I'll Be Home for Christmas

I'll Be Home for Christmas is a 1998 American Christmas family comedy film directed by Arlene Sanford. The plot follows a college student who must make it from his campus in Los Angeles, California to his family's home in Larchmont, New York in time for Christmas dinner in order to win his father's Porsche. It stars Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Jessica Biel, Adam LaVorgna, Sean O'Bryan and Gary Cole and was released on November 13, 1998. Plot College student Jake Wilkinson attends tertiary studies in a prestigious California college but has not been home to Larchmont, New York for any holidays following his biological mother's death and his father's remarriage 10 months later. A few days before Christmas Eve, his father, learning that Jake has traded in his airline ticket to New York for two tickets to Cabo San Lucas, offers to give him his vintage 1957 Porsche 356 if he arrives to their home by 6:00 PM on Christmas Eve for Christmas dinner. Jake's girlfriend Allie, who was against the trip to Cabo, agrees to ride with him to Larchmont, where her own family also lives. Jake helps a trio of jocks cheat on their midterm exam, but their comrade, Eddie Taffet, who is Jake's nemesis and rival for Allie's affections, sabotages the scheme. Eddie and the jocks leave Jake in the desert with a Santa Claus suit, hat, and beard glued to his body. While Jake is stuck in the California desert with no way to contact Allie, she reluctantly decides to ride to New York with Eddie. Jake has only three days to get to Larchmont if he wants the car. He stumbles upon Nolan, a simple-minded thief who is driving stolen kitchen goods to his dealer near New York. A police officer named Max pulls them over in Red Cliff, Colorado for speeding, but Jake manages to convince him that they're donating the goods to the children's hospital. Max offers to escort them to the hospital, forcing them to give away the stolen goods.