sutherland share some nice scenes, and their relationship never ventures beyond professional, a rare direction, especially for a holiday film.
Other stand-out performances include Derek Jacobi as Albert, a kind-hearted pantomime veteran, who in a span of minutes delivers the film’s best scene as Albert tells Bradley about his late husband. Mawaan Rizwan is a treat as Nigel, a happy-go-lucky everyman with too many jobs and a smile for every occasion. At the same time, Maria Friedman slays as Brenda, a perpetually-horny spitfire always looking for a tush to squeeze and a quiet place to smoke a joint.
Meanwhile, a C or D plot revolving around Callum (Lucien Laviscount) and Izzy (Savannah Lee Smith) falls flat as we follow the couple through an uninteresting will-they-or-won’t-they dance throughout the film’s duration. While both performers are charming, their part in the overall scheme feels inconsequential at best. Ultimately, I didn’t care if they got together or not, and their story exists simply because it’s part of the blueprint for a movie like this. If a union doesn’t happen between Bradley and Jill, it will have to happen with someone else. That’s just how it goes.
Tinsel Town feels cringeworthy at first, but like any good holiday drama, it began to warm the center of my sentimental heart with its love of pantomime theaterics and interspersed moments of genuine charm. There’s an “apology sequence” in the third act between Bradley and his young daughter, Emma (Matilda Firth), that I thought was well-handled, which helped sell Bradley’s metamorphosis from a self-important celebrity to someone who is genuinely trying to be a better person. While Bradley’s turnaround is quite miraculous, given how long he’d been staying in England, finding a new calling can work wonders on the soul.
Tinsel Town will not be for everyone, but if you’re feeling like you need a pick-me-up this holiday season, you could find something special in this totally self-aware meta-narrative about celebrity, expectations, and tribute to pantomime theater. At its start, I expected the film to go off like a Christmas Cracker with no pop, but I was proven wrong time and again with a simple story told well and with heart. It might not be a new Christmas classic, but theater geeks are going to love it.
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