Howard Langston (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is often busy at his job, and has a hard time finding time for his wife, Liz (Rita Wilson) and his young son, Jamie (Jake Lloyd) - especially when compared to next door superdad divorcé, Ted Maltin (Phil Hartman). After breaking his word again by missing Jamie's karate grading (from blue to purple), Howard resolves to redeem himself and his marriage by fulfilling Jamie's ultimate Christmas wish, an action figure of Turbo-Man, a popular children TV superhero.
Unfortunately, as is the habit with him, Howard had promised to buy that figure earlier that year and then promptly forgotten about it. To make things even harder, Turbo-Man toys are the must-have gifts of the season, and stocks of Turbo-Man toys are quickly drying up all over the country. Desperate not to disappoint his family again, Howard embarks on an epic city-wide quest to find the toy everyone's looking for. Along the way, Howard encounters Myron Larabee (Sinbad), a postal worker dad with a rival ambition, and the two quickly become bitter competitors in their race for the action figure. The chase begins to arise the ire of a police officer whom Howard keeps running into; Howard desperately hooks up with a band of brand-spoofing crooks and ends up thrashing them; and ultimately, both Howard and Myron cross paths in a false-advertising radio station and end up accidentally blowing up an entire room with one of Myron's letter bombs to escape from the police. In addition, Ted attempts to hit on Liz, which she eventually turns down hard.
The search climaxes with both Howard and Myron coincidentally masquerading as live action stuntmen in a department store parade. As the "real" Turbo-Man, Howard uses the opportunity to present a coveted limited-edition Turbo-Man doll to his son in the crowd. But before he can recognize his dad, Jamie is chased around the parade by Myron, dressed as Turbo-Man's archnemesis, Dementor. Jamie is ultimately saved by Turbo-Man, who reveals himself as his father, while Myron is arrested, all the while ranting about how he will explain the situation to his son.
Touched by Myron's undying dedication to his own son, Jamie relinquishes the doll to him and confesses that his dad is the only superhero he needs. In the final scene (after the film's end credits have finished) Howard puts the star on his tree and shares a happy moment with his family - until Liz asks him what he got for her. This causes Howard to look at the camera with a look of horror on his face, as he realizes he forgot to get Liz a gift.
Jingle All the Way is a 1996 family comedy film directed by Brian Levant and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad. The name is taken from a line in the Christmas song "Jingle Bells". This is the last comedy to date that Schwarzenegger starred in. Schwarzenegger received a salary of $15 million for his role in the film.
