Rating: 
Summary: Going home again
Review: "Home for the Holidays" is a quiet, fun little film that I dust off once or twice a year (usually around Thanksgiving!) and sit back and absolutely enjoy. It's become a comfort film for me, one of honesty, predictability, and enjoyment. It's a wonder more people haven't discovered this mini-classic.Holly Hunter plays Claudia, a forty year old woman forced to endure calamity after calamity on her way to her parent's house for the Thanksgiving holiday. Hunter has her role sewn up from the moment we see her; she encapsulates Claudia and makes her very real as she is conforted with mini-nightmares. These problems plague her, only to define her life as unrealized, possibly misdirected. That Hunter refuses to play her as a sack sad, or someone pitiful, is a testament to her understanding of Claudia. The script avoids usual the "family cliches" by showing us a dysfunctional family that functions quite well. Gay brother Tommy, so perfectly mastered by Robert Downey Jr., always the family clown, removes his "make-up" and shows incredible sensitivity when he rescues his sister from her holiday horror. Dylan McDermott charms his way quietly as Leo Fish, and you believe his sincerity towards Claudia. Cynthnia Stevenson and Steve Guttenberg rock as the high strung power couple so insistent on perfection in their imperfect lives. And the wonderful Charles Durning and Anne Bancroft as the parents, so beleaguered, so joyful, so real. While the performances shine, the script shines even brighter, offering little solutions with much insight. You understand Claudia's trauams, but know that none of them are resolvable within a two hour film, and that's ok. Even the ending, which suggests that even daring to dream is enough, is absolutely perfect for this film. A less experienced screenwriter would have fallen into the cliche trap and wrapped everything up in a neat bow, which this film suggests, is simply not possible. "Home for the Holidays" is a signature piece by Jodie Foster, one that people who enjoy a truly good film won't be there to pass up. I hope Foster follows up by directing more classics such as this; American cinema would be better for it.
Rating:
Summary: A Family Frenzy
Review: If you're looking to get into a serious after movie discussion don't rent this. But if you want to laugh and be reminded that your disfunctional family is actually like everyone elses, this is the movie for you. This was almost like coming home to my own Thanksgiving which always turns out to be the worst day of the year and arguably why my family is in so much therapy. This is the holiday movie for the 21st century. BUY IT!!! Oddly it's a pick me up after a bad day.
Rating: 
Summary: This is no Holiday movie.
Review: It's nothing but depressing. Isn't real life bad enough without watching this depressing story. Isn't Christmas basically surpose to be a time of joy?When i watch a Holiday movie, I want to be entertained. There is nothing wrong with sadness or crying in a movie, but there is a difference between crying in a movie because it's so sad or beautiful to downright depressing.There is enough of depressing things that go on in this world without having to view this movie. Why these great actors had to stoop to making this terrible depressing movie is beyond me.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Holiday Movie
Review: I like this movie. It's funny throughout but there are some parts that are downright hilarious. While the family portrayed is nothing like my family (ie. we all seem to enjoy each others company during the holidays) there are issues about family in the movie that I believe we all can relate to. It's right up there on my holiday watch list of Grinch, and It's A Wonderful Life.
Rating:
Summary: Bore My Dog
Review: Yes, I thought this movie was something of a bore. Tired idea--my crazy dysfunctional family that I have to visit at holiday time. Hey, I guess they're not so bad after all--what an epiphany! The REALLY low point of the film is that Geraldine Chaplin plays a nutty old aunt who keeps breaking wind at inappropriate junctures. I mean, really! Why did she take such a humiliating role? Could she have thought that this was humorous? She sure has sunk pretty low since her days as Sonia, Dr. Zhivago's wife. Please, when you go home for ANY reason, don't look at this one.
Rating:
Summary: DON'T BUY THIS DVD!
Review: I love this film -- it's cute, funny, surprising, sentimental, the performances are excellent (and according to Jodie Foster's commentary, some parts were ad-libbed)...it's one of my favorites...BUT the DVD is the worst-produced DVD I've ever seen! The whole movie looks like it was shot by a single 40-Watt light bulb; even with my brightness controls at maximum, I could barely see anything. The outdoor daylight scenes look like they were shot at night (the only exception is the short fantasy sequence at the end). AND it's jittery, like something downstreaming from the internet, especially if the closed-captions (which flash on for half a second) are on. I'm sure Jodie Foster doesn't know her excellent work is being represented by such poor production. I notice the other reviews I read were all in reference to the VHS version...perhaps I should have gotten that instead.
Rating:
Summary: America at it's truest!
Review: This is truly a peek into an American home. It shows the dysfuntions that all families, to a degree, have. Holly Hunter as the older sister, Claudia, who just wants to get through Thanksgiving with her family is phenomenal. Robert Downey, Jr. cracked me up as her brother, Tommy. Cynthia Stevenson plays a great neurotic sister, Joanne, and Charles Durning and Anne Bancroft are hilarious as their parents. It's great to see Bancroft in a wig and dowdy clothing. Geraldine Chaplin as aunt Glady is a hoot, and of course I cannot fail to mention the gorgeous Dylan McDermott as Tommy's friend, Leo Fish. Clair Danes has a bit part as Claudia's daughter, Kit, and Steve Guttenburg as Joanne's husband, Walter.
Flashbacks of each individual's family lets you get a peek inside to see how they really are, when they get away from the tension of family. A definite must-see!
Rating:
Summary: Thanksgiving--We've met the enemy and they are us !
Review: This film is an excellent portrayal of the typical dysfunctional American family and the ritual reunion of Thanksgiving. Daughter and single-mom, Claudia Larson (Holly Hunter), heads home for the holiday following two awful days of getting laid-off, catching a cold, having her daughter disclose that she and her boyfriend are going to 'do it' that weekend, and losing her expensive coat at the airport. Her mother Adele (Anne Bancroft) and father Henry (Charles Durning) are aging, mother is still prying and attempting to set up Claudia with a man, and best of all (worst of all?), the whole batch of Larson's come together for what turns out to be a car wreck of a Thanksgiving Day. The film is a bittersweet look at the concept of home, remembrances, the continuum of generations, strange relatives, adult sibling rivalry, and coming to terms with yourself in the present. Although individual character development in the film is somewhat exaggerated for humorous effect, don't all of us have an Aunt Glady somewhere on the family tree, who has 210 plants to water (she knows the exact number), crafts Fruit Loop necklaces, and tips back one too many glasses of wine before dinner? As Claudia states in the aftermath, "when you go home, do you look around and wonder--who ARE these people, where did I even come from?" Dad has heart trouble and memory loss, Mom is obsessively worried about her grown children, siblings still don't get along and are at each others' throats...yet through it all there is hope that the ebb and flow of life will give you back love in torrents, occasionally. Best quote of the film, Adele "I'm giving thanks that we don't have to go through this for another year. Except we do, because those bastards went and put Christmas right in the middle, just to punish us." Excellent cast, also starring Dylan McDermott as the love interest, Robert Downey Jr. as brother Tommy, Cynthia Stevenson as sister Joanne; Geraldine Chaplin, Steve Guttenberg, and Claire Danes. Directed by Jodie Foster. Five of five stars. I personally recommend watching twice through to catch all of the dialogue, especially that of Downey Jr., who is hilarious.
Rating:
Summary: What a riot...too true to not laugh
Review: Part of what makes this film so funny is the fact that we've ALL been there. Filled with clever, witty dialouge, this film is a nice switch from the sophMORONic movies that beat you over the head with their childish pranks and predictable (and unfunny) jokes (watch 'Me, Myself and Irene' if you need a refresher course in stupidity). Anyone that can sit through this film and not appreciate it and laugh out loud, must be totally void of any sense of humor. I have seen this film about a hundred times and I still laugh. Get this and enjoy it for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Side splitting tears streaming watch it over and over good !
Review: This is a must see for anyone who dreads the holidays. There are so many good parts to this movie that will stay with you for years to come. Rent it or buy it today! Any time of the year it will be enjoyed.
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