A Sudden Case of Christmas

It loses steam as it goes on, though 'A Sudden Case of Christmas' is fairly good.

The cast are the big draw. Danny DeVito is obviously the main man, I always enjoy watching him. The likes of Andie MacDowell and Lucy DeVito are alright alongside the aforementioned, though it's Antonella Rose that is the star overall - a strong performance from the youngster. Adrian Dunbar has a small but memorable role, even if he is too good an actor for such a bit part.

It's not the most Christmassy of movies, despite the title. That's to be expected given how the story unfolds in fairness, but definitely something to be aware of if you're planning to watch this for the first time as part of your core festive viewing. It was released at Xmas time, but honestly a summer release would've been more fitting; à la the plot.

What's there, though, is perfectly watchable and the Italian surroundings look grand, at least. It only lasts for around 90 minutes, I admittedly did feel it drag a bit towards the end. More meat on the bones would've helped, the finale could've been something more interesting than what we get with the four-legged fella.

All in all, I consider this narrowly passable. 7/10.

I'll write the first one and maybe the last one of this terrible movie. Who was it aimed at? It's got characters cheating on each other and a girl who wants to have Christmas in the Dolomites in August. What possibly can go wrong?

The "local" kids are American sounding. The hotel is owned by DeVito and has a staff of (from what we can make out) one Irish guy. And yet it looks like a 4 start hotel. Huge!! Massive rooms and only one guy and a dwarf looks after it? It's weird and stupid. How did they assemble a cast like this for a shocker of a film? It has no charm. None. I can accept B grade films about Christmas with a returned local helping out in the bakery shop and falling for the high school sweetheart that has stayed forever there... loads of those that have enough charm to at least be better than this.

I don't get Hollywood or its stars because what ever they have agreed on it must be in the contract to only have one take, all expenses paid (first class of course) and enough pay to buy the actual hotel they use for location.

And don't get me started on Kelsey Grammars crap Christmas movie ...

Where to start with this. The characters are just odd.... And their lives are boring. That's basically the 2 major issues here.

The movie is just boring.

About half way through I catch myself wondering about the running time. That's when you know you have a problem when your thoughts turn to "when is this over."

Eventually I was so disinterested I just played video games with it running in another monitor hoping it gets better.. And eventually it just got obnoxious to the level I just had to turn it off.

If I had to say anything good about it. They all played their parts well (poorly written as it was). So there was that I guess.

Apply performed by all. It's just. People don't act like that. It's like the author had never seen a human before. And at some point I can see even the storyteller must have caught on because they appear to add quirky characters to fill in a lack luster story.

But their so poorly written themselves that it only makes it worse.

2 stars for Danny Devito.. Sorry that's all I have to give.

This Christmas comedy from Peter Chelsom is a remake of the 2022 Italian film Improvvisamente Natale.

Abbie (Lucy DeVito) and Jacob (Wilmer Valderrama) are a couple on the brink of separation. They take their daughter Claire to her grandfather's Lawrence (Danny DeVito) hotel in the Italian mountains in August.

Only Claire senses what is about to happen and wants to celebrate Christmas in August. Lawrence and his loyal employee Otto go about making sure they have one last family Christmas.

They are joined by Jacob's parents who are also facing a marital crisis.

Peter Chelsom once had a promising directing career in small scale British movies such as Hear My Song and Funny Bones. It all grinded to a halt with the disastrous Warren Beatty film Town and Country in 2001.

He has never got his mojo back. Even though this is a remake, A Sudden Case of Christmas is a poor film that wastes Danny Devito. Not really Christmassy, not aimed at a family audience and not funny.

The whole theme is great, and it sort of hit me because I felt similar as Claire when I was 7, last of the "classic" family christmas I had with the whole family, after which my mom took me away and christmas, my favorite time of the year, was never the same, so yeah, I felt the beginning... BUT...

The characters lack consistency, the writing is abysmal, and the only actors that are actually believable are Danny, ofc, and Claire, the rest feel off, and as I said there is no consistency

The character development is done so badly, they literally don't know how to write it, and some actions the characters randomly take are just dumb or out of the blue, there is no build up to some of the decisions.