If you are a child of the 1980s like me, you might look at The Santa Con (2014) and wonder how they got all these actors from the Thank God Its Friday (TGIF) lineup.  Actually, that is not quite accurate.  For example, I do not think Cheers(1982-1993) was ever a part of that weekend programming, which is where you would have seen John Ratzenberger.  Nor, I think, was Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996-2003), which starred Melissa Joan Hart, though that was more of a phenomenon of the 1990s.  Yet, I can tell you beyond the shadow of a doubt that Family Matters (1989-1998) was, and Jaleel White owes his career to that show.  All of these actors are in The Santa Con, but none are the main character in this Lifetime Channel production.  This little factoid is made odd by the fact that the lead does not appear on promotional material.  Of the reasons I chose it, this was low on the list.  Instead, the title enticed me because Kris Kringle is one of the biggest cons perpetrated on global society.  Luckily, the film has little to do with a dude in a red suit.

The only suits you see in the beginning of The Santa Con are orange ones worn by prison inmates like Nick DeMarco (Barry Watson). He is in a correctional facility for defrauding Yale University, posing as a tenure track history professor, among a string of other cons.  We meet him playing cards with computer hacker Paul Greenberg (Jaleel White), and the warden (John Ratzenberger).  Nick is nervous because he is set to go before a parole board the following day, but is assuaged by the warden, who has written Nick a letter of recommendation for release.  Despite Nick being less than convincing in his hearing, he is let out.  Another person unconvinced that he is reformed is Rose DeMarco (Melissa Joan Hart), his sister and the one giving him a ride home.  Despite her evident skepticism, she had made a promise to their mother before she died that she would give her brother a month to get his life together.  Part of this includes a job working in the mall as Santa Claus, listening to children making their gift requests known to the fictional present bringer.  Among the seekers is Billy Guthrie (Tucker Meek).  His mother and father, Carol (Melissa Sagemiller) and John Guthrie (Scott Grimes), are currently separated.  This has taken the biggest toll on Billy, who asks Nick in Santa form that his parents get back together for Christmas.  Nick is desirous of his shift being over and promises the kid that he will make it happen.  Overhearing this outrageous claim is Rose, who believes her brother to be unrepented in his criminal ways.  His explanation that he had been willing to say whatever in order to clock out and make it in time to get in a horse bet results in him being left behind.  Upon getting back to his sister’s place, he finds his bags packed and waiting for him at the front door.  His wanderings take him into a church where Pastor Ruth (Wendy Williams) is trying to decorate Christmas trees around the altar.  Seeing the pain in Nick’s eyes, she invites him to tell her what is troubling him.  There is something about her understanding nature that has him agreeing to her advice to fulfill Billy’s wishes, no matter how crazy it might sound to do so.  Essentially, he is given a mission, and his conviction to complete it has Rose letting her brother back inside her home.  From here, Nick must figure out a way to mend a family he has never met, and to do it in the week before Christmas.  The only skill he really has is in being a con man.  His first move is to dismiss the useless construction crew building an addition onto the Guthrie home.  He then poses as a contractor in order to gather information about their marital troubles.  Eventually, he learns that the marriage between Carol and John had been good up until a few months previous when he began drinking after being sober for years.  He had gone back to the bottle as a result of being duped out of a big advertisement deal at the company for which he worked, which led to him being fired.  When he came home drunk that night, breaking things and punching hole in the wall, Carol told him to leave.  Nick’s first attempt at getting Carol and John in the same room ends in disaster when an inebriated John stumbles into Billy’s recital wearing a stolen suit.  This development leaves Nick hopeless that he will be able to do anything positive, and it does not help that he is beginning to develop feelings for Carol.  Thus, he decides to leave by bus, but who should board the same conveyance than Pastor Ruth.  Essentially, she tells Nick that he is giving up too easily.  As such, he gets off the bus and bails John out of jail, learning what had led to him being let go from his job.  With this knowledge, and some help from the newly freed Paul, Nick is able to obtain proof that John was unfairly terminated.  Nick also gets John to attend alcoholics anonymous (AA) meetings, especially after getting a recording of Carol saying that she would take John back if her husband made definite steps at straightening out his life.  From here, Nick is able to get Carol to see John with an AA group, which leads to them agreeing to meet at John’s former office so that he can give his wife a present for Billy.  Unfortunately, this is the night that Steve Repperton (Alimi Ballard), the employee who had stolen John’s ideas and getting canned for his actions, decides to burn down the building.  Carol and John get trapped inside, but Nick, who had been about to reveal his feelings for Carol, pull the spouses out before they succumb to smoke inhalation.  When Carol awakens, he claims it had been John who had gotten her out before saying he must go.  He then rides off with Paul and Rose, but not before seeing the Guthries as a family.

There is one other stop for Nick at the end of The Santa Con other than passing by the Guthrie home.  He also spots the church in which he met Pastor Ruth, but is confused when he finds it abandoned and boarded up, Rose claiming it had been in this condition for years.  In other words, Pastor Ruth is an angel.  I would say God, but she is first seen trying to pick out a cherubic figure to top a Christmas tree.  In any case, she welcomes Nick into the house of God, and has some wonderful things to say to him in the process.  The best is when she responds to his atheism by telling him that it is okay, that He is used to rejection.  Actually, it is bad to not believe in God, but as she also reminds us, He still believes in you.  That is one of the best things to tell an atheist, that despite their misgivings about the existence of the Divine, that the Divine has zero misgivings about us.  Faith saves, it is a prerequisite for eternal life in Heaven, and He will be there waiting for that commitment for as long as it takes for you to say yes to Him.  This point needs to be emphasized because as inviting of a statement is Pastor Ruth saying to Nick that his disbelief is something God can take (which is true), it is still better to believe.  Part of my reaction in this manner is related to my own feelings on Faith.  When Pastor Ruth mentioned rejection, my mind went to Jesus’ Passion when he was rejected not only by the people He came to save, but by many of His closest followers as well.  It was, and is, unconscionable, and yet we do it all over again every time we sin.  Yet, if He could not handle it, He would not be God.  Still, it is best not to take Him for granted, which is as good of a rough and ready definition of Faith as I can give you.  What matters less is how we get to a place of Faith.  Nick uses his skills as a conman to do God’s work.  God chooses some of the last people we expect to do His will, but His choice reflects goodness in that person, especially in the fact when they say yes.

If you watch The Santa Con, I pray that it inspires you to say yes to God.  I do not know what that would look like for you, but I promise that incredible things will come because of it.  This movie may not be one of them, but there are worse choices you could make.