Like Father, Like Santa (1998)

There is a specific tier of 1990s TV Christmas movie that operates on pure premise energy. The premise does all the heavy lifting. "Like Father, Like Santa" from 1998 has one of the better premises in the category: a man named Nick discovers his deadbeat dad is actually Santa Claus, dad gets sick before Christmas Eve, and now Nick has to step in and deliver the presents. Harry Hamlin plays Nick. Gary Coleman plays an elf named Wink. If you are already sold, the movie will not disappoint you. If you need more than that, it probably will.

The "Estranged Dad Is Santa" Setup

The core hook here is genuinely clever. Nick has grown up without a father, harbouring real resentment, only to learn that the man who was never around had an actually decent excuse: he was busy running Christmas. It is the ultimate "I was working late" alibi, and the film is smart enough to play this for both comedy and a small amount of sincerity.

Harry Hamlin, better known from "L.A. Law" and a handful of 1980s sword-and-sandal films, commits to the role with the kind of earnest professionalism that TV movies depend on. He is not winking at the camera. He is not slumming it. He is playing a man processing genuine abandonment issues while simultaneously learning to drive a magical sleigh, and he does both with a straight face. That is harder than it sounds.

The Santa father is played with warm authority, setting up the father-son dynamic that the film needs to function. When he falls ill and the Christmas timeline becomes critical, the film shifts from comedy of revelation to comedy of incompetence, with Nick fumbling through the logistics of a global gift delivery operation he has no training for.

Gary Coleman as Wink the Elf

Coleman had been working steadily in TV movies throughout the 1990s after "Diff'rent Strokes" ended. His role as Wink is supportive rather than starring, but he brings genuine warmth to it. Wink is the competent one who knows how everything works at the North Pole and has to shepherd the completely unprepared Nick through the job. Coleman was 30 when the film was made, and his casting as an elf is handled without condescension, which was not always a given in that era of television.

The dynamic between Hamlin and Coleman works because the script gives Wink real authority within his domain. He is not comic relief. He is the institutional knowledge of the North Pole operation, which gives Coleman something to actually play.

What the Film Gets Right About Its Own Absurdity

Director Edmund Levy keeps the pacing brisk enough that the film does not outstay its welcome. At a TV movie runtime, there is not much space for the story to wander, and it does not. The film knows its assignment: establish the premise, run the father-son reconciliation arc, get Nick on the sleigh, wrap it up before the hour is out.

The production values are exactly what you expect from a 1998 TV holiday movie. The North Pole sets have that particular quality of being simultaneously elaborate and obviously a soundstage. The practical effects for the sleigh sequences are modest. None of this is a problem when the film is honest about what it is.

The script does not try to smuggle in adult sophistication it cannot support. It plays its premise straight, earns its small emotional moments, and gets out. For a film of this type and budget, that counts as discipline.

Who This Movie Is Actually For

The answer is children under ten and adults who feel genuine nostalgia for late-1990s cable Christmas programming. There is a specific texture to made-for-TV holiday films of this period that has its own fanbase, and "Like Father, Like Santa" is a solid example of the form. It has a recognizable lead in Hamlin, a beloved guest appearance from Coleman, and a premise that children will find completely satisfying.

If you are looking for a Christmas film that will hold adult attention without the kids in the room, this is not it. If you are looking for something to put on with children on a weekday afternoon in December, it delivers exactly what the cover promises.

The Hamlin and Coleman pairing is genuinely charming in a low-stakes way. There is real chemistry between them, built on the mild absurdity of their situation, and the film trusts that chemistry to carry scenes that might otherwise feel thin.

Twenty-eight years on, the film sits comfortably in the back catalogue of holiday TV movies that people remember with mild affection if they saw them as children and discover with amusement if they encounter them as adults. It did not launch any careers or establish any new Christmas movie tropes. It just told its story and went home, which is sometimes exactly enough.