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Home for the HolidaysRating:
Release Date: 30 July, 2002 Retail Price: $14.95 OUR Price: $13.46 You SAVE: $1.49! Cast: Complete Cast (15 total) |
Home for the Holidays Reviews
You Can't Go Home Again for the Holidays
Wry black comedy with serious undertones about a thirty-something baby boomer (Holly Hunter) returning to her childhood home over Thanksgiving. Things progress from bad to worse as she suffers through the mayhem of traveling by car and plane to a place she really doesn't want to be ... there she's reunited with her family of origin and real disaster ensues. Director Jodie Foster does a marvelous job of turning the classic Norman Rockwellian vision of the All-American family holiday inside-out and upside-down; these people are the definition of "dysfunctional"! Or maybe they're just at their worst when forced together by empty tradition; although their reunion is marked by old tensions and rivalries, observant viewers will note that Hunter and her siblings each has developed a happy and nurturing family of their own --- Hunter with her daughter; gay brother Robert Downey Jr with his partner and their many friends; uptight sister Cynthia Stevenson with her husband and kids. Those newer primary relationships, largely unglimpsed until the closing frames of the film, seem to be the hopeful idea at the heart of this funny yet wistful movie: each of us is born into a family of strangers where we learn to love; then we grow up and grow apart; finally we form our own families ... and the cycle begins again.
By turns hysterically funny and then bittersweet and poignant, this little gem is played to perfection by its talented cast. Anne Bancroft's comedic timing has never been sharper; Geraldine Chaplin is both ridiculous and oddly sympathetic as the Aunt Who Never Married; Cynthia Stevenson is brilliant as the sister who cares more about appearances than happiness (even her own). Best of all is Downey who plays the brother with an over-the-top intensity that quietly suggests volumes about his character's struggle growing up in a town and a family where he never felt quite at home.
Highly recommended, and a film that only improves with repeated viewings. There is a lot of subtext here, some of which is easy to miss the first time through when your first reaction is almost certain to be hearty laughter. Enjoy it again, and Happy "Holidays" to you!
One to Own
This movie is hysterical, painful, sad and joyous. The characters are real, the situations are all too familiar, and the humor is spot-on. We watch this movie at least twice a year and laugh just as hard each time.
Robert Downey Jr. steals the show and portrays his character with such honesty that it is (in my opinion) his best performance to date. Holly Hunter captures the helplessness of the annual Thanksgiving from Hell that is often the reality of all of our lives. However, it is not preachy, it doesn't wrap things up in a pretty bow, but it leaves you with the feeling that life is good just the way it is.
A must see.
More Customer Reviews (9 total)
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