It’s the day after Thanksgiving, which means Christmas is near. And on the Dissection, we have one of the many films around the holidays getting released. This time, it’s a clash of family values as well as a race to not disappoint an innocent kid on Christmas Day.
The Story
Boyd and his family are forced to spend a dreaded Christmas at his parent’s house with his eccentric father that he has been avoiding for years. When he realizes that he left his son’s gifts at home, Boyd and his father must hit the road in a blizzard to retrieve the gifts before sunrise to save Christmas.
The Cast
Joel McHale as Boyd Mitchler, a family man who has had some father issues, as he tries to raise his own son in the way his father never did.
Lauren Graham as Luann Mitchler, Boy’d loving wife, albeit more in the technical sense than the actual marital sense.
Robin Williams as Mitch, Boyd’s “dear old dad” who has his own issues with his son.
Candice Bergen as Donna, Mitch’s wife and the one who is more interested in keeping everyone calm during the holidays.
The Dissection
The whole story of the movie revolves around a race to get Boyd’s son’s gifts under the tree in time, in order to make sure his son, who believes in Santa, has one more happy Christmas. Also, there’s about 8 different subplots in the movie. And most of them lead nowhere, and are generally less about advancing the plot and more to keep the actors busy.
See, that’s the issue in this movie. The movie is loaded with filler by the gills. There are a lot of characters in the film, but the only ones that seem to matter are Boyd and Mitch, and also Clark Duke’s character of Nelson, even though it’s cause he was just around at the time. The other characters could be removed from the film, and they wouldn’t really change anything, other than the run time would be much shorter.
The family around the table. The awkwardness levels have reached critical mass.
The stories in the film also don’t mess well. Besides the plot with the gifts, you got a sideplot with this magical Santa hobo, along with a Spanish baby who Nelson is given by his cheating wife, this white trash family trying to get back together, Donna and Luann getting drunk and talking with each other, and the saga with the patrolman that annoys Boyd when he keeps getting pulled over by him.
This movie would probably be forgettable, if it wasn’t for the fact that this movie has a great cast, and they do have a good sense of charisma in spite of the movie. Williams and McHale themselves do have some good chemistry together, whether in the movie or outside it.And, apart from the previously mentioned, you got actors like Oliver Platt and Wendi McLendon-Covey. Even Tim Heidecker, mostly known for his anti-comedy style, is doing a pretty good job. Yet, as mentioned, most have nothing to do, apart from most of them being drunk off their asses by the end..
One more issue with the plot is that, most of the time, the film is trying to set up Williams’ Mitch as this horrible father to justify Boyd’s hatred of him. Yet, he’s not shown to be that bad. Granted, he is shown to be an angry drunk and he is a dick to Boyd when he visits, but as far as his childhood, it’s not bad. The opening shows Mitch, complete with bad mullet and mustache, setting up a train set up with his kid and talking to him all night. While he does come off as a pompus ass, it never gives Boyd an excuse for his resentment, as well as some of the idiotic decisions he pulls by the end.
Mitch(Williams) washing of the bad funk of the plot.
The DVD extras of the movie is honestly more interesting part of the disc, as it features most of the cast doing some interviews, revolving around them selling the film. Also, it is nice to see Williams and McHale kind of riff off one another during their interview together.
The Verdict
This movie is better off being something you run into while flipping channels during a family get together. Unless you really want to see some good performances, or to see one of Robin Williams’ last couple of performances, there’s some better Christmas films out there.