Sigh. I try not to just be a grinch with Christmas films, but sometimes they really don't help themselves.
With their daughter Blair (Julie Gonzalo) away for the first Christmas since she was born, Luther (Tim Allen) and Nora Krank (Jamie Lee Curtis) decide to skip their festive period and instead plan to go on a cruise. Much to the annoyance of their neighbourhood they forgo decorating their house, their regular donations to charity and the Christmas parties. Then, unexpectedly on Christmas Eve, Blair decides to come home, so the pair desperately try to reinstate Christmas at short notice.
I think I genuinely hated every moment of this tedious, witless, experience. The cast was pretty impressive, Dan Aykroyd, M Emmet Walsh, Felicity Huffman and Cheech Marin all appear but the performances aren't. Nobody except Allen and Curtis really do anything that awful (and there's some terrible slapstick foisted on both of them) - but by the same token its really bland, particularly when someone like Dan Aykroyd initially threatens to do something interesting with his character. The cast, however, is pretty much all the film had going for it. Despite being written by Jon Grisham, it's a tedious and disjointed story and one that only gets more and more preposterous and random as it runs on. It's quite badly made too, with the occasional moment of awful CGI and then there's one of the worst Christmas songs I've ever heard over the end credits.
It's an odd movie message wise too. Generally, films have more of a "Christmas is not about the superficial stuff" theme, but here it appears to be more of a "conform or you are worthless" premise. That's a minor quibble though in a largely unpalletable mix of unfunny comedy and unearned heart.
Never again.
With their daughter Blair (Julie Gonzalo) away for the first Christmas since she was born, Luther (Tim Allen) and Nora Krank (Jamie Lee Curtis) decide to skip their festive period and instead plan to go on a cruise. Much to the annoyance of their neighbourhood they forgo decorating their house, their regular donations to charity and the Christmas parties. Then, unexpectedly on Christmas Eve, Blair decides to come home, so the pair desperately try to reinstate Christmas at short notice.
I think I genuinely hated every moment of this tedious, witless, experience. The cast was pretty impressive, Dan Aykroyd, M Emmet Walsh, Felicity Huffman and Cheech Marin all appear but the performances aren't. Nobody except Allen and Curtis really do anything that awful (and there's some terrible slapstick foisted on both of them) - but by the same token its really bland, particularly when someone like Dan Aykroyd initially threatens to do something interesting with his character. The cast, however, is pretty much all the film had going for it. Despite being written by Jon Grisham, it's a tedious and disjointed story and one that only gets more and more preposterous and random as it runs on. It's quite badly made too, with the occasional moment of awful CGI and then there's one of the worst Christmas songs I've ever heard over the end credits.
It's an odd movie message wise too. Generally, films have more of a "Christmas is not about the superficial stuff" theme, but here it appears to be more of a "conform or you are worthless" premise. That's a minor quibble though in a largely unpalletable mix of unfunny comedy and unearned heart.
Never again.