| Lowest Recommended Age: | High School |
| MPAA Rating: | Rated PG-13 for some sexual humor and language. |
| Profanity: | Some strong and crude language |
| Nudity/Sex: | Some very crude sexual references and descriptions of various bodily functions |
| Alcohol/Drugs: | Drinking, mild drug reference |
| Violence/Scariness: | Comic violence |
| Diversity Issues: | None |
| Movie Release Date: | November 26, 2008 |
| DVD Release Date: | November 24, 2009 |
The biggest acting achievement in this film is four Oscar winners valiantly managing to hide their embarrassment in appearing in sheer holiday dreck. Its leads are not as successful. Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn cannot manage to disguise their shame and all but skulk through this latest lump of coal in the cinematic stocking.
We get a couple of "Christmas Craziness" movies every year, shrill, over-the-top extravaganzas about dysfunctional families and holiday pressure, ending with some realization of a highly secularized discovery of the true meaning of Christmas. Following in the miserable tradition of Surviving Christmas, Christmas with the Kranks, Deck the Halls, this is one more overstuffed turkey of a movie trying to draw laughs with barfing babies, bratty children, embarrassing revelations, and old people talking about sex.
Funny, huh?
Not only that, it begins with our heroes, Kate (Witherspoon) and Brad (Vaughn) in the midst of a sex game in which they pretend to meet for the first time, taunt each other with crude insults, and then have a quickie in the bathroom. Yes, these are the lovebirds with whom we'll be racing to four different homes, each designed to illustrate Tolstoy's view that every family is unhappy in its own way.
Kate and Brad plan to avoid Christmas entirely by telling their families they are on a humanitarian mission but going to Fiji for a fabulous sun 'n' fun vacation. But they are busted when the airport is fogged in and they appear on the news, so they are stuck visiting their parents on Christmas. Since both parents are divorced, that means four houses. Robert Dvuall is Brad's father, who hosts them with Brad's cage-fighting brothers ("Iron Man" director Jon Favreau and country star Tim McGraw) and their children. After a few rounds of insults and smackdowns, it's off to cougar-ville with Kate's mother, Mary Steenburgen and her female relatives, who enjoy hugging Brad so much he wishes he was back in the hammerlock. Brad and Kate get dragged into playing Joseph and Mary in the mega-church nativity with preacher Dwight Yoakam. Brad's mom Sissy Spacek and her boy toy host them for a game of "Taboo" that reminds Brad and Kate how little they know each other and then Kate's dad John Voight goes all Bruce-Demi-Ashton with the whole family at his house.
Director Seth Gordon is an able cinematographer and documentary-maker ("Shut Up and Sing," "The King of Kong") but he shows no feel whatsoever for comedy pacing or romantic banter. A battalion of writers apparently each worked on different pieces which were thrown together without any effort at consistency. Kate has a completely different relationship with her sister in one house than she did in the other and the evolving interest in building a family is forced and flimsy. All four visits and the interactions between Kate and Brad feel slack and saggy and after sitting through it, so do we.
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Subscribe
Thanks so much for bringing this up. It will be very helpful for parents. I agree that no one should take a child young enough to believe in Santa to this raunchy film. All best to you and your family for a very merry and Santa-filled Christmas!
I saw this movie, along with my 14 year old son, in a theater on a military base. This was a double feature night, and for reasons known only to the management, 'Bolt' was second feature (about 9 pm) and this piece of Tripe ran first!!!
Military theaters are different; there's a different flick on every night, w/limited run for each. Kid Flicks draw a big crowd, and if one wants to be guaranteed a seat, the only guarantee is to sit through both movies.
W/this scenario, it's easily possible to have kids in PJ's watching the nasty-mouthed 'there is no Santa' movie first, and then falling asleep in the middle of the Disney flick because it's past their bedtime. I think families of men and women in uniform deserve better, so I'll be writing a letter to say as much, because this is not the first instance of really Bad Scheduling.
What were they thinking! I am so sorry to hear about this and would love to know what kind of a response you get to your letter. Thanks so much for letting me know.
I loved the movie, I dont think this has been billed as a childrens movie. Anyone who has seen a Vince Vaughn movie should know what they are in for. Sorry you all didnt appreciate the hillarious movie that it is.
I'm always glad to hear from anyone who sees more in a movie than I did, Jennifer! Thanks for writing! If you'd like to say more about what you liked in the film, I'm glad to hear it. I'm a big Vince Vaughn fan and hope to see him in a better film soon.
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.