2004 Directed by Mike Mitchell
Drew Latham is an executive leading an empty, shallow life with only wealth on his side. Facing another lonely Christmas ahead, he revisit his old childhood home in the hope of reliving some old holiday memories – but he finds that the house in which he was raised is no longer the home in which he grew up.
Jingle Bells - Eine Familie zum Fest., Sobreviviendo a la Navidad
It was never quite clear if Affleck's character was meant to be mentally challenged.
Dumped by his girlfriend because of his commitment issues, Ben Affleck’s ad executive has no one to spend Christmas with. So he travels to his childhood home and then pays its current owners (James Gandolfini and Catherine O’Hara) $250,000 to pretend to be his family over Christmas. Affleck seems to have recognized that the premise was deranged and decided the only way to play his character was as an actually deranged person. He grins constantly, wanders through the film with bug eyes, and delivers most of his lines in this off-putting, high-pitched voice.
The strange thing about Surviving Christmas is for an hour of this 85 minute movie, Affleck isn’t paying these people a quarter of a million bucks for…
Any studio comedy that commences shooting without a finished script basically guarantees some cursed Walt Becker energy, but consider this moment in time: Ben Affleck is circling one of his numerous career nadirs, and James Gandolfini is at the height of his power on The Sopranos. Gandolfini never phones it in, not even once, and Affleck—somewhat miscast in a role that feels more suited to an Adam Sandler type—is forced to abandon pride and give it his all for a television titan he surely adores. The resulting cinematic-clusterfuck-meets-demented-magic situation is exactly what I hoped for and is malignantly fascinating, never moreso than when Affleck eats the last of Gandolfini’s lunch meat. The gabagool!
Surviving Christmas is one of those movies you previously enjoyed, even though it was mostly forgettable. I saw it years ago and decided to revisit it. Man, the internet does not like this movie. Yeah, I can see the flaws, but it has moments.
THE GOOD:
* James Gandolfini, he's the best thing about it
* Catherine O'Hara, love her, especially in Christmas movies
* Christina Applegate
* The relatable premise of wanting a perfect nostalgic Christmas
* Succeeds in giving cozy Christmasy feels
* It made me laugh several times
THE BAD:
* Not having Christina Applegate appear until well into the movie
* Ben Affleck seems to be straining himself trying to appear overly enthusiastic at times
*…
Yuletide's a bitch, ain't it?
-Doo-Dah Understudy
Paying $250,000.00 to spend Christmas with James Gandolfini seems perfectly reasonable to me. A bargain really.
At it's best it's mediocre, at it's worst it's kinda horrible. Reading that they made the film without a complete script explains a lot. There's some outdoor scenes that are clearly on a soundstage. Like they weren't even trying to hide it. Like it was during the point where everyone was just like "Fuuuuuck... let's just get this over with!"
This should be remade into a psychological thriller. Imagine a rich bastard paying a family to spend Christmas with them and as each day comes and goes he demands weirder and crueler shit from the family while increasing the final payment as he goes. The family turns against each other for money and does some really fucked up shit. Merry Christmas!
'Nuff Said
I liked the bit when James Gandolfini hits Ben Affleck over the head with a shovel
Getting $250,000 for allowing Ben Affleck to live with me sounds like fair compensation.
Any one who thinks Ben Affleck’s worst performance was Batman has never seen this movie.
