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Surviving Christmas
Movie Stats & Links |
| Starring: |
Ben Affleck, James Gandolfini,
Christina Applegate, Catherine O'Hara |
| MPAA Rated: |
PG-13 |
| Released By: |
Dreamworks Pictures |
| Web Site: |
www.survivingchristmas.com |
| Kiddie Movie: |
Nah. |
| Date Movie: |
Sure. |
| Gratuitous Sex: |
Some kissing and
disturbing pictures of mom. |
| Gratuitous
Violence: |
Ben Affleck
getting whacked over the head with a snow shovel. |
| Action: |
Not really. |
| Laughs: |
I laughed a lot. |
| Memorable
Scene: |
When Doo-Dah
somehow becomes a black man. |
| Memorable
Quote: |
"Yuletide's a
bitch, huh?" |
| Directed By: |
Mike Mitchell |
| Produced By: |
Jenno Topping,
Betty Thomas |
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Surviving Christmas
A Movie Review |
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After reading most of the other reviews, I guess I’m
going to lose all kinds of credibility when I say "I actually liked
‘Surviving Christmas.’" Maybe it was my lack of expectations, maybe it
is my ability to be easily amused, maybe it’s because I love Christina
Applegate and was just mesmerized by her, but in any case, I laughed a
lot, even though I knew the movie really didn’t make sense. Let’s get
to it.Ben Affleck is Drew, an oddly brilliant ad dude, able to
convince a client that they should premix eggnog with liquor to help
people get through the holidays with their relatives, and the client
buys it. He wants to go to Fiji for Christmas with his girlfriend, but
she, of course, wonders where this relationship is going and storms
out to spend it with her parents. Left with no friends to hang out
with for Christmas, rather than go to Vegas, which is what I would do,
he terrorized a therapist at the airport who says he should go to his
childhood home and exorcize his demons. It is there that Drew comes up
with the plan to pay the family living in his childhood home to make
it a perfect, family Christmas. The family, Tom (James Gandolfini),
Christine (Catherine O’Hara), Brian (Josh Zuckerman), agree, only
because it’s about the money. At this point, Drew has a role for
everyone, but his plans get thrown when Alicia (Christina Applegate)
shows up, her being the daughter, but Drew has no place for a sister
in his "family," so he tries to make her be a maid, Consuela. Drew
also brings in a fake grandfather, Doo-Dah (Bill Macy), an actor in a
local play.
Okay, yea, you can guess, that somehow Drew will fall for Alicia
and not realize how to be romantic (he almost has it, then the ad man
takes it overboard), she will resist him, but then fall in love with
him, then somehow the girlfriend will get involved, and hilarity will
ensue, and for me, it did.
Look, "Surviving Christmas" won’t go down as one of the great
Christmas films of all time, I mean, come on, it was released before
Halloween, but if you’re looking for some easily digested humor,
realize that Ben Affleck is not a great actor in this kind of role,
you might get a laugh or two. For me, and most of the rest of the
folks in the theater, we all seemed to laugh quite a bit, just take it
for what it is. Because I did enjoy it, I’m giving the movie 4 stars
out of 5, but I will say this is better a matinee or wait for video
than spend a lot of cash on it. Just set yourself in "easily amused"
mode and you’ll probably like it.
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!! |
