I stumbled upon the 2024 comedy by random chance, and since it was apparently a Christmas comedy, of course I added it to my 2024 Christmas movie marathon. And I figured that with the likes of Chevy Chase and Randy Quaid on the cast list, and given the movie's synopsis, that I would be in for an enjoyable comedy.
But that was not to be. Not even remotely. Writer Michael Cunningham dropped the ball here, on a grand level, because the movie's storyline and script felt rather forced. It didn't help much that there wasn't a single laugh to be had throughout the course of the 94 minutes that the movie ran for. And as a comedy, then it sure fell short of being on point. The movie was lacking a natural flow to the narrative, and it just felt like director Tori Hunter had to rush and cut from one scene to another without being able to completely finish the former scene, and that made the movie feel unfinished and rushed. Yeah, I wasn't the least bit impressed or particularly entertained by the story in the movie.
The movie does have some familiar faces on the cast list, with the likes of Chevy Chase, Randy Quaid, Brian Doyle-Murray, Brian Posehn and Kristoffer Polaha. Needless to say that the acting performances in the movie were good. The video phone call between Chevy Chase and Randy Quaid was great, especially because of some not-so-subtle references to "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation", which definitely was a nice thing. But Chevy Chase and Randy Quaid were just in supporting roles here. The acting performances in the movie were, for the most parts, adequate enough.
"The Christmas Letter" was an insanely boring movie and a swing and a miss in terms of being a comedy. In fact, I gave up on the movie with just 20 minutes to go. But by then I was just ready to claw my eyes out from sheer and utter boredom. I was hoping the movie would get better along the way, but sadly it never did. This is definitely not a movie that I would recommend you to waste 94 minutes on watching.
And don't get suckered in on account of this being a Christmas movie, as it didn't even have an ounce of Christmas spirit or feel to it.
My rating of director Tori Hunter's 2024 movie "The Christmas Letter" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.
