We got on a kick recently of watching the Christmas movies. All the old Rankin/Bass animations, the “Grinch”, “Charlie Brown”… I can’t get Teresa to watch “Christmas Vacation” so I watched it on my own. Funny, she loves “Scrooged” with Bill Murray but hates “Christmas Vacation” with Chevy Chase.
We decided to order a bunch of the newer Christmas movies through Netflix. The ones that people said were pretty crappy but we haven’t seen them yet so, order it, watch it, send it back and we’ll see some new holiday movies, even if they suck.
Ben Affleck has had a few bad years. Hasn’t come up with a GOOD movie in a while. “Surviving Christmas” was listed as one of his bad ones. I thought it was alright.
A guy doesn’t observe Christmas because he doesn’t see the point. When he schedules a vacation to Fiji over Christmas, his girlfriend breaks up with him. He suddenly feels the need to be SOMEWHERE for Christmas. Everyone is already busy with family. He talks to a therapist who tells him to return to a childhood Christmas memory and release his issues. A new family has moved into his childhood home and he pays them to be his family so he can reenact a childhood Christmas. Complications arise and the girlfriend comes to meet his “family”. Mom and Dad are splitting up. His “sister” shows up unannounced. Grandpa is black. In the end, everything works out… of course.
I thought Affleck did a decent job. James Gandolfini was good too. The movie was predictable but aren’t they all? I don’t see why everyone bagged this movie. It wasn’t half bad.
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