User reviews

Review Date 6/27/2019

I have Reviewed OVER 500 "Christmas Films and Specials". Please BEWARE Of films and specials with just one review! For instance When "It's a POSITIVE" chances are that the reviewer was involved with the production. "If its Negative" then they may have a grudge against the film for whatever reason. I am fare about these films.

All families go through transitions. Parents are getting older. Siblings resentment and how we all kind go through the motions of life without realizing seeing what is front of our own eyes.

In this film every year, Claudia (Holly Hunter) dreads her trip home for Thanksgiving. Between her parents (Charles Durning and Anne Bancroft), her sardonic brother (Robert Downey Jr.) and her overdramatic sister (Cynthia Stevenson), things are bad enough. But this year, Claudia has more reason for angst. She's lost her job and is dealing with her daughter's (Claire Danes) revelation about her sexual activities. Claudia's sister seems to think her brother and sister ran out of town leaving her stuck to take care of their aging parents.

Lots of laughs and a reality check for everyone.

Plot In A Paragraph: After losing her job, making out with her (soon to be ex) boss, and finding out that her daughter plans to spend Thanksgiving with her boyfriend, Claudia Larson (Holly Hunter) has to face spending the holiday with her family.

Director Jodie Foster has assembled a ridiculously talented cast Holly Hunter, Anne Bancroft, Charles Durning (Whom I love, and am a big fan of) Robert Downey Jr, Dylan McDermott, Steve Guttenberg, Geraldine Chaplin, Claire Danes and Austin Pendleton.

However Robert Downey Jr steals this movie from a very talented cast. As Tommy, Larson's gay brother. Although Downey Jr has admitted to regularly using heroin during the filming of this movie, it is not affected performance one bit. Listening to director Jodie Foster on the commentary track on the DVD, it would appear that Downey Jr was a pain to work with the times, as he kept improvising and going off on a whim. So I'm not sure who the praise should be aimed at Downey Jr for being able to give a good performance during such a troubled time in his life, or Foster for getting the performance out of him!!

Such a typical family trying to make the holiday perfect! Problem is they don't know each other well anymore. It is a funny movie that looks at the crazy family holidays close up! This is so my family the crazy brother, irritating sister, parents that break into song or dance, it should be shown yearly.

This is a great little gem of a film. The whole time i was watching this film i couldn't help but notice the similarities to my family. The craziness, the fights i mean everything. I laughed so hard during this film but mostly when Robert Downey Jr. was on screen. It is not to say that Holly Hunter was bad, she was quite good as was everyone else but Downey had this presense on the screen and he just stole the movie. while it was apparent he was using heavily he was still at his best on screen. The DVD commentary by Jodie Foster really gives insight to the film and it really sounds like Downey was a pain to work with because of his improvising everything but you feel she has a genuine sisterly love for him. Bottom line is that it was a funny, insightful, and realistic film.

This is definitely one of those movies back in the day that I would've watched or I would've rented and the entire time watching, I would've been like, Do people actually talk like this? Do people actually act like this? Who talks like this? Who acts like this? Not really realizing at that time that somebody, the screenwriter, author, or filmmaker just made up this crazy stuff.

Of course, I'm older now and I get it.

I probably would've disliked this movie even more had I seen it when it was released in 1995, which is my favorite year ever of just about anything.

What a glorious time to be alive.

Yes, it was.

And the cast and crew of this film.

Wow.

Jodie Foster directs.

Charlie Chaplin's daughter.

What?

It's true. Look it up. She plays the batty aunt.

A Robert Downey Jr. Fighting addiction issues behind the scenes of this and in between his youth and Less Than Zero career, and his rebirth into superstardom and Iron Man.

Holly Hunter doing weird stuff, this between The Piano and Crash.

I don't buy Dylan McDermott being so smitten with her in this.

And Claire Danes as her daughter. A very weird relationship.

Of course the holidays make for all this cooky Baltimore family behavior.

It's supposed to be funny but it's not.

Even Steve Guttenberg never smiles.

Anne Bancroft almost thirty years after The Graduate. A solid performance but not enough to save this Turkey.

I'd rather eat the marshmallow fruit salad at Thanksgiving than visit this family for the holidays.

Winning two Best Actress Oscars and having a lot of friends among her peers probably allowed director Jodie Foster to assemble a great ensemble cast for her film Home For The Holidays. The whole cast clicks well individually as well as a team to bring us Thanksgiving Day at the Larson household.

This is not promising to be a good Thanksgiving for Holly Hunter. She's been laid off and her daughter Claire Danes has told her in so many words she's losing her virginity to the high school hunk. So by herself she's off to spend Thanksgiving with her parents and siblings and spouses of same.

The Larsons aren't exactly the Cleavers. Charles Durning and Anne Bancroft are the parents, Durning is old enough to be called eccentric rather than crazy and Bancroft is a walking bundle of neuroses. Brother Robert Downey,Jr. is gay and most irreverent. The worst is Cynthia Stevenson who makes a total fetish out of being normal and is forever acting like a martyr just for being born with this family. Her husband is Steve Guttenberg who just tries to take it with a smile.

Although this has far more laughs, with a few more characters the main body of the film is structured like that Eugene O'Neill dysfunctional family the Tyrones. Characters are drawn deep though the plot is minimal. You'll end up liking the Larsons far more than the Tyrones.

It's not Long Day's Journey Into Night, but Home For The Holidays is a good piece of work from Jodie Foster and her cast.

People either love or hate this film. It seems to me that, for those who hate it, there is too much going on in the scenes. The dialogue is often open ended, and the action is at times frenetic so that the viewer isn't sure where he/she should be focusing attention. That, I submit, is the true beauty of this unusual movie. It has an over the top realism that makes it a rewarding film to watch multiple times. There are so many layers in the dialogue and the acting, so many subtleties between characters, that you can watch it many times and still be noticing something new. This may be billed a comedy, but it is filled with heartbreak and tragedy, betrayal and disappointments. This is not a run of the mill feel good holiday movie. I think those who rate this movie poorly, in some way, miss that. I hope Jodie Foster directs again. She's immensely gifted.

I've tried a few times to make this a movie a thing at Thanksgiving time, because there aren't a ton of turkey day themed films that I want to watch every year. There are just too many flaws here to try and make it work. I think everyone can relate to the chaos and dysfunction that the holidays bring, but there's also supposed to be some fun thrown in there as well (but where was it?). I've never seen a film try to be so serious and slapstick at the same time...like two genres of film fighting each other for dominance.

As others have pointed out here, there's no one really that likable to care about or root for. They're all so odd and not in a goofy or lovable way. Something is off and unrealistic about the dialogue between the characters, except interestingly enough, the aunt who is losing her marbles (her monologue at the dinner table is a rare moment of calm and relatability). This should have been a home run template: home for the holidays is a universal theme for most. The casting is pretty good, and the setting is cozy. It should have worked, but it didn't.

Side note: what is up with Claire Danes being the outlier in holiday movies?!

"Nobody means what they say on Thanksgiving, Mom. That's what the holiday is all about. Torture." - Claudia

That is my favorite line in this, one of my favorite movies. This is a holiday at anyone's home: a congregation of people you love beyond comprehension and hate beyond belief but are bound to by blood. There are so many wonderful and true moments in this film both funny and dramatic, that I cannot possibly name them all except to say that these moments, even the one between the sisters near the end, are what we give thanks for even if they are painful. Yes family gatherings are dreaded, but once they are over we are happy to have attended, because somewhere amidst the chaos we remember why we love these people, where we came from, who we are, and what is truly important in this life. coming to realizations such as this inevitably involves torture. we would much rather not think about it... this movie forces us to. Great movie.

Jodie Foster's follow-up to that little charming drama about the child prodigy, "Little Man Tate", was the unconventional holiday dramedy "Home for the Holidays". Holly Hunter stars as a mother in her thirties dreading the impending trip to her family's Thanksgiving. Slowly but surely it becomes glaringly clear that "Home for the Holidays" is not a particularly warm and fuzzy holiday treat, but a more truthful, abrasive version of many of the same images our culture plummets at us during the winter months.

There's the tightly wound mother who's struggling to cope with her odd, aging husband, the crazy aunt who appears to be a narcoleptic, the weirdo brother whose lifestyle the family blindly denies, and the straight-laced sister who keeps her emotions under lock and key. The premise is reasonably humorous however the story tends to run off in meaningless tangents. There's definitely a natural feel to many of the interactions between the actors that are a testament to the ability of much of the cast and the strength of Foster as a director, but beyond being a worthwhile experiment at bucking conventional holiday film wisdom by making an honest movie, the overall picture is hardly a classic.

Jodie Foster's second film as director shows her faltering a bit from her debut with the moving, funny "Little Man Tate". Working with an uneven script that is better in its straight dramatic moments than as a comedy, Foster can't get a realistic rhythm going between the disgruntled family members at this Thanksgiving reunion. Every scene involving Geraldine Chaplin as a neurotic aunt is a loss, and Robert Downey, Jr. is awful as the obnoxious gay brother of Holly Hunter. Hunter usually gives flaccid scripts like this a little boost, but even her timing is off (especially in the early introductory scenes, which don't work at all). Finally, as if the clouds parted and clarity shined through, the movie picks up in its final twenty minutes. There's a scathing scene between the sisters ("If I met you on the street--if you gave me your number--I'd throw it away") and Charles Durning's remembrance of his family at the airport is wonderfully wistful. I also admired the final arty shots showing the past and the present (with the camera circling madly, joyfully), and then a crystal clear shot of a plane descending into the velvet sky. Are these moving moments enough to justify the glut of an otherwise overwrought picture? Almost. ** from ****

What I like most about this movie is the atmosphere it creates: the anticipation of returning home during the dreariness of the season's weather, the hustle and bustle of the holiday, the conflict between the loneliness and yet the quiet peace of waking to the first moonlit dusting of snow. There's always such a buildup to that big day, and then it's over, and, as one titled scene suggests, "now what?"

But what touches me about this movie is what it has to say about love. "The very thought of you" is more than a song at the movie's end, it's a theme that permeates the movie: such as when the father watches the home movie of his children, illuminating one of the pivital moments of his life that was only seconds in length, but brings his life such joy and meaning. The movie reminds us that it is "the very thought of you" that brings joy to us all.

This was the first time I'd seen this movie, but it's sure to be a Thanksgiving regular from now on. Holly Hunter is dreading heading home to spend Thanksgiving with her dysfunctional family. Her brother, Robert Downey Jr., is certainly a good instigator and gets things rolling from the start. Sometimes these kind of stories work and sometimes the fall short, but this one works for me. The characters push the envelope of believability, but manage to remain realistic enough to follow through their story.

*** (Out of 4)

I have never written a review before, though I am frequently on IMDB, but now I think it is my duty to let prospective watchers of this movie know that it is really very good. Holly Hunter, Robert Downey Jr, and Anne Bancroft are all highlights. Cynthia Stevenson and Geraldine Chaplin are great too. The story is funny and smart, and Jodie Foster got most of the details right on. Rent this movie on Thanksgiving for the full effect; I do every year.

We all know that family gatherings are likely to be awkward, to say the least. So, "Home for the Holidays" strings it all together, with out-of-work Claudia Larson (Holly Hunter) going to her parents' home for Thanksgiving. Sure enough, more relatives are coming, all with more than a few eccentricities. What to do? It's hard to tell what most to notice while watching this movie. Each character has his/her quirks, but I couldn't really tell whether Claudia's personal life was supposed to be more important. But either way, it's a pretty funny movie. The whole scene with the turkey makes me feel safe to be a vegetarian.

Anyway, Jodie Foster has shown herself to be a really capable director, with this one and "Little Man Tate". I think that we need to pay this movie a little bit more attention in the future. Also starring Robert Downey Jr., Anne Bancroft, Charles Durning, Dylan McDermott, Geraldine Chaplin, Steve Guttenberg, Claire Danes, Austin Pendleton and David Strathairn.

So just remember what Janis Joplin said...

For a movie I had no interest in viewing, I came around by the end. I blame the talents of Durning, whose emotional speech about what moments matter most in life really stayed with me.

I am so glad I found this movie. It is a snug little favorite of mine already. I come from a big family (all weirdos) who somehow get along very well. But this story of a bunch of weirdos who do not is just GRAND. Others may say that the themes of family and home and blah blah are the central idea here, but I say it is that Claudia (Hunter, playing our protagonist) has a really wonderful brother (Downey Jr. who nearly steals this film altogether).

Brother Tommy comes home for the holidays unexpectedly because he finds out his sister has just had a reaaaaalllly bad day (fired from her job, teen daughter announces she's going to have sex, loses her coat, makes out with her boss, etc) and dealing alone with the family would be unthinkable. He arrives with some hilarious fanfare, and proves to be excellent moral support for Hunter, a distraction for his family, and the provender of an interesting new element....in the person of Leo Fish, who may or may not be Tommy's new "partner."

Tommy ((heavily embellished and ad-libbed by Downey...listen carefully to his banter...hilarious)ends up taking the inevitable flack for his gayness (probably why he was not going to come home in the first place) but her lets it roll off his back, choosing instead to enjoy his sister's company and his parents' foibles. He also really enjoys (and so do we) watching Claudia and Leo Fish figure each other out.

They do...albeit obliquely and elliptically, with the conclusion sort of up in the air (hee hee). But in the process we are treated to Leo's very funky and offhand outlook on life. Listen for his very wry speech about trying to talk golf with his own father...."Par Par Bogie Bogie Par Par" has become a catchphrase for "blah blah blah" in my house...

Anne Bancroft and Hunter are stellar, and McDermott is darned cute (the making-out-on-the-doorstep scene is darling). But Downey (yet again) is the one you watch. The director's commentary by Foster gives a clue that he was frustrating to work with, but it seems very worth it here. He is just SO watchable, boistrous, too-energetic, motor-mouthed and loveable. We should all have such a brother. Lucky Claudia.

OH! Don't miss the turkey scene. Play it again to catch the peripheral characters' faces. I cannot wait for Thanksgiving!

I like this movie, even though it slumps badly in spots, overall the madcap weirdness of this family brings it 'home' for me. I think they could have left the whole Dylan McDermott thing out. It only further muddles and confuses things. Whatever may have failed in construction and timing, is more than made up for by the cast and the endlessly quirky, flawed (dare I say maimed) characters they portray.

And what of the wonderful Cynthia Stevenson (Cynthia fans unite!!!)? Is there not a casting director out there who realizes what a gem she is? Only Robert Altman ("The Player") and Todd Solondz ("Happiness"), and of course Jodie Foster in this case have the courage to cast her against type. In my opinion, she practically walks off with this movie as the relentlessly bitchy, put-upon caregiver sister to Robert Downey, Jr. and Holly Hunter. The turkey scene is a bona fide archive vault classic! She currently seems locked in as the linchpin of the terminally sappy "Air Bud" direct-to-video franchise. Thank goodness she is getting regular work, at least.

You grow older. But so does everyone else in your family. The small people who were your little brother and sister, the big people who were Mom and Dad - they all grow up and have their own lives, their own families. The world sees you as an adult with children of your own, problems that are real, concerns that completely outside and removed from this group you have known since infancy. Your family sees you as the kid who fought with your sister, and dated the class loser. And when you congregate, you realize that while your baby shoes don't fit you anymore, you're not sure what does. Neither does anyone else.

Ann Bancroft as the penultimate Mom is a jewel, pulled between her love of her family, her need to support them, her incomprehension of who they have become, and her own strong will. Robert Downey is fabulous as the manic family clown, not knowing when to stop, not knowing how to protect his closely held secret. Geraldine Chaplin steals your breath (Literally!) as the dotty maiden aunt who uses her eccentricities as a shield against the disappointments of her life. Her soliloquy is perfect. Holly Hunter is wonderful as the eldest daughter, her world in tatters around her feet, looking for and not finding comfort within the confines of her family. Cynthia Stevenson is perfect as the angry middle child, left out and feeling betrayed by her oh so much more exciting siblings. Charles Durning is the father at peace with the world and himself, wondering what all the fuss is about. And Dylan McDermott is the supreme observer, wanting to be part of their lives, looking for a way in to the circle, allowing everyone their dignity, giving them permission to laugh at their absurdities.

In spite of all this, or maybe because if it, this film is funny. It could be your own sister, your own mother. There is a wondrous joy here, a happiness that family, at least, is predictable.

Jodie Foster did an incredible job of showing the humor, drama, poignancy, frustration, love, loathing, fear, and comfort found in families. As exhausting as these two days were for this family, you know they'll be back next year. Or, as Charles Durning's character says, "There's always Christmas".

Claudia Larson (Holly Hunter) loses her art restorer job due to budget cuts. Her 16 year old daughter Kitt (Claire Danes) shocks her with her intention to lose her virginity. Then she has to go back home to her parents (Anne Bancroft, Charles Durning) for Thanksgiving. Her sister Joanne (Cynthia Stevenson) and brother-in-law Walter Wedman (Steve Guttenberg) are uptight conservatives. Her irreverent gay brother Tommy (Robert Downey Jr.) shows up with Leo Fish (Dylan McDermott). Aunt Glady (Geraldine Chaplin) is an eccentric plant lady. Sad sack Russell Terziak (David Strathairn) is infatuated with Claudia.

It's Holly Hunter suffering under various family members. I wish Claire Danes could stay in the heart of the movie. Downey tries to steal the movie with his antics. Claudia embodies how I feel about this movie. I love the people here but some of them annoy me. I watch this with detached bemusement. The wacky energy from Downey energizes a rather simple family dysfunction chaos. Director Jodie Foster maintains control of the manic wackiness but she isn't able to maximize the comedy.

If this is what Hollywood things of as a typical American family, then I'd have to say they are projecting their disgusting and flakey personality malfunctions on the rest of us. There is no one even remotely likeable here.Robert Downey jr is admittedly and obviously on heroin throughout filming and it shows. This film feels like it was written by him in that state. These people are revolting. I can't believe I wasted time watching this crap. After this, Jody Foster has fallen really really far in my opinion.

I won't bother going into too many plot details about "Home for the Holidays." That seems to be the basis of too many other reviews. Besides, the basic plot is revealed in the title!

Instead of the plot, I'd prefer to talk about the emotions generated by this movie. Don't fool yourself into thinking this is some mindless screwball comedy. Even the first few minutes of the movie lulls you into thinking it will be an evening of high-jinks. Then, somewhere along the way, you will find that your laughter has become bittersweet. This is a movie that has its viewers relive painful family memories so common in today's society.

Do yourself a favor. Watch this movie. It will stay with you. You will find yourself going back to it occasionally, just like you find yourself every few years going home for the holidays.

Such a sardonic and sarcastic tone to set for any movie! I am embarrassed to even admit that I was born in the US. I lived through the 1990's, and I was too "immersed" in the culture to see it. But now that I'm older and more mature... To think that within my lifetime that the US culture would sink to such a low point. And it still continues...

Aside from my rantings and ravings, I do feel that Jody Foster did an above average job making this movie come together. The reality is that this does capture very well the mood and spirit of the times, even if it is a farcical account through a distorted lens. And because of this, it may bring some kind of spiritual awareness so that we don't have to go there. "CAUTION -- this could happen to you if you don't take greater ownership to bring more loving and acceptance into your family and extended family!!"

Sometimes, it got so crazy that I had to laugh. The lines were sometimes very clever. All of the actors/actresses did a good job. The only thing that got in the way for me was that it was so obvious that RDJ was hopped up on something. It kind of ruined it for me. The horrible negativity brought about by abusing drugs has cost us, as a country, more than we would ever imagine or admit. I have observed it firsthand, and that's why I'm able to share this. Regardless of this, I say, "Thank you, Jody Foster." I have always admired you and the work that you have done in your life and career!

This is a warning to anyone who might think this is a comedy about a dysfunctional family at Thanksgiving dinner. This is in my opinion one of the worst movies ever made, for one simple reason: the actors are allowed to pull out the stops without any dramatic purpose or direction. The holiday gatherings of families are often fraught with tension and conflict and can be the basis of much comedy, but this is hardly a comedy. The character played by Robert Downey Jr. is a mean, selfish, sadistic, substance abusing jerk. That the Holly Hunter character, his sister, puts up with him at all seems to be a serious case of masochism on her part, not a sign of undying sisterly love as the movie suggests. The guy she's going to marry is even worse. What you see is actors exaggerating their parts to the extent that the characters are obliterated. Don't bother.