Christmas in Wonderland, a film starring Patrick Swayze and shot in West Edmonton Mall, is having trouble getting screened in Canada and may only be shown in Edmonton this year.

"We're trying to get a deal closed [with a distributor]," said Tim Brown, head of Vancouver's Insight Film Studio's Ltd., the film's Canadian producer.

Christmas in Wonderland was shot in West Edmonton Mall and stars Patrick Swayze, Tim Curry and Carmen Electra, shown here in 2006.
(Canadian Press)

More than 6,000 extras from the Edmonton area were involved in the movie, which opened in the U.S. last week.

The film features Swayze as a father of two who moves his family from Los Angeles to a new city during the holidays. While Christmas shopping, his children uncover a satchel of counterfeit money and are chased by some crooks.

Hilarity, according to the critics, doesn't ensue.

Reviewers have been harsh and at best, tepid towards the movie. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "the movie never develops any comedic momentum."

The online site movieweb.com stated: "You aren't going to want to spend any money on this." And Roger Moore, critic for Florida's Orlando Sentinel, called it "a collection of unfunny jokes and sight gags, bad holiday messages and general incompetence."

Christmas in Wonderland also stars Carmen Electra and Tim Curry and is directed by Canadian James Orr, who wrote the screenplay for 3 Men and a Baby and works in television as a writer and producer.

Brown scoffs at the notion the movie can't get distributed north of the border because of the bad reviews. Instead, he says financing problems are at the heart of the delay.

"Right now, the main objective is to get the film out so people in Edmonton can get a chance to see it."

He expects to strike a deal to have theatres in the mall screen it in time for the holidays. It's too late for the film to be shown in the rest of the country, according to Brown.

With files from the Canadian Press