Home for the Holidays

Rating:
Summary: Relatible Holiday Family Fun
Review: This movie is great! I think there is something in this movie that almost any family can relate to. From the crazy aunt who has had a crush on the dad, to the gay brother, to the retentive sister who never loosens her keaster; you'll never stop laughing. My mom and I watch this every year at Thanksgiving time...it has become a tradition. For this reason, I look forward every year to coming Home for the Holidays. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Jodie Foster Takes You Home
Review: Thanksgiving Day: One of the biggest holidays of the year; a time for gathering together with friends and family, a day of reflection and giving thanks. To paraphrase one wiser than myself, it's the best of times and the worst of times, when you take the bad with the good and in the end, it's all about getting your priorities straight and figuring out who and what is really important in your life. It's that day when truth and honesty hits you over the head and you realize that your own family just may drive you nuts before it's over; but at the same time, you come to understand what unconditional love is really all about, which is what a young woman discovers in "Home for the Holidays," directed by the multi-talented Jodie Foster, and starring Holly Hunter. Claudia Larson (Hunter) is a single mom who's just been fired from her job restoring paintings in a Chicago museum, as they've just lost 90% of their funding and can't afford her anymore; she's got a terrible cold, and when her sixteen-year-old daughter, Kitt (Clare Danes), drops her off at the airport, just before she drives off she informs her mom that she's decided to be intimate with her boyfriend on Thanksgiving. And with that, Claudia boards her plane to fly back home to spend a good old fashioned holiday with her family: Her controlling mother, Adele, and her father, Henry (Anne Bancroft and Charles Durning); her uptight sister, Joanne (Cynthia Stevenson) and her husband, Walter (Steve Guttenberg); her eccentric aunt Glady (Geraldine Chaplin); and, she hopes-- though he's not supposed to be there-- her brother, Tommy (Robert Downey Jr.), the only one she can count on to keep her sane throughout the whole wonderful experience. And quite an experience it is, as Foster takes you behind the closed doors of the Larson family, where Claudia tries to keep it together and along with the whole bunch tries to remember all there is to be thankful for.

Suffice to say that Claudia does a pretty good job of figuring it all out in the end, and along the way the audience has a lot to be thankful for, as well, beginning with this warm and insightful film which Jodie Foster delivers in grand style. Working from a clever screenplay by W.D. Richter (adapted from the short story by Chris Radant), Foster really hits the mark with this one as she presents some characters to whom absolutely everyone watching will be able to identify and relate in one way or another. Sitting down to dinner with Claudia and her family is like being at home with your own, and I guarantee you're going to recognize these people. And the real success of the film lies in the way Foster is able to open up her characters and get them to externalize those inner-most feelings, those things we all think and feel but rarely find a way or a chance to express. It's like being able to take a step back, observe, and say, "Yeah! That's it! I've been there!" All of which proves what an eye for detail and what insight into human nature Foster possesses. A lot of credit has to go to Richter and Radant, of course, but it's Foster who really hits the nail on the head and drives it home. With a sensitive and intelligent approach, she manages to take the underlying drama of the story and blend it with the kind of humor that underscores the reality of the situation; and believe me, unless you're from the planet K-PAX, this is one that's really going to hit home with you on any number of levels.

To be sure, Foster had a great cast with which to bring her vision to fruition here. Holly Hunter does a tremendous job of conveying that angst of being torn between being thankful for this time with her erratic family and just wanting to run for the exit; it's that ying and yang of life that we've all experienced, and Hunter captures it perfectly. She plays Claudia in such a way that-- gender aside-- watching her is like seeing your own reflection in a mirror; it's so very real, and whether or not you like what you see this is someone you're going to embrace, because you'll readily discover all of the emotional complexities of your own life embodied in her. Hunter brings a strong and subtle reality to the part, and it's the anchor of the film.

Also giving a strong performance, though less than subtle, is Robert Downey Jr., who makes Tommy a character you're either going to love or hate, depending upon your own personal experience and frame of reference. Which ever way you go, however, you're going to have to appreciate what Downey brings to this film. He fairly bursts upon the scene and the screen with an energy that would make that famous bunny enviable and pale by comparison. And let's face it, every family has a Tommy, and for that matter a Joanne, as well, whom Stevenson brings to life with acuity. And one of the strengths of this film is the very real way in which the relationship between the siblings is presented; chalk up another point for Foster, as well as for the gifted actors portraying them.

And enough cannot be said about how much Bancroft and Durning bring to this film. With terrific performances that successfully avoid any semblance of stereotype, they give definition to an entire generation and bring a perspective to this story that is invaluable. The film acknowledges that these are flawed, but very real people, from her bunions to his pot-belly, and it's refreshingly real to see it portrayed as such on screen.

Excellent, as well, in supporting roles are David Strathairn (Russell), Austin Pendleton (Peter) and especially Dylan McDermott as Leo Fish. "Home for the Holidays" is definitely a keeper; the magic of the movies.

Rating:
Summary: Delightful Holiday Fun With A Disfunctional Family!
Review: I thought this movie was quite good. Even though the family is disfuntional, they have a stronger bond than they realize. The parents are delightfully still in love, which is rare in this day and age. Any Robert Downey Jr. fan will love him in this movie, even though he is gay. He is a total HOTTIE as usual, and playing a gay man takes absolutely nothing away from this! I wish I had this much excitement when I went "home for the holidays"!!!

Rating:
Summary: You Can't Go Home Again for the Holidays
Review: 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!

Rating:
Summary: "Home for the Holidays"
Review: This is one of the many holiday movies that throw in a dysfunctional family, in this case, one extremely dysfunctional
family, into the holiday spirit.
It's Thanksgiving this time around, and while this movie isn't as hiliarious as "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" it had me laughing quite a bit. It took a little while to warm up to this movie.
I did like Holly Hunter's character, Clyde, who is not looking forward to the trip home for the holiday. She was very good in this role, it's as if it was created just for her.
The acting by all the cast was great. I really felt like I knew some of these characters, and are related to some of them.
Clyde and her brother Tommy, played to perfection by Robert Downey Jr., seem pretty close. Both of them got out of the neighborhood and moved to big cities far away to get away from their highly dysfunctional family. They both come back for Thanksgiving and the dysfunction starts up pretty quickly.
This is a very funny and endearing look into how the holiday goes with a family that isn't exactly a "Leave it to Beaver" family. While they each have their problems, I think it is Clyde who is the glue of this family. Her sister, Joanne, is brewing with anger and hate toward her brother and sister because they got out. I had no sympathy for that character, but it is a very realistic portrayal, as I unfortunately know people like this. She thinks she is the normal one, but she is really not. I adored all the other characters in the family, they made me laugh despite their quirks. Just like our own families, we all have our own problems and live our lives differently, but what it all boils down to is we love each other. This is what really matters. There are the momments that we share together that will stand out in our memories more than others -- I think that pretty much sums up the point of this movie.
This is a good movie to watch around Thanksgiving. It has humor and is very touching.

Rating:
Summary: a title
Review: God I love this movie, it has to be one of my all time favorites! This could be my own parents house at Thanksgiving when they were still alive. I would be Holly Hunters character (only male) and this could be a home movie. Only my dad didn't wash the cars :-)

Rating:
Summary: Home For The Holidays
Review: I have watched this movie every year for 5 years. It is a very typical, believeable experience of what I believe could be some modern middle class family's holidays problems. It is a modern movie which invokes Murphy's Law, "What can go wrong......". I lost my copy this year and am going to buy 2 copies in case I loose a copy again.

Rating:
Summary: Great for the dysfuntional family
Review: I love this movie. For anyone who has ever spent a holiday with their insane family. A lot of fun, a great cast.

Rating:
Summary: A cool movie that gets better with repeated viewings.
Review: The first time I saw this movie, I didn't really care for it that much -- I think that I really didn't know what to expect. But then I later saw it on video, with a better idea of what I was going to see, and I loved it. I was excited to see that it has finally been released on DVD. I've always been a big fan of Jodie Foster, and it's great to have her commentary track on this disc. She's such and intelligent, eloquent person that hearing her talk about the movie really adds to the experience.

Rating:
Summary: Back Home
Review: Most people know how it is to go back to your parents for the Holidays..Holly Hunter really dreads it in this movie...Soon as she gets off the plane there is her mother waiting for her with a nice warm coat from the 70's..(I know..had one just like it)So she's at home in her old bed and hating it...She has a Gay brother and a sister who hates her which makes everything a little bit worse...The Holidays can't be over soon enough for her..