Surviving Christmas

This movie wouldn’t produce an ounce of Christmas cheer even if it were released on the day itself and you watched it with Santa Claus sitting next to you funneling eggnog down your throat. It can’t decide whether it wants to be dark or merry, and it bungles nearly every attempt at doing either. 2004 was a year full of bad comedies (White Chicks, Baby Geniuses 2, Without a Paddle), but this one competes admirably with all of them.

Ben Affleck et ses sourires à pleines dents auront suffi, dommage qu'il n'y avait pas de torse-nu. L'histoire est grotesque cela dit, quatre scénaristes pour ça ? Catherine O'hara relève le niveau.

Funny when it doesn't shy away from the full-on psychotic nature of Ben Affleck acting like an asshole; tedious when it veers into sitcom territory.

no one brims with deranged lunatic energy quite like my boy ben

Quite baffling film. I don't think I had ever heard of it before stumbling upon it on a streaming platform. It's a (duh!) Christmas comedy from 2004 starring Affleck, Gandolfini and Applegate - and I wonder what they saw in the material. The tone is shifting between goofy and attempts at drama, jokes don't work and Affleck's character is annoying as hell.

Did not finish.

Alceggnogforholidayswasactuallygeniuslol+jamesthebest-benbadattimes+lovetheconcept+daughterhomelmaoiloveapplegate+helpstheirmarriage+ruinsherromanticmemory+shedidntknowphotoshootwaspornlool+gfcomeswithfamlol+applegatecomesback-kisshim-seesgflol+revealshehadsinglemompovertyxmasesetc+enduparealfam at times it felt like it was gonna be an 80 lol

The film opens by showing us that people generally don't like Christmas - wrapping presents is a hassle, decorations are hard and annoying to put up, selecting a tree ends up in disappointment so we're thinking "ok yeah, Christmas can suck sometimes I can buy into that. So where are we going with this?" And then the film is about a guy who pays a family to experience Christmas with but none of that early stuff features in it because it's all about watching a families relationship fall apart.

I'm sure the script writer has been lobotomized in the past and it's close family of the producer and the director. That's the only logical reason, justifying the existence of this "movie"

fun christmas movie. lots of corniness

Most Christmas movies feel like Lifetime films with a higher budget. This is no exception.

I actually kinda really like this movie. The plot is patently absurd, of course, but the cast are good sports, and make the whole thing work surprisingly well.

~4

"A grating tribute to checkbook cheer, that warm and fuzzy feeling achieved from buying and buying and buying." - Nick Schager

Unbelievable but good slapstick fun.

A script meaningless, weak and predictable. Ben Affleck is terrible. Moreover, everyone is bad here.

James Gandolfini? Really? But, why? You didn't need the paycheck so, why?

Awful, terrible, unfunny.

It's just awful. I really thought it would be funny, but it's tasteless, boring and cold.

oh wow, is that ben afflack? why dont we go see that mov...wait a minute, didnt he just make paycheck? i think ill spend my money elsewhere!

This was a good christmas movie. Id watch it again

Awful. I don't know how Ben Affleck picks his scripts (and I like him a lot), but he needs to revise his method.