Just in time for – well, Halloween – here’s “Surviving Christmas,” a comedy that tries to spike the eggnog with a little arsenic.
However, despite the fact that the opening montage of holiday unhappiness includes the image of an elderly woman putting her head in an oven, this movie never goes far enough to qualify as a black comedy. (You’ll have to rent “Bad Santa” for that, a comedy with the courage of its filthy convictions.)
Instead, we’ve got a labored premise that serves up a few undeniable laughs. Overall it’s as thin as the glaze on the holiday ham.
A rich young advertising hotshot (Ben Affleck), alone at Yuletide, offers a schlumpy family $250,000 if he can spend Christmas time with them. (This probably covers about a week, but the movie never tells us.) They have to act like his family for a few days, and they can keep the money.
The family consists of a father (James Gandolfini), mother (Catherine O’Hara) and teenage son. Affleck also hires a community-theater actor (Bill Macy) to play his grandfather. Arriving home for a few days is their daughter (Christina Applegate), who’s dubious about the apparently unbalanced man in their home.
Gandolfini, taking a “Sopranos” hiatus, looks like the anti-Santa: big, dark bearded, scowling. O’Hara, the brilliant comedian from “A Mighty Wind” and “Best in Show,” doesn’t get much of a chance to break out her usual scary-funny stuff.
These folks take Affleck on shopping trips, have snowball fights and decorate the tree until almost no green is visible.
The funny moments don’t make up for the fact that Affleck looks just as deranged to the audience as he does to his family. Oddly enough, the actor gives an adept comic performance, full of bounce and foolishness. It’s the role that isn’t really there.
Affleck has made some bad career choices lately, and being ridiculed by name in a song in “Team America” probably didn’t boost his stock. This movie won’t help anything.
“Surviving Christmas” is directed by Mike Mitchell, who also did “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo.” Only time will tell if his film will be better remembered than the upcoming “Christmas With the Kranks,” another sardonic take on the holidays. This could be a long season.
“Surviving Christmas” H
Holiday flop: Ben Affleck offers a schlumpy family $250,000 if he can spend the holidays with them. The thin premise never goes far enough to qualify as black comedy, although the cast gives it a spirited try.
Rated: PG-13 rating is for language, subject matter.
Now showing: tk
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