The Trailer Park Boys Christmas Special (TV Movie 2004) Poster

(2004 TV Movie)

User Reviews

Review this title
13 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
8/10
A Superb Prequel
AntonyCrowley30 January 2005
This is a must see for any fan of the Trailer Park Boys. Of course, I may be a little biased, as I love what is in my opinion, the only truly great show produced locally, but this prequel was entertaining from start to finish. It was particularly amusing to see J Roc before he became "leader of the Roc Pile", and how his decline into rapper culture came about. There's plenty of laughs, and if you're a fan of the series, you will appreciate the humour (though I understand that it's not for everyone).

When I first saw this, I was under the misunderstanding that this was the original movie on which the series was based, as the plot, era etc all seemed to fit, but the fact that it was written after gave the writers the benefit of foresight, and many amusing plot devices to tie into "future" episodes, and explain the way many things are. I still have yet to see the original movie, but if it's half as good as this, it will be well worth watching.
20 out of 24 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
9/10
Really, Really, Really GOOD
slaphappy500014 February 2020
Ignore the 2 negative reviews. how anyone could not find this 46 mins. of the best TPB ever, is beyond me. great fun to see the origins of some TPB staples/relationships. also fun to see the park in a different season, w/sonw, etc. poignant too! some of the best TPB ever!
6 out of 7 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
9/10
Remember, it's Christmas, 1997
Tyler_Simpson2 December 2014
Warning: Spoilers
The TPB Christmas Special what else can I say but ho ho holy $h!t is this funny. The prefect way to get into The TPB or the Xmas spirit. This bit of an origin story for The Boys clears up any questions you may have about the boys prior to the series debut April 22, 2001. Two days after 420. Go figure aha. Anywho. In this special you get the answers to; How Randy & Lahey came to be, a bit about Lucy & Julians relationship,Rickys stupidity and of course the story behind Laheys "couple of drinks around Christmas time. And it couldn't be more heart warming with Bubbles starting off the Special with with kitty NAR NAR.

The rest of Special consists of the Boys typical antics stealing presents from cars with candy cane crowbars. We see Jamie instead of J- Roc working as a smarter Corey and Trevor with Tyrone BEFORE they smoked dope and got into the rap game, Randal the Male Prostitute Elf.

There could be plenty more spoilers I could say but anyone who's a fan of the Boys knows how "thats just how she goes". Nothings gonna surprise you the 10th time round but its still elfin hilarious every time, Murrrrayy Christmas ho-ho-holy $h!t

T.O.P.S
5 out of 7 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
Absolute brilliance!
NICO90003 December 2005
Having just been exposed to TPB on a recent visit to Montreal, I brought back seasons 1-4 on DVD and just got the Xmas special in the mail. Why this hasn't made it to the States is beyond mysterious to me. Too rough? Too white trash? Nope, just too damn funny and it's a crime HBO or Showtime haven't picked this up. There's a whole country full of people like this here... The comments on the boards are right: This one answers all kinds of questions about how and why these characters are who they are. Hilariously sick, this episode is also extremely touching (won't give it away!). Believe it or not, you'll actually learn something about the true meaning of Christmas from Julian, Ricky, and Bubbles. If you're a fan, you know you need this. If you're new to the show, it's better to watch the episodes from the beginning and watch this after series 4. Bring on the movie, boys!
20 out of 22 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
Classic Canadian Entertainment
Irishdrunk21 November 2005
The Trailer Park Boys Christmas Special is a prequel to the hit TV series, but was filmed in 2004 after season 4. Sunnyvale trailer park is getting ready for the holiday season and Julian's got a great idea to make money this Christmas, but Lahey is there as usual to spoil his fun. The special takes place before Jamie was J-roc, before Randy and Lahey were a couple, and before the shitmobile was missing a door. You haven't seen a male prostitute until you've seen Randy in his elf outfit. This show isn't for everyone but if you love to get drunk and laugh your arse off at a bunch of stoner Canadian's you will love this. It's perfect for entertaining friends at holiday.
10 out of 13 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
Trailer Park Fun!
rvesterli4 February 2019
Don't listen to Rusty Nails 30 review, if you are a true Trailer Park Boys fan, you will love anything and everything put on film with these guys.

( you can tell by Rusty Nails 30 review that he only saw season 1, so he is most likely not a true Trailer Park Boys fan to leave such a ridiculous and negative review)
5 out of 7 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
A Trailer Park Boys Christmas
scottsetchell26 December 2018
Warning: Spoilers
It's Christmas Eve 1997 at the trailer park. Bubbles has an unopened gift from his parents that he won't open until they come back to see him. Lucy gives Julian a mistletoe belt buckle but he refuses to take it. Julian bails Ricky out of jail who is always locked up on Christmas. Julian has a Christmas light contest and the winner gets a big screen TV.

Bubbles takes Julian's car to pick up Ricky from jail. Ricky is planning to party for 12 days and nights with the guards and inmates. When he finds out Julian bailed him out, he's very disappointed. Bubbles tells him Lucy wants to get back together with him and the car is a present from Julian.

Lucy gives Ricky a Christmas list of things her and Trinity need in order for them to get back together. Lucy wants a fur coat. Ricky hopes Santa will take care of it all. Julian plans to steal gifts out of cars at the mall and Ricky finds gifts for Trinity.

Barb is picking up food and finds Randy dressed in an elf costume hooking for burgers. She takes him back to the trailer and introduces him to Jim. Randy knows Jim as Simon and Jim knows Randy as Smokey. They agree to call each other Mr. Lahey and Randy.

Cory and Trevor tell Randy that all the Christmas trees in the park are stolen and Lahey calls in the cops. They take all the stolen trees but have no evidence to arrest Ricky and Julian.

Ray makes the boys go to midnight mass at the church. Ricky walks down the aisle selling dope while the minister is speaking. Ricky gives Lucy a gift, Cory and Trevor messed up and she walks out. Lahey and Randy show up wasted and Lahey fights Ricky and blames Bubbles for stealing. Bubbles leaves and Barb divorces Jim. Ricky gets on stage and gives a speech about getting drunk and stoned with your family. He gives away all his dope and goes back to the park to see Bubbles.

Bubbles is starting up a bond fire when Julian sees Lahey cut the power and ruined his light contest. Ricky gets on his roof and throws down his Christmas decorations to burn. Bubbles realizes when he's with Ricky and Julian he's with his family. He opens the gift from his parents and it's a bubble maker. There's a letter inside explaining why they left and that Julian is there to take care of him.

The day after the New Year, everyone in the park has their own New Years resolution.

In this Christmas special, they give us lots of insight as to how things came to be in the trailer park. Julian gives Ricky his car and within a week it becomes the car we know, without a passenger door and all beat up. J-Roc and Tyler (T) are on the same level as Cory and Trevor, doing the boys dirty work and they smoke dope for the first time. Lahey and Barb get divorced and Randy comes into Lahey's life as more than a drunk male prostitute.

It takes place a few years before Season one and was released after Season four.
2 out of 4 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
6/10
Worth checking out to see if it will be your kind of thing, great for fans
squirrel_burst31 December 2014
Having seen all of the episodes of the Canadian television series "Trailer Park Boys" I can assure you that if you're a fan of the show, you're going to dig the Christmas special. If you're not a fan, I think the short running time makes it at least worth your while so you can choose for yourself whether or not you want to keep going and catch more of the boys. The series (and this movie), is shot documentary style, with a group of camera men following the residents of Sunnyville Park. The trailer park is filled with colourful characters, the most notable of which are the three boys: Ricky (Robb Wells) a dope-dealing idiot , Julian (John Paul Tremblay) a greedy crook who will stop at nothing to make a buck and their not particularly clever, but earnest friend Bubbles (Mike Smith). This holiday season, Julian is up to his old tricks again. He's stealing Christmas presents and decorations and re-selling them to the residents of the park in order to make cash. To avoid distractions from Ricky's ex-girlfriend, he bails out his friend from jail (something Ricky isn't particularly pleased about because he loves being incarcerated during the holidays). Meanwhile, Bubbles just wants to have a merry Christmas, something that hasn't really happened since he was abandoned by his parents as a child.

With the commercial breaks, this movie comes to about an hour, so you're looking at about a 46 minute special on DVD. If you're a fan of the series, it's actually a prequel episode (set in 1997) that shows the origins of a lot of the characters' crippling problems, most notably the alcoholic park supervisor Jim Lahey (John Dunsworth) and his lover, the male prostitute Randy (Patrick Roach). The series stays true to its roots by giving us a Christmas special... that's not particularly heart warming, still contains just as many stupid stunts from the boys and has plenty of cursing, drinking and dope. The special was technically aired as an episode, but as far as I know, it isn't included in any of the season box sets, so if you're a big fan of the show, I think you'll find yourself adding this to your regular queue of Christmas films, if only because the running time is less than an hour and it breaks up all of that Christmas cheer nicely. If you're not a fan of the show, this special is a nice introduction, but if the humor isn't your cup of tea, I don't think this story will change your mind.

I'm a casual fan of the show, having seen most of it more by happenstance than by actually physically going out of my way to catch it when it was playing on Showcase. I have only mild affection for it, but I do recommend that you check it out, because why not really. If you're a fan of Sunnyvalle, I think you'll go nuts for "The Trailer Park Boys Christmas Special". (On DVD, December 24, 2014)
5 out of 7 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Pretty good prequel
shalomane29 August 2005
I thought that this was a pretty good prequel but I did think that it answered to many questions that didn't need answers. I thought that the idea of the special taking place in 1997, before the series started was a great idea. My problem was that there was too much information given and we were told about the reason for almost everything that takes place in the park. I don't think that we needed to know why everything happens and how each detail of park life began.

I was very amused by the way that the park brings Christmas to life and the way that the park looks in the winter. The boys slipping and sliding in the snow and having problems driving in winter was great. I live in a place that has very long winters and I was very happy that the show was very true to how it really is to live in winter.

Poor Bubbles was probably my favorite part of the show, for those of you who haven't seen this show, I recommend that you see it for Bubbles if for no other reason.

I am a very committed TPB fan and own the first 4 seasons on DVD and as such I think that I am qualified to give you all my opinion.

I have to say once again that it was a great special but my intelligence was insulted slightly.

Thank you for listening.
6 out of 13 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
6/10
A Nice Special Even for Some Boys on the Naughty List
yourfavoritecritic21 December 2020
Releasing shortly after the finale of the fourth season, the Trailer Park Boys Xmas Special is a 45 minute long prequel to the TV series. Taking place in December of 1997 this Christmas special sees the boys up to their old ways, with Ricky being bailed out of jail at the start as to help Julien with his Christmas scheme. However most interestingly the audience is treated to seeing Jaime before he became J-Roc as well as, Jim and Barbra Lahey still being married with Lahey and Randy formally meeting each other as Barb takes him in over Christmas. The special plays out like an elongated episode, which is definitely not a bad thing unless you're not a fan of the Trailer Park Boys formula. For me this special mostly worked, it featured subpar writing and some goofy jokes although outside of its Christmas theme I did not find it all too special. I liked Ricky's epiphany near the end but the most enjoyable aspect for me came from the aforementioned setup of some seeing characters in positions that are different from their circumstances in the series. It was charming to hear some characters talk about their plans for the future when we know as the audience how it will play out. It should be noted though that I do not recommend this special for first-time viewers; similar to a film like Rogue One, the Trailer Park Boys Xmas Special you will get the most out of this special if you've been a viewer of the TV show and have some recollection of the events/characters in the show. I am sure most people who view this special are already Trailer Park Boys fans, however, there probably are some outliers who will check out the special without having any context of who some of the characters are and it will hurt their experience. I doubt it's a story that will pull in any new viewers, it is a perfectly fine special that I'm sure will please even the most casual of Trailer Park Boys fan and for that reason, I am giving the Trailer Park Boys Xmas Special a 6/10. I do recommend this short for anyone who is a fan of the series and I possibly see myself getting some rewatches out of it during the holiday season.
2 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
was this a mistake?
rustynails303 January 2005
This super hyped up episode was by far the worst episode I have ever watched. I own the first season DVD's which are the best of all of these shows. This episode had tired jokes, a sad script that I could have written in a coma, and tried to rely too much on the shows past success. If you are a fan of this show, don't waste the 1 hour of your life watching this, I guarantee you'll want it back. For some reason the date when it aired said 1997, that would have given it a excuse but it was made in 2004. So what happened? Most of my friends turned the channel out of disappointment after 10 minutes. If you must watch this for the sake of saying you did, don't say you haven't been warned.
7 out of 77 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
1/10
Love the TPB's but this was a lame episode.
marydugal23 October 2007
Love the TPB's but this was a lame episode. Didn't have the same feel that the series or the movie has. Looked like it was put together in a hurry. I didn't enjoy it at all. The so-called acting was awful. The cast appeared like they knew this was a money-grab of an episode to get to market quickly. I hope we don't have an easter special next because that will be it for me. The writing of this episode was definitely Mike Clattenburg's worst in the history of this show. The direction left a lot to be desired and I almost felt bad for the cast and crew of this weak attempt at a Christmas special. Like I said, I love the TPB's but this one goes to the trash bin.
2 out of 16 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
4/10
Move Over Charlie Brown Christmas ! We Have Uhh...This SHlT !!!
nebohr16 December 2020
Yeah. Low Humor Abounds. Bubbles (A Grown Adult) While Crying About How His Parents Left Him Is Too Blind To Knit But Still Goes Through The Motions. Julian (Another Grown Adult) And His Annual Contest To See Who Can Steal And Display The Most Christmas Lights In Order To Win...Wait For It...A Stolen Television. Everything Is G.D. This And F. That. I Bet Jesus Is Amused. Ricky (The Third Grown Adult Of The Trio) Would Rather Spend The Holidays In Jail Where, Apparently, Everyone Is Under The Influence Of Drugs And Booze. We Can't Watch Any More Of This TRASH So No Telling How It Works Out. I Now Understand Why They Are Called The Trailer Park BOYS.
1 out of 18 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

See also

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews


Clear your history

Recently Viewed