Surviving Christmas

Surviving Christmas

2004-09-21 • 1h 31m • PG-13 •
Comedy Romance
5.7
User Score
559 votes

"This year, Christmas comes early. Really early."

Overview

A wealthy executive, Drew Latham (Ben Affleck) has no close relationships and becomes nostalgic for his childhood home as Christmas approaches. When he visits the house and finds another family living there, he offers the residents, Tom Valco (James Gandolfini) and his wife, Christine (Catherine O'Hara), a large sum of money to pretend they are his parents. Soon Drew tests the couple's patience, and, when their daughter, Alicia (Christina Applegate), arrives, things get increasingly tense.

Mike Mitchell

Director

Joshua Sternin

Writer

Top Billed Cast

Movie Details

Status

Released

Original Language

en

Budget

$45,000,000

Revenue

$14,793,624

Runtime

1h 31m

Release Date

2004-09-21

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Reviews

r96sk

r96sk

2022-12-10T12:48:48.673Z

The star cast elevate this a lot. Ben Affleck, James Gandolfini, Christina Applegate and Catherine O'Hara are, honestly, the only reasons this was watchable, for me personally at least. If it was a film with a lesser known cast, I wouldn't have any positives for it. For a festive flick, it's a little too mean-spirited. Of course that's the way these films usually go so the eventual pay-off can occur, though with this it's a bit too the other way and the aforementioned pay-off isn't all that pleasant. You gotta make the characters way more likeable if you're only gonna redeem them a tiny bit. <em>'Surviving Christmas'</em> is at least only a relatively short film at around 90 minutes and there are a couple (if not enough) amusing moments. There's also a surprisingly topical commentary on unintentionally consenting your likeness away via photos - I'm looking at you, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/dec/09/what-does-the-lensa-ai-app-do-with-my-selfies-self-portrait-photos-magic-avatar-generator-gone-viral" rel="nofollow">latest Instagram trend</a>.