Surviving Christmas

PG-13

10/22/20041h 31m

Theatrical Release (US)

~ This year, Christmas comes early. Really early. ~

Overview:

A wealthy executive, Drew Latham (Ben Affleck) has no close relationships and becomes nostalgic for his childhood home as Christmas approaches. When he visits the house and finds another family living there, he offers the residents, Tom Valco (James Gandolfini) and his wife, Christine (Catherine O'Hara), a large sum of money to pretend they are his parents. Soon Drew tests the couple's patience, and, when their daughter, Alicia (Christina Applegate), arrives, things get increasingly tense.

Director:

Mike Mitchell

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$45,000,000.00

Revenue:

$14,793,624.00

Key words:

holiday
romcom
christmas

Cast

Ben Affleck

~ as ~

Drew Latham

James Gandolfini

~ as ~

Tom Valco

Christina Applegate

~ as ~

Alicia Valco

Catherine O'Hara

~ as ~

Christine Valco

Josh Zuckerman

~ as ~

Brian Valco

Bill Macy

~ as ~

Doo-Dah

Jennifer Morrison

~ as ~

Missy Vanglider

Udo Kier

~ as ~

Heinrich

David Selby

~ as ~

Horace Vanglider

Stephanie Faracy

~ as ~

Letitia Vanglider

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

r96sk
Written 3 year(s) ago
6
The star cast elevate this a lot.

Ben Affleck, James Gandolfini, Christina Applegate and Catherine O'Hara are, honestly, the only reasons this was watchable, for me personally at least. If it was a film with a lesser known cast, I wouldn't have any positives for it.

For a festive flick, it's a little too mean-spirited. Of course that's the way these films usually go so the eventual pay-off can occur, though with this it's a bit too the other way and the aforementioned pay-off isn't all that pleasant. You gotta make the characters way more likeable if you're only gonna redeem them a tiny bit.

'Surviving Christmas' is at least only a relatively short film at around 90 minutes and there are a couple (if not enough) amusing moments. There's also a surprisingly topical commentary on unintentionally consenting your likeness away via photos - I'm looking at you, latest Instagram trend.