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.
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.