Thomas Kinkade Finds Himself as an Artist in The Christmas Cottage

My brother Nathan is a senior in college majoring in Painting. He loves a lot of artists, but Thomas Kinkade, whose warm and fuzzy, light-infused landscape paintings are a staple at the calendar kiosk where I work this time of year, is not one of them. Still, I think that he would appreciate The Christmas Cottage, the 2008 film that loosely chronicles one memorable Christmas in the life of a college-aged Kinkade.

In this feel-good movie written by Ken LaZebnik and directed by Michael Campus, Jared Padalecki plays Thomas, who has returned to his tiny hometown for Christmas break and is shocked to discover that his mother (Marcia Gay Harden) is so far in debt that she is about to lose her cottage. Though Thomas feels like a fish out of water, with a slight air of superiority when it comes to most of the townsfolk, he delves into an art project that he feels is beneath him in hopes that it will help pay his mother’s bill. What he needs to do is create a Christmassy mural to advertise for a local businessman. When he confesses his malaise to his mentor, neighbor Glenn Wessels (Peter O’Toole), this aged artist at the tail end of an illustrious career advises him to put forth his very best effort and use the job as an opportunity to honor his town and its residents.

We see the mural as a work in progress throughout the movie, and gradually, it gains more and more personality as Thomas decides to fill it with specific people who have meant a lot to him and to the town. As he paints, he struggles with the idea of finding his own distinct style. It isn’t until the last minute that he is inspired to add the light pouring through all the windows, that touch that has become his trademark. Thomas’s relationship with Glenn is the heart of the story, and O’Toole gives a heart-rending performance as a very talented man losing control of his faculties – both his mind and his all-important hands. Despite the hints of dementia creeping in, Glenn still is a great source of wisdom for his troubled young neighbor.

While painting is the main focus of the movie, there are several subplots. In the silliest, Thomas’s congenial brother Pat (Aaron Ashmore, who plays the adorable Jimmy Olsen on Smallville) takes a job for a man embroiled in a bitter battle with his neighbor over who has the best Christmas display. Mrs. Kinkade has her hands full trying to corral a chaotic assembly of townspeople for a nice Christmas pageant. Most notably, the family is thrown into a tizzy when Thomas and Pat’s long-absent father (Richard Burgi) shows up again, broke, sardonic and unrepentant for his lack of involvement in their life.

The Christmas Cottage probably isn’t one of those Christmas movies I’m going to watch repeatedly, but I’d certainly have no objection to watching it again with my brother to see what he thinks of it. It definitely feels like a Hallmark movie, though it isn’t really. As I tend to enjoy those sappy made-for-TV efforts, though, that doesn’t bother me. If you’re intrigued by Thomas Kinkade or art in general, it’s worth making a stop at The Christmas Cottage.