I know that I said that I was going to be reviewing Christmas movies in December but I couldn't resist with this movie. Home for the Holidays stars Holly Hunter as Claudia Larson, a single mom returning to her parent's house for Thanksgiving. In the past week, she lost her job, slept with her ex-boss and found out that her sixteen year old daughter has decided not to join her mother for the holiday because she plans on losing her virginity. Claudia is not in a good place.
Feeling the need for some support, she makes a desperate plea to her brother's answering machine, begging him to drive hundreds of miles to join her, their parents, their sister and her family and crazy Aunt Gladys for dinner. Claudia is the first to arrive, leaving her to fend for herself until the rest of them get there. After making it through the evening of her mother's questions ("What are you doing with your life?", "Why are you wasting your talent as a painter?", "Why did you have to move all the way to Chicago? We never see you anymore!"), she goes to bed, praying to just make it though tomorrow night's dinner.
In the middle of the night, she's suddenly awake. Her brother Tommy arrives in his usual indiscrete fashion. And he brings company. Tommy (Robert Downey Jr.) and Leo "Go Fish" Fish (Dylan McDermott) are new co-workers. But the question running though Claudia's mind is why Tommy is bringing Leo to Thanksgiving. Last she heard, he was dating Jack. What happened to Jack? No one ever tells her anything anymore.
The next day, Tommy, Leo and Claudia go to pick up crazy Aunt Gladys from her apartment for dinner. Soon after sister Joanne (Cynthia Stevenson) and her husband Walter (Steve Guttenberg) arrive with their kids. Joanne is a type-A personality, complete with her type-A family, in a sea of live-and-let-live people. She hates her brother because he's gay, she dislikes her sister because she's carefree, and her parents have become more a burden than a comfort in her life. Needless to say, with all these opposing personalities coming together for dinner, it will make for an interesting night.
Home for the Holidays is a great holiday movie. Yes, it does take place over a Thanksgiving, but I think its the idea of a crazy family coming home for a long holiday that makes it work now. The cast is great, with this movie featuring another fantastic performance by Robert Downey Jr. (seriously, who doesn't love this guy?), some very sexy chemistry between Holly Hunter and Dylan McDermott, and some unexpected good acting from Steve Guttenberg (yeah him... who knew that the Three Men and a Baby star had it in him?).
During the course of this movie, several questions arise. What happened between Tommy and Jack? Why is Joanne such a stick in the mud? Did Claudia's sixteen year old daughter have sex with her boyfriend? What's up with the chemistry between Claudia and Leo? And will the family survive Thanksgiving and make it back for Christmas?
My money is on "probably not", but hey, if my family can keep coming back for more, than anyone can do it. And really, isn't grinning-and-bearing it what the holidays are all about? According to my mother, Christmas isn't complete without The Annual Extended Family Passive-Aggressive Turkey Dinner, where pain killers are optional and wine is a requirement. Because the holidays are nothing without tradition, right?
Monday, December 11, 2006
Review: Home for the Holidays (1995)
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10 comments:
These movies sound like fun. But they never beat the real thing, if you know what I mean.
YES! I saw this movie on the W Network, yesterday and I LOVED it! When I was watching it, I felt like I was looking into the future whenever I looked at crazy Aunt Gladys and the stuff she'd say/do. I mean...the woman has like...a chicken for a pet, wears glasses, is single and drinks like its nobody's business.
I swear to god, Aunt Glayds is me in a few decades.
Your mom is correct. This is why my family starts drinking Bloody Marys at 8:00 in the morning at Xmas. (except for my mom the teetotaler)
I saw this a couple of years ago and liked it. Wasn't it directed by Jodie Foster?
Yes, Jodie did direct this movie pru!
It is one of my most favorite holiday movies!
Great review Mish.
Pain killers are not optional, let your mom in on the secret. They go down very well with a swig of wine.
This movie is all to familiar for me.. especialy when the bitter sister confronts Holly's character and says something like...If you were a stranger on the street I would...? Oh well you know something evil follows that.
I love the holidays except for the seeing my family part . . . well, except for the seeing my mother part. This year will she buy me ugly clothes that are way too big and tell me since I've gained weight she thought these would fit, or will she buy way too small clothes and say that they would have fit I hadn't gained weight (p.s. I haven't actually gained weight). I can hardly wait to find out.
I saw this movie in the theater. My favorite moment is when Claudia's parents pick her up at the airport, and she's stuck in the backseat of their car, and she makes eye contact with a guy in a similar predicament, in the backseat of his parents' car. I laughed so hard at that moment that I started weeping. Oh lord, help me. My mother arrives a week from Monday for two weeks.
I love this movie!!! Of course, I too have to smoke lots of weed to keep from committing mass homicide at my relatives on holidays.
I haven't seen this but I think I should after your review. Glad to know I'm not the only one quietly going nuts when I'm at home for so long.
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