I laughed almost the whole time. At times I even had tears in my eyes from laughing. What is wrong with everyone, this movie is freakin hilarious. It is a light hearted, slapstick, funny Christmas family film. Some of the lines were so funny that we still quote them. Hopefully, people will read this review and give this movie a chance. It IS funny. If you are looking for a serious "It's A Wonderful Life" then ok this is not for you. But if you are looking to laugh at some of the Christmas cliches that we all know and love this movie is for you! Some things in this movie are very silly but come on...Christmas Vacation is a great movie. I would rank this with that movie! Enjoy! Surviving Christmas
When life's not going exactly the way he wants, Drew (Ben Affleck) decides it's time to go back to his childhood home for Christmas and recapture the magic and idyll of his past. The only problem? His relatives don't live in that house anymore, so reliving his glory days will be much more complicated than he expected. First, he must convince the family (headed by James Gandolfini and Catherine O'Hara) who call the place home to humor him.
We bought this movie last year when it first came out and found it absolutely adorable and very funny. Keep in mind what it is, it is an endearing movie about how incredibly lonely Christmas can be if you don't have family to share it with, it was certainly not intended to generate oscar buzz. Ben Affleck was, as always, outstanding. I just love it and will definitely watch it agaim this Christmas. Happy Holidays!
I've been watching the movie constantly on HBO. I think the movie's problem is that it isn't a family movie (a couple of scenes push it out of that genre) and it's too cute to be an adult movie.
Give the movie a chance. The characters really grow on you.
I am absolutely done watching Ben Affleck movies. He has to be the worst actor earning a Hollywood mega-million paycheck over the past decade. I made it through "Jersey Girl" only because of Liv Tyler. However, "Surviving Christmas" (2004) was just torture. James Gandalfini was okay, but does he ever play any role out of his "Tony Soprano" character? Christina Applegate (who is her agent and when will she be in a great movie?) was good, but it just looked like she wasn't into this movie. I like Catherine O'Hara a ton ("Best In Show", A" Mighty Wind", "Home Alone", "Beetlejuice" and the old SCTV), and she was simply over the top in some scenes (in a garrish way) and dare I say I didn't like her acting in this movie. Affleck's acting is pitifully canned and he just isn't convincing. ** FACT: This movie has the shortest period of time (less than nine weeks) between its theatrical debut and release on DVD/Video than any other major release film in Hollywood history. *** FACT: The production was shot without a complete script. Per Gandolfini, "much of the film was improvised". What's that tell you? This movie should've ended in the first 20 minutes when Gandolfini's character hit Affleck's character over the head with a snow shovel. 91 minutes of pure drudgery.
I'm not a a big fan of Ben Affleck or anything but I thought this was a fun movie with an original story.
I have a hard time understanding the really low reviews others have given. Certainly I wouldn't expect it to bring in Oscar nominations but it was enjoyable. I rarely write reviews, but the negative reviews compelled me to add my opinion. This must be one of those love-it-or-hate-it movies because the ranking on Amazon is in line with other places, including IMDB.
Look I know since Gigli peoples faith in Ben Affleck have been shaken,but the truth is,Gigli and Surviving Christmas arent bad at all. They are ninety minutes of funny stuff that help you get your mind off the crap that happens in a day.Just the day I saw Surviving, I was having a lousy week at work.Me and my friend went to see this and we came out laughing,and for just a little while I felt better.If a movie can do that,maybe it isnt half bad.Not every movie needs to be an arthouse masterpiece. - James Gandolfini - Ben Affleck - Holiday - Comedy'
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