CORPORATE LINE: Facing another Christmas alone, Drew Latham (Ben Affleck) decides to go back to his idyllic childhood home to spend the holidays with family. There is, however, one problem: the people living there now are not Drew’s family. Nevertheless, Drew has his mind set on an old-fashioned family Christmas, and the fact that the “family” in question, the Valcos, are complete strangers, isn’t about to put a crimp in his plans. Offering them a small fortune, Drew bribes his newfound “parents” (James Gandolfini and Catherine O’Hara) to let him spend Christmas in their home, pretending to be part of the family. Just when the Valcos begin to question if any amount of money is worth being dragged all over town on such traditional family holiday excursions as Christmas shopping and the requisite choosing of the Christmas tree, their eldest daughter Alicia (Christina Applegate) comes home for the holidays, with no intention of adopting a new “brother.”
THE GOOD: Surviving Christmas is good for a few laughs. The cast is fantastic—minus Affleck.
THE BAD: Is the pretentious Ben Affleck acting or being himself? It’s hard to tell. Honestly, it’s hard to tell why Affleck so sought after because he’s not a good actor. Let’s not even get into how many of his movies flop. So much time is wasted being annoyed by Affleck’s shtick that its impossible to enjoy the rest of this fantastic cast.
A lot of Surviving Christmas steals from other films. The concept seems to be Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star for Christmas. There is a sledding scene which is a complete ripped from Christmas Vacation. This is no yuletide classic. Some of the scenes that are supposed to be outdoors are shot on a Hollywood lot and it’s so blatantly obvious—if they don’t care why should we?
I’m still trying to figure out why this is being put out a month before every other Christmas movie. My educated guess is that Dreamworks doesn’t expect much from Surviving Christmas.
FRANKLY: Get your holiday cheer early this year even though Surviving Christmas will be forgotten by the time we eat our Thanksgiving turkey.
+ Charlie Craine
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