Hey folks, Harry here with a review from Doctor Arroway and a look at SURVIVING CHRISTMAS starring that doll we all love to, well... call Ben Affleck. Seems like this could be a fun little flick... perhaps. Here ya go...
Hey Harry;
Longtime listener, first time caller?
Busy workin' on my Butt-Numb-A-Thon entry, but in the meantime.
I just came from an advance screening of the new Ben Affleck vehicle, "Surviving Christmas." I had no intention of seeing this movie. Ben Affleck? Eh, I've long thought of him as "the one I don't like as much," though I can't say he's ever single-handedly ruined a movie for me. Last thing I saw him in was "Sum of All Fears", though missing "Jersey Girl" was circumstantial, not intentional. James Gandolfini? Catherine O'Hara? Love'em both, but, well... Ben Affleck. The trailer made it look like every other "wacky" family holiday movie ever made. Though I did laugh at Ben taking a snow-shovel to the head. But a coworker's wife won free tickets to the screening from a radio station and they couldn't go. Now, I don't turn down free movies on principle, (unless of course some other principle trumps it, like the presence of Carrot Top or the Olsen twins,) so I invited a friend and decided to go.
At the theater, I answered a trivia question correctly and was given the dubious reward of a T-shirt and a Rod Stewart CD from the radio station sponsoring the screening. But hey, I'm not turning away free CDs either. You never know when you might have to whip'em at a zombie.
The lights dimmed and they showed the trailer for The Ring 2, an odd pairing I thought, but anyway, the trailer left me with a shrug. I'll probably see the movie, but the trailer pretty much just evoked the first movie, then showed a bunch of creepy stuff in fast-forward.
Then we open on New York City. Christmas-time. People are shopping. There are holiday decorations. Wrapping presents. Baking cookies. The soundtrack is playing "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year." The last time I remember a Christmas comedy opening like that was... um, every other holiday movie made in the last fifteen years. But then something changes. The montage of happy Christmas scenes gradually begins showing us the things we don't put in the Christmas card. The movie's wicked sense of humor begins to show itself. When was the last time you heard Andy Williams sing over a little old lady setting down a tray of frownie-face gingerbread men so that she can kneel and put her head in the oven?
The movie doesn't quite maintain that level of darkness, but on the whole, it was a good deal funnier than I expected. Ben Affleck plays the kind of guy who can, in his own words, "sell whale-steaks to Greenpeace," but can't sell his own girlfriend on a first-class trip to Fiji. He's the kind of egocentric jackass who is so busy thinking how awesome he is that he is genuinely mystified when he finally looks around and discovers that he's alone.
So, as everyone knows from the trailer, he offers $225K to the family that now lives in his childhood home. In exchange, they have to provide him with a happy family Christmas. (In setup, it's a bit like that David Spade movie from a while back, but I didn't see that one, so I can't compare.) They sign contracts and everything, which is pretty much the only thing that keeps the family from kicking him out the door on the second day.
The family is James Gandolfini, Catherine O'Hara, Christina Applegate, and Josh Zuckerman. Good ol' Tony's not far out of his element here, though the psychotic violence is turned down a tad. Still, his slow burn and sadistic grin are well-used here. Catherine O'Hara is good as well, though not used as effectively as Christopher Guest routinely manages. A notable exception? Ben talks her into a "glamorous" New York photo shoot. Suffice it to say that the scene is accompanied by "Sweet Cherry Pie" on the soundtrack.
Christina Applegate doesn't have much to do for large chunks of the movie. She's the straight man, so to speak, in the picture only so that Ben can "get the girl" at the end. She does, however, have her moments. Josh Zuckerman, (the young Dr. Evil from Goldmember,) is also good as the son. Much is made of his preference for spending all of his time alone in his room with the computer, doing exactly what you'd expect. When told he'll have to give up his room for Ben, he protests: "But how am I supposed to.... study?" James Gandolfini suggests: "Use your imagination."
There's lots more, but I won't ruin any more moments for you. I will, however, speak to the ending. Without specifics, it becomes clear fairly early on that the movie is indeed committed to the "happy" ending where Ben gets the "good girl instead of the shallow rich girl." It's best to know this early on, I think, so you can just relax and accept it, rather than hoping for something more twisted. It's like family after all, there are lots of things about them that you can't stand, but you put up with them because of the things that you love. Though sometimes it helps to spike the egg-nog.
In retrospect though, it occurs to me that the ending is a bit twisted after all. See it, then correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that Ben's character doesn't learn squat from his experience. In fact, his obnoxious, throw-money-at-it approach to life is essentially validated. I don't know that that was intentional, but it made me smile anyway. So, Merry Christmas, but don't get so caught up in the superficial that you forget about the important things, like HAVING HALLOWEEN AND THANKSGIVING FIRST, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!!
Call me Doctor Arroway.
