Free Republic

The Christmas Candle, Rick Santorum’s movie about a Christmas candle, is very nice. It’s nice in every sense of the word. There’s not a lot else to say about it. I was really, really tempted to just e-mail my editors a document that said this: “:-| :-| :-| :-| :-| :-| :-| :-|” and try to convince them that publishing it would be subversive and hip. Reluctantly, I decided not to do that. But here’s why it’s so much of a pain to write about this movie: It’s trying very hard to be something, and you feel like a jerk...

Now that it’s been out for two weeks, it’s about time to acknowledge “The Christmas Candle” for what it is — a massive flop. Distributed by EchoLight, Rick Santorum’s family-friendly film distribution firm, “The Christmas Candle,” an old-fashioned holiday tale about a fictional English town in the late 19th century, has grossed less than $2 million since its release, bringing in a pathetic $2,500 per screen. Unsurprisingly, the film’s reviews are no better than its finances. Joe Neumaeir of the New York Daily News wrote that the film is “as if a little plastic holiday village came to life. Except...