Surviving Christmas
SURVIVING CHRISTMAS (12)
D: Mike Mitchell
Dreamworks/Liveplanet (Jenno Topping & Betty
Thomas)
US 2004
91 mins
Comedy
W: Deborah Kaplan, Harry Elfont, Jeffrey Ventimiglia &
Joshua Sternin
DP: Peter Collister & Tom Priestley, Jr.
Ed: Craig McKay
Mus: Randy Edelman
Ben Affleck (Drew Latham), James Gandolfini (Tom Valco),
Catherine O'Hara (Christine Valco), Christina Applegate (Alicia Valco), Josh Zuckerman (Brian Valco)
Douchebag millionaire Ben Affleck gets lonely around the
Christmas holidays, so he pays a family to allow him to stay at their house as a guest over the festive period.
The obnoxious playboy then makes the life of the
dysfunctional family a living hell as he selfishly does whatever he wants for his own entertainment. Things soften when he and the daughter fall in love, but that's just Hollywood
bullshit.
Ben Affleck delivers one of the most annoyingly smug
comedy performances of all time here, so irritating in fact, that if you even get as far as the blossoming romance, you've done very well.
The biggest surprise is the casting of James Gandolfini
and Catherine O'Hara in turgid trash like this.
Even for Christmas cheese, this pretty
rotten.
3/10
