Is Lethal Weapon a Christmas movie?

There’s no debate, Die Hard is a certified Christmas classic – but what about Lethal Weapon?

As we race towards the festive celebrations, people’s DVD and streaming catalogs will be raided for their seasonal worth. However, not everyone fancies a dose of sentiment in Elf, Home Alone, or Love Actually. For some viewers, it only begins to look a lot like Christmas when there’s explosions.

John McClane’s showdown at Nakatomi Plaza provides one of the most tedious arguments of the season. Look at the evidence: there’s songs and plenty of nods, a woman on the brink of giving birth, a Grinch in Hans Gruber, and it’s all about forgiveness and family by the end. It’s definitely a Christmas film.

Then there’s Lethal Weapon, Richard Donner’s 1987 buddy cop action-comedy with Danny Glover and Mel Gibson; the former a straight-edged officer who’s too old for this sh*t, the other a “psycho” on the fringes of losing his mind and life. How do they know it’s Christmas time at all?

Lethal Weapon is a Christmas movie – here’s why

Lethal Weapon opens over the hazy, twinkling LA sky, your head bobbling along to Bobby Helms’ Jingle Bell Rock. We drift up to a penthouse hotel suite, equipped with a tree and adorned with lights, with a prostitute lying half-naked. There’s drugs on the table and she seems to be under the influence. Soon, to the soft ringing of bells, she jumps to her fateful Silent Night.

The core plot of the film isn’t Christmassy: a mismatched Riggs (Gibson) and Murtaugh (Glover) work together to stop a heroin-trafficking ring, battling a hail of bullets, abductions, and electric shock torture along the way.

It’s written by Shane Black, a well-documented invoker of the season in his romps – Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys, The Last Boy Scout, Iron Man 3, and The Long Kiss Goodnight, for example.

Of course, it’s stuffed with tunes and references, like officers in the station practicing carol-singing, Riggs taking down drug dealers in a Christmas tree lot, chases under the glow of overhanging lights, and a brutal fistfight in front of lawn decorations. But does a film being set at Christmas, featuring Christmas things, let it qualify for the December distinction?

In an earlier interview, Gibson mentioned how it was a popular gimmick in the 1980s to set action movies during the festive season, with directors often saying: “Set it at Christmas! Lots of snow, funny little songs, music to kill by, you know?”

Black himself has commented on the quirk of his scripts, telling Entertainment Weekly: “It tends to be a touchstone for me. Christmas represents a little stutter in the march of days, a hush in which we have a chance to assess and retrospect our lives. I tend to think also that it just informs as a backdrop… I also think that Christmas is just a thing of beauty, especially as it applies to places like Los Angeles, where it’s not so obvious, and you have to dig for it, like little nuggets.

Riggs finds a Wonderful Life in Lethal Weapon

The biggest argument in favor of Lethal Weapon’s Christmas status is the journey of Riggs. Early on, we see him try to muster the mettle to shoot himself, using a hollow-point bullet to ensure it’d go right through. As he looks at a photo of his dead wife, he puts the gun in his mouth, desperate to pull the trigger.

Amid the tears, he can’t do it. Something’s stopping him. When Murtaugh discovers he isn’t faking being crazy, and that he’s actually suicidal, Riggs argues it’s the job that keeps him going. As he tries to sway a man from jumping off a roof, he tells him with a wry wit: “A lot of people have got problems, especially during the silly season.”

But there’s a deeper current here, one inspired by the all-time Christmas tearjerker: It’s a Wonderful Life.

In the 1946 film, we follow George Bailey as his life falls apart, eventually wishing he’d never been born. Clarence the angel shows him what life in Bedford Falls would have been like without him, resurrecting his soul from wanting to throw it all away.

After failing to end it all, we watch as Riggs slowly befriends Murtaugh, saving his life, and using his maniacal ways for good in facing down the bad guys. Alongside his new partner, basically his Clarence, he finds something more fulfilling than risking his life against criminals – he rediscovers his will to live.

Murtaugh and Riggs have polar opposite lives, especially at Christmas; the former has his wife and children in a blissfully normal home, and the latter has a mobile home, littered with rubbish, away from civilization.

In its climax, Riggs hands over his sacred bullet – wrapped in a red velvet bow, no less – to Murtaugh’s daughter, knowing he doesn’t need it anymore. Soon after, he’s invited inside for a turkey dinner with the wife and kids, free from the despair plaguing his life.

He found salvation in the arms of a family, or as others may call it, the true meaning of Christmas. With that, there’s your answer: Lethal Weapon is definitely a Christmas film.

Lethal Weapon is available to buy or rent via Amazon Prime. Please note that if you click on a product link on this page we may earn a small affiliate commission.