User Reviews

This was pretty hard to watch as it star one of my idols the late Robin Williams who dose a fantastic job a playing this grump old former alcoholic father who was never really there for he's kids, he's performance is as away perfect its such a sad time to see a great actor pass from us. Although i wouldn't really say this is a comedy in a way as it very depressing & bleak at time's but you get why this is as it set a tone more as a drama than a comedy as you see the son Boyd Mitchler played by Joel McHale who seem to hate his father for never being around & always being drunk. The story goes along at a stead pace as you see the character's develop, it soon becomes this family bonding time with his father as he force to go back home to get something for he own son. What clever is this film show just how damaging curtain bad thing happen in family's can be this is where this film start to take on a bleak dark tone of sadness, it not really a funny comedy its more of a black comedy drama type film in a way but still worth watching.

Dislikes : Comedy's are meant to lift you up & make you feel good, this just ended up making me depressed just because of the tone of the film, although i thought it was good film, but this is far from a comedy lack the laughter & light humour.

I went into this movie having never really heard of it and knowing nothing of the plot. That's the way I like it. I had fairly low expectations because I considered that if it flew under the radar for so long despite the stellar cast, it's probably a dud, but I gave it a chance regardless. I really wanted to like it as I love the cast, unfortunately this film gives you nothing to like.

I won't spend too much time in the details of the plot, it's similar to a lot of Christmas movies, it's about a family that doesn't like each other but tries to make it work for Christmas. I think the mix of characters and the premise is a great setup for some excellent comedy, however both the writing and directing completely suck out any opportunity at humor. After about 15 minutes without a single joke I began to wonder if this was even supposed to be a comedy.

As for the script: The writer, Phil Johnston, seemed to sabotage the plot with the road trip angle. What should be crazy, chaotic holiday hijinks with everyone packed into a tiny house is turned into a slow, awkward, overnight road trip with a father and son who lob the same cliche, uninspired insults at each other throughout the movie. Maybe they were afraid of making it too similar to Christmas Vacation, but separating all the characters destroyed any chance of added comedy by bouncing the zaniness off each other.

The brother, played by the hilarious Clark Duke, would provide some more laughs except he's hidden in the back of the truck for most of the trip. Then suddenly both the father and son have a change of heart, with virtually no lead-up to the character change. The whole moment is so forced and unbelievable that it would be offensive if it weren't for the fact that by this point of the movie you've lost what little interest in the characters you had to begin with. Johnston ultimately decided not to put his name on the film. I wonder if he presented this to a studio as a rough draft, and they shot it as his, leading to his embarrassment. The script reads like an early draft, each scene just starts and characters go through plot points methodically, with no heart and no interest, and certainly no jokes or physical comedy. It's like the next draft is when they were going to go in to each scene and write all the jokes, but they forgot that stage of the writing.

As for the acting: Joel McHale is a great comedic actor, but his character is barely given anything to work with. Robin Williams, despite being a great actor, is just a little too warm-natured to be believed as an alcoholic, angry, macho-man boomer. All of his angry rants are neither funny nor intimidating. They're like this film, just kind of there, unclear if it's supposed to be funny or dramatic, and you keep watching for clues as to which one it's supposed to be, but ultimately it creates no emotional reaction other than boredom. The kids, despite having a few good one-liners, deliver them so poorly that you have to force yourself to laugh. Tim Heidecker is probably the funniest character in this movie, and he's not even let loose. He's probably only 1/5th as funny as he normally is. I didn't even recognize him until the 3rd scene he was in!

Which brings me to the director: While the script is bad, you would think even a bad director could gather a few laughs out of all this comedic talent playing all these wild characters shoved into a house. Yet every opportunity seems missed. It's like he tried to get every comedic actor to shy away from what they're best at. Heidecker could have been HILARIOUS as a dirty gross redneck, and his character is married to Wendi McLendon-Covey's who we've already seen for years play hilarious trailer trash. Yet both were way too turned down.

Robin Williams and Joel McHale should have been let loose to improv at the dinner table, but instead the scene is given to a kid just for him to shove rolls in his mouth.

Candice Bergen's and Lauren Graham's characters were in an attic slamming Vodka looking at old stuff from the past, and nothing funny comes of this.

Overall, the director seemed to get the worst possible performance out of all the actors. No one had any chemistry and each scene was so uninspiring and lifeless, it was like they were reading the script for the first time ever off the cue cards.

So many wasted opportunities. My wife fell asleep about an hour in. She woke up and didn't ask a single thing about the end of the movie because she couldn't have cared less. Use her as an inspiration: if you want to fall asleep, put this movie on.

***contains very slight spoilers***

I don't know what to say about the exasperated haters of this movie, so I'll just explain the movie…and life… This movie is rated PG. The Motion Picture Association of America created the ratings in response to people's desire to look at a simple rating to quickly determine if a movie is suitable for children…or tender little sensitive adult minds.

The MPAA rating PG is stated as: Some material may not be suitable for children. Parents urged to give "parental guidance". May contain some material parents might not like for their young children.

If you want all puppies and perfect Christmas fantasies/stories you should stick with G-rated movies and the Hallmark Channel where all the movies are nearly exactly the same…and safe for the sensitive.

Christmas is not all mulled cider, puppies under the tree and red rider BB guns to everyone. For a lot of people, Christmas brings apprehension, family arguments and even depression and big let downs. People are so sensitive to having their little "Christmas Bubble" burst, that if they encounter negativity they want to plug their ears and yell…la la la la la… so they don't have to be exposed to it. When you set expectations so high, you are bound to be disappointed…that's life.

That's life…this is the movie:

This flick covers the not so perfect…perfection in the end. It's is a harsh, stark reality blast that culminates in a good ending with lessons learned. It's not a feel good move and the comedy is built deep in to the depression and dysfunction.

The movie has most of the usual suspects, the bah humbug old man, the kids that already know Santa was a lie all along and the one young boy that still desperately wants to believe in Santa and the dad that desperately wants to provide that Santa for him because HIS dad squashed the idea of Santa for him at a young age.

Through all the dysfunction, there is a deeper lesson learned and a reconciliation between a dad and son's long time difficult relationship. The grumpy dad learns a harsh but good lesson in the end.

It really is a decent flick and very fitting for Robin Williams' last contribution. Everybody wants to remember him as that nutsy zany character with way too much energy. But, it turns out, like a lot of entertainers, that happy, crazy exterior concealed a dark depression within…and we all know he eventually took his own life in a very unflattering way to the shock of so many. This character of the unhappy old man fits the ending of Robin's life perfectly for me…it all makes more sense now.

"Get in the truck Gladys, we've got Christmas to save." Boyd (McHale) has just learned that he will be spending Christmas with his father Mitch (Williams) and the rest of his family. What should be a happy time becomes stressful for everyone when Boyd realizes that he left his son's presents at home. After his car breaks down Mitch and Boyd set out on a road trip to save Christmas. I've thought of ways to start this review without starting with the obvious but I can't. Robin Williams was my 2nd favorite actor (behind Al Pacino) and I was devastated at the news. That both helps and hurt the movie. I think it helps because (right or wrong) the movie will get more exposure than it probably would have got otherwise. On the other hand it is impossible to watch this without thinking of what happened and that takes you out of the movie. All that said I thought the movie was very funny and I recommend it, but the comedy is hurt knowing that this is one of the last times you will get to see the genius of Robin Williams at work. Seeing him play a crotchety old man paired with the McHale who plays a father trying way to hard is a perfect combination and the chemistry really works. This is one of those movies where things seem to just get worse and worse but at the same time funnier and funnier. Every member of the family adds something different and that makes it very fun to watch. Overall, a movie that is very funny but contains an unintentional tinge of sadness. I give it a B.

While the premise is so often overdone, family drama (exploited for comedy), I still had hopes that there would be something here to enjoy. Joel McHale plays the successful son who is embarrassed by his family and moves states away (did that myself!) to avoid the conflict. He is so embarrassed, he cuts his father's picture out of the family portrait. Ouch.

Robin Williams and Candice Bergen play the parents who seem to be living through a delusional dysfunction. Neither is given enough room to be funny, and come off looking a bit tired and wishing it was over. I sort of expected the giant Christmas miracle at the end to fulfill the schmaltz, but even that is lacking. The mysterious 'Santa' turns out to be a drunk, homeless guy. Nothing magical about it.

I wish they would have played more along the family issues. The family pervert really is just another drunk member of the family. The son with PTSD is really just overly weird as a defense mechanism, and the successful son hates his job and wishes he were an artist. Cue the eye rolling.

I was a little hesitant going into this film. I had to wonder why it didn't get a theatrical release and came out with a definitive whimper to the point where I had never heard of it but happened across it on demand. It had a solid cast, one of Robin Williams' last films, sounded like a decent story and looked like a sort of dark "Bad Santa" mixed with National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. It seemed like the perfect adult Holiday hit. So why not? Well I wasn't disappointed because fortunately I kept my expectations mediocre. It is definitely dark and much more of an indie film than I was expecting but it was absolutely and noticeably lacking in passion or heart. This cast has a few truly talented actors/comedians but they just don't seem to be into it and the script which is decent is lacking in a certain polish. I will say there were a few scenes that were definitely reminiscent of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and any comparison to that stone cold classic is a good one! It also goes to show how much they could have gotten out of this. Still it was a decent watch with a decent story and its hard to say anything bad about Robin Williams.

The late great master of comedy, Mr. Robin Williams, was a personal hero of mine. The man defined comedy period. It is unlikely we will ever see a talent like him again. He is subdued in this role and seems to not be giving it his all and its too bad because its potentially a great role as the cantankerous, often harsh patriarch of the family. He doesn't get nearly the great lines he should but he definitely brings something to the table. Joel McHale is someone I have become a fan of since Community but I also think he has some definite talent as a comedian. He and Williams are good together (I think they could have been great with a better script) and McHale leads the cast very well. Lauren Graham seems somehow out of place as McHale's wife. Their chemistry together is completely off and seems awkward and that's too bad because I enjoy Graham as an actress. Candice Bergen has a great comedy style too. She was amazing in Murphy Brown and proved herself to be more than that in Miss Congeniality. I feel like she is underused in this and once again gets terrible dialogue to deal with. Her and Williams should be magnificent together and instead they are sort of...yawn... The supporting cast are decent including Wendi McLendon-Covey (whom I LOVE from The Goldbergs), Clark Duke and Tim Heidecker.

I just feel like this film had all kinds of really great potential and you sit down to see it unfold and it feels so incredibly flat. It isn't a bad film but its an okay one at best and despite a few chuckles, its far from laugh out loud and as a writer myself I saw where the script could use some serious polish. And then the cast just seems so bored with it and like none of them are giving it what they could, should and usually do. I expected the director to be someone without experience, and expected that this would be their first film but that isn't the case. Tristram Shapeero has a ton of experience on Television in various hit sitcoms (probably how he brought together this cast) but writer Michael Brown has only this to his credit. Maybe it was done as a favour to someone but its mostly forgettable unfortunately and I certainly wouldn't add it to my yearly holiday film collection. For an adult Holiday comedy it just barely passes the mark. 6/10